Freezing on startup

[brandon]

Iwould not recommend putting your HD into the freezer or fridge.

 

Me neither, condensation is a bitch...

 

I once made the mistake of taking my computer outside to dust it out with canned air. My house is quite a bit cooler than the outside, cold met warm, condensation formed somewhere in my psu. Once I was back inside, i promptly attemtped to start my computer up right after it had been outside for a bit. I saw lots of sparks and got a dead psu for my efforts. Luckily the rest of the puter was fine, but it was a lesson learned.

[outhouse]

sorry guys ive been in the PC biz a long time putting your HD into the freezer is an old trick to retrieve data on a failing HD sometimes its the only way to get data off

 

id didnt say leave it in there a long time lol ive done it to my z2 5-6 times now. you can put them in the freezer for 15 minutes to get data that is other wise lost. to cool it down your ac duct on your car works fine and is the best method but you can still stick in the freezer or fridge for 5 min with no ill effects.

 

oh well you dont have to follow me

[brandon]

sorry guys ive been in the PC biz a long time putting your HD into the freezer is an old trick to retrieve data on a failing HD sometimes its the only way to get data off

 

Interesting..... I can understand the cooling effect, but I also know you're not dealing with a freeze-it compound that doesnt form harmful condensation after spraying. Many times when we have faulty cca's we will spray the ic's down with a freeze-it compound and it gets them working again long enough to help us verify which one to replace. But there is no harmful water condensation; just the compund which dissapates.

 

But hey, if it works for you, then have at it. Just doesnt sound very safe to me.

[bambamtz69]

i got april version just started to freeze up last two week call wholesale told me been problem sent me new one got july one today

[outhouse]

look at the brights side in another 4-6 weeks it will be cold enough our units will work great till next summer lol we should get close to 7-8 months of trouble free operation no thanks too or from pioneer.

[JG0]

marful: I have a Toyota 4-Runner. I believe this also contributes to the problem, as the 4-Runner radio opening is at the very top of the console, right under the dash, with no insulation under the dash.

 

I would guess that vehicles with the nav unit mounted lower, maybe with some buffer between the unit and the dash are not nearly as likely to have a heat issue as mine is.

 

On the 4-Runner, the a/c vent is right behind the nav unit, so it was simple to cut a hole to allow air to blow on the Z1

 

I don't think radio placement has anything to do with it. My 99 Maxima has the radio located under the a/c controls and vents. My Z2 locks up almost every afternoon.

 

 

#1 the z2 does not disipate heat well enough to cool a hot hard drive. this is really evedent.

 

That much is certain. Lets squeeze a hard drive into a tight plastic housing without any vents or cooling fins. Hmmm how can we make it worse… lets seal the only opening with a 7in LCD screen. This thing is poorly designed from a thermal standpoint.

 

One other rant – what’s with the ipod adapter? It horrible is you want to search for songs.

[JG0]

look at the brights side in another 4-6 weeks it will be cold enough our units will work great till next summer lol we should get close to 7-8 months of trouble free operation no thanks too or from pioneer.

 

In the immortal words of Homer….. Doh!

[outhouse]

sorry trying to make a little fun in light of this

[neoterra]

Hi, I wanted to chime in on this subject:

 

I had mine Z2 (+ BT + IPOD + REAR CAMERA + XM modules) installed professionally in my Audi S4 about 3 months ago. I like the unit a lot and it wows anyone who checks it out. -- I have some gripes about menu options and other issues that other people are complaining about as well... but on to the main issue at hand:

 

About 3 weeks ago my unit locked up on startup for the first time. I turned off the car, waited about a minute then started the car / unit again. Another freeze again; and another and another, etc. I pressed the reset button and then turned off the car. Started up correctly this time.

 

This same thing has happened now 3 times over 3 weeks. Very intermittently.

 

What causes this: vibration, heat, both?

 

I appreciate the feedback.

 

Thanks!

[bridge4d]

Current thinking is heat. The hard drive has an operational temp limitation of 158F and I believe the software tells the unit to shutdown the HD at around 130F of 140F...something like that anyway. Generally, most here have noticed that once you get your first freeze the unit will start freezing more and more often. The first time my unit froze it was three weeks until the second occurrence. Then it was anytime the car would sit in a parking lot in direct sunlight. A sunshade helps and I've had very few occurences when I make an effort to make sure the car remains well ventilated and in the shade. Also, I just ran the update on mine earlier this week and have not seen a freeze even when not using a sunshade or ventilation.

 

That's number 43 gentleman!

[outhouse]

theres no dought about heat being the issue.

 

now with your first freeze watch when its hot out and it freezes when you get it going again try playing something in your library and watch your music just dance around. sometimes it will play a song or two then the hard drive short of overheating starts reading incorrectly making your music jump around.

 

when it does freeze put your hard drive in front of your ac vent for a couple minutes and watch it boot up perfect

[titos]

i dont know if anyone has tryed this yet but it seem to work for me i put a computer fan in the back on my radio blowing out of the radio and have not had the problem since the reason i used a computer fan is i can hook it up directly to my acc. wire vs. the pioneer fan turns on at a certan temperature i think well anyways a 120 inch fan worked for me

[myrick_69]

i bought a Z2 worked great except for the rear camera thought it was the camera brain ordered a new one did not fix problem, it ended up being the input on the deck was bad so i got a new unit from my retailer now i also have the heat problem *old unit worked fine was from apr 07 new unit is from jul 07* seems when ever the temp is 90f+ the unit will not boot music still play. if temp is below 80f the system boots regular though the new unit does seem to take allot longer to fully boot up over the old system.

 

i read about a software update that may help with the heat issue, where would i find the official version or should i use the files i found for the by-pass in these forums ?

[outhouse]

the files in the bypass section worked great for me

[brandon]

I had my first lock up last friday. It was a scorcher here, up in the low 100s, sat on the first graphic screen (whatever thats called) and hung there. My music from my playlist was playing the entire time. I shut the car off, turned it back on, and it came up just fine.

 

However, this was AFTER i had the ac on for a few minutes. So, i would most definitely say its a heat thing.