Plz help...I have to send mine to the Pioneer shop in Ohio to get repiared, but Im hoping maybe here is an easier fix for this freeze...It has been happening on an off for the past couple weeks...and the reset button fixed the problem, but yesterday it stayed frozen PERMANENTLY. I got my Z1 from mytaxfree.com, but they are a shady company...so my question is does anyone know another possible fix? Will Pioneer charge me to fix this? I bought this brand new 3 months ago....thanks!

If mytaxfree is not an authorized seller for Pioneer, you are probably going to have to foot the bill yourself. Pioneer's warranty sheet clearly states this.

This kinda sounds like a hdd issue....which is weird because I've now heard of two factory hdd's going bad...and both of them were from units bought from unauthorized dealers. It has me wondering where they got their units from.

That exact same thing happened to me one time. when I turned it off and turned it back on it booted fine. when mine froze the only function that worked was the volume and the tilt. I hope it doesnt happen again. I called pioneer they said they havent heard of any such problems

I had the same issue. I think I finally found the root cause. The hot weather. Someone else posted on here with the same problem and it clearly states in the owners manual the operating temps of the unit. Sure enough, a hot summer day in Kansas, with a black interior, the temps rose above the max temp allowed, and the Z1 got stuck on the Pioneer splash screen. Sometimes a reset worked after the car cooled down a little. Don't worry about the warranty, just give Pioneer the name of the local authorized Pioneer dealership (they won't know the difference if you tell them you got the Z1 as a gift there and you don't have the receipt). Worked for me when I called them on an unrelated issue.

Chuckzul said:

I had the same issue. I think I finally found the root cause. The hot weather. Someone else posted on here with the same problem and it clearly states in the owners manual the operating temps of the unit. Sure enough, a hot summer day in Kansas, with a black interior, the temps rose above the max temp allowed, and the Z1 got stuck on the Pioneer splash screen. Sometimes a reset worked after the car cooled down a little. Don't worry about the warranty, just give Pioneer the name of the local authorized Pioneer dealership (they won't know the difference if you tell them you got the Z1 as a gift there and you don't have the receipt). Worked for me when I called them on an unrelated issue.

so how the heck do i get it to go away?!

Unless you can find a way to route air to the unit itself to cool it down, I really don't see anyway around this. I thought about cutting some small vents on the conduits in the dash that route a/c, and fab some tubing that would divert some of the a/c directly onto the Z1. This won't help at start up, but it will cool the unit down faster. If your car sits in the hot sun all day in 100+ degrees, and the temps on the inside of your car exceed the manufacturers limits, there is likely nothing you can do to fix this. I suppose you could get one of the solar powered window fans, that might help a lot in cooling down the car's interior. Or you could heavily tint your windows.

I live in South Carolina, and my car is parked outside in the sun all day with tempertures that reached this summer over 110 heat index. I know a couple times this summer when I started the SUV, the outside temp said it was 107....and, I have never had a problem with the Z1 over heating.

Another possibility is to get a 12V fan like those used in PC's (make sure it's 12V; most PC fans are 5V these days) and mount it under the dash to push some air up around the Z1. This will be very dependant on how much room there is to get air up there.

At least this way on cooler days you could put a switch in line with the fan and only power it when you need it.

I have had the same problem ... but it was parked in a garage and it was not hot so I am not sure what causes it... I asked Pioneer and they said a short in a wire. The thing is I had it reinstalled in my new truck and it has not done it since so I am thinking the first install was not good.

I am now having the same problem. It "sits" on the Pioneer startup screen and just sits there. I can play music, change the input (with the remote only) and adjust the volume (also remote only), but nothing on the unit works except the tilt button. It was kind of hot today, but my windows are heavily tinted. What is more likely, an overheating condition, or a HDD error?

I have only had the system installed for a few months.

Actually, come to think of it, I can use the "SOURCE" button on the remote to access the music on the HDD... so it CAN'T be a HDD issue, right? Any other thoughts?

I have had this same problem... funny thing is that the temperature at which the thing freezes up ranges... For the first month I had the unit I was in florida mostly and it was fine, then i came back to St. Louis, installed the ducatiboy bypass and everything was fine for two weeks... then wow freezing started happening all the time.

I thought it was related to the bypass and just sent them a tech support email, but I guess maybe it wasn't related to that at all

I would think that pioneer would have some way to work on this as I have never heard of this being a problem with any other head unit until the z1

I replied to your email (I'm sminntech if you didn't know) :) but I honestly don't think that the freezing is related to the flasher at all. You can pull it out if you want to make yourself feel better. But all I'm doing is telling the Z1 that you flashed your lights. It's possible that it doesn't like that and is freezing trying to unlock it's settings in software but I HIGHLY doubt this. I think it's something with the hard drive. That's just my guess, the boot up screen is just about where it switches to the hard drive for information. And I would guess that the hard drive, no matter how "automotive" it is, is the weakest link on the Z1.

I've got the same thing. It sticks at the Pioneer loading screen. The only buttons that work are volume and tilt. I don't think its heat related. Today it was only 58 degrees F when it happened and it was parked in a garage.

to me maybe sounds like a voltage problem. when a car battery is low on voltage you might be able to start your car. but it causes problems for aftermarket electronics. you get alot of variables and it is too complicated to do the math with all the ohms laws and crap. check voltage on your car batteries. sometimes you send too much or not enough to your units and they have problems. just my too cents but its one of those things that is hard to find and hard to see no matter what troubleshooting you do. if you call pioneer they will tell you the specs on what voltage is required for the unit to operate properly.

Hi all

Anyone got an update on this yet or solved the problem, I am getting the same damn problem and its really pissing me off..nearly everyday its happening :(

I am in Florida too and my car gets really hot! I gotta solve this problem somehow!

Help

Mine did that and I went through and check all my connections and have not had anymore freeze screens since. I had a lose wire..

Mine did the same I looked at the poor job the installer did and I checked and re-did all wiring and now it works and no hangs....

you know, mine worked fine until just after the bypass install. Im going to back and check the wiring because I could definitely see my friend who did it having left a loose connection that could be causing a slight problem.

I'll check all of it this week and let everyone know if that solved my problem...

First I would like to say I have read alot of this forum and have learned alot about the Z1 from you guys thanks.

I was about to purchase the Z1 today but now I am rethinking the purchase. The car stereo shop/installer recommended staying away from the Pioneer because he said he has seen alot need to be sent in for repairs. He recommended the Eclipse unit. However I was pretty much stuck on the Z1 and came here to learn if what he was saying is true. Then this thread came with alot of people saying the screen freezes up during boot up. Also having to worry about the extreme weather before the HDD works.

Are these fairly common problems. I now reside in NJ so the weather is not that extreme, however I may move to Florida and have to deal with the heat. Should I stay away from the Z1 ??? Help I dont't want to make the wrong purchase. I want something dependable for that kind of money.

I really don't think its the hard drive. Whenever I have the problem with it freezing at the loading screen my library which is stored on the hard drive will still play. The shop who installed mine did not do the best job. I'm planning on redoing all of the connectors they installed by soldering them and wrapping them in electrical tape. I also will do the same with the Valentine 1 I installed. I do know that my V1 install is a little shoddy. I used vampire connectors and one of them is a little loose. You can jiggle the wire and the detector will turn on and off. If that doesn't work then yes I'm going to take it take it back under warranty. As long as I don't have to shell out more money its cool.

One thing I do not like about the Z1 though is the fact that it has no security whatsoever. I'm not sure about the Eclipse nav unit, but I had a head unit in the past. It had a feature where you put in a CD of your choice and the head unit reads data from it. This then becomes your security CD. If power to the head unit is ever disconnected (not just by turning the car off you would have to uninstall the head unit or disconnect the battery), it will require the security CD to unlock. If you lose the CD you have to send the unit to Eclipse to be unlocked. Sure it may only keep a stereo theif from stealing it if they know about the security system, but its better than nothing.

Yeah most of the eclipse nav units have the esn feature. Basically you turn that on and insert a cd. The unit reads the toc off that cd and if the unit loses power you must reinsert that cd in order to regain functionality. I would recommend using a store bought cd though so if you lose or damage the disc you can purchase a new one.

Not to bag on your installer, but is it possible he is steering you towards eclipse because there is more margin in it for him? The Z1 is hands down a better unit than the eclipse with the exception of the security and the preout voltage. Those two positives are not nearly enough to outweigh the negatives on the eclipse.

Although there is obviously an issue here with a handful of people's units freezing up, keep in mind that Pioneer will probably sell a pretty ridiculous number of Z1s in the US this year (our rep says 50,000+.) So a handful isn't bad when you consider that satisfied customers rarely voice their opinion on the web, whereas unsatisfied will tell everyone they can. I think you will find that reliability on Pioneers are the same if not better than eclipse.

Gunzz said:

First I would like to say I have read alot of this forum and have learned alot about the Z1 from you guys thanks.

I was about to purchase the Z1 today but now I am rethinking the purchase. The car stereo shop/installer recommended staying away from the Pioneer because he said he has seen alot need to be sent in for repairs. He recommended the Eclipse unit. However I was pretty much stuck on the Z1 and came here to learn if what he was saying is true. Then this thread came with alot of people saying the screen freezes up during boot up. Also having to worry about the extreme weather before the HDD works.

Are these fairly common problems. I now reside in NJ so the weather is not that extreme, however I may move to Florida and have to deal with the heat. Should I stay away from the Z1 ??? Help I dont't want to make the wrong purchase. I want something dependable for that kind of money.