So I've been lurking on these forums for 5-6 weeks now, reading nearly every topic and post written about the F-Series. Despite the numerous complaints about nearly everything, I went ahead and pulled the trigger. I somehow convinced myself that everybody that has problems just doesn't know what the hell they're doing and that I wouldn't be affected. Finally, yesterday, I had the F90BT, the Sirius tuner, and a Pioneer rearview camera professionally installed by a semi-local shop in my 2003 GMC Yukon Denali. At the same time, the shop also installed a Python 990 Security/Remote Start system (which has its own problems, but this isn't the place for them).

What a disaster.

1. Each of the numerous discs I have put in the unit has been met with an "ERROR-02" message. After consulting the owner's manual (that is conveniently on a CD, which is easily accessible in the car ), I learned this means the disc is dirty or scratched or what have you. I just so happened that I had a brand new, unopened box on my kitchen counter with the movie "21" on DVD in it. I took off the wrapper and put the disc in the unit. Same error message. Obviously, this leads me to the conclusion that the problem lies with the unit, not with my discs. Hell, I even tried a couple of discs upside-down to see if somehow the disc reader was somehow inverted. Any advice here?

2. My Sirius looses connectivity each time the vehicle starts moving. If I am parked and start the vehicle, the Sirius works beautifully (albeit with the terrible, stupid, no-good 1-line interface that can hopefully be switched out with a second update or with some "customization"), but as soon as I roll more than about 2 feet, it gets stuck on "SEARCHING FOR SIGNAL". I'm guessing this is the fault of a bad connection somewhere.

3. I have no sound from my iPod. The controls and voice recognition work fine, and the songs appear to be playing. I have my AV1 source set to iPod, the volume cranked all the way up on the iPod itself (not that it should matter at all), and have changed the volume level on the unit, all to no avail. I'm hoping this is a newbie mistake by me in the settings somewhere, but it wouldn't surprise me if the guys that installed it failed to connect something correctly. Any ideas?

The navigation seems to work, as does the rearview camera. Obviously, if the answer to #1 above isn't a faulty unit, I'll be doing the navi-boxes fix at some point.

Any advice would be much appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Not sure on #1 or #2 Never had problems with discs and I have XM not Sirius

#3 I had the same problem. The local shop more than likely connected the ipod using only the USB cable. This does not work. You have to physically connect the ipod to A/V Input 1 using the approporate a/v adaptor for your iPod (should have L/R Audio and Video composite cables). This "comes with" the F90bt. I use quotes because mine did not. You can pick the adaptor from any Apple store or get it online.

Good Luck . . .

What kind of issues are you having with the Python 990 alarm? Maybe someone here was thinking about buying the alarm and you can help them make a better decision.Have you tried running a disk cleaner just incase you have dust or something foreign on your laser?

I'm somewhat confused by your answer to the iPod problem. On this A/V cable you're talking about, one end connects directly into the RCA ports on the back of the unit, but where does the other end connect? Hopefully somewhere on the monstrosity that is the Pioneer iPod Adapter and NOT to the headphone jack on the iPod itself...? (I've had iPod-Alpine adapters in my previous vehicles, all of which just required the data cable, not a cable to the headphone jack). Can you expand on this a little bit?

The Python 990 is an awesome unit. In my previous vehicle I had the Viper 5900 (which is the exact same thing, just with a different logo) and loved it. My problem in this case is the way in which the shop wired it to control my lights. This should be an easy fix (for the shop to do) and is not indicative that the Python 990 is a bad product.

Thanks for the replies, but it seems at least 2.5 of my 3 questions still stand.

EDIT: I didn't see the part where you suggested a laser cleaner. I will attempt to find/buy one, try it, and get back to you. Thanks.

The iPod cable has an iPod dock connector on one end, and at the other end is a USB connector, and three RCA connectors (L/R/V). On the iPod end you just need the dock connector plugged in. On the Nav end, you need the USB, as well as the three RCA connectors, plugged to the radio. If the installer hooked up the USB cable but neglected the RCA connectors (perhaps thinking they were redundant) you would have iPod control, but no audio/video.

^ that's exactly what I am thinking happened there.

The only thing I can think of that would cause the Sirius to lose signal only when your car is moving is a loose connection... antenna, power, IP-BUS, etc.

As for the unit not reading any CD's or DVD's, even brand new ones, well the most likely culprit is a faulty disk drive.

I appreciate the quick and varied responses. Thanks to all. I have a couple of updates now. After work today, I stopped by RadioShack and picked up a cleaning CD. This is my experience with it:

I put in the CCD, got ERROR-02, took it out, put it back in, got ERROR-02, took it out, put it in, and it worked (I heard the instructions and music, blah blah blah). I took it back out when the instructions told me to, put in a regular music CD, and got ERROR-02 again. I put in and took out the CCD about 10-12 more times (getting ERROR-02 each time) before it once again worked and I heard the music and instructions. When the instructions told me to, I took it out, and, remembering what happened previously, put it back in. Of course, once again I got ERROR-02. I tried it close to 15 more times with no success before giving up.

The final time I took out the cleaning CD, I examined the data side. It had over a dozen very shallow scratches, most a centimeter or less in length. This was obviously a bad sign. I checked the "21" DVD I mentioned earlier, and it too had one or two shallow scratches a centimeter or less in length. Obviously this could be coincidence and/or paranoia on my part - is it normal for cleaning CDs to get lightly scratched in the course of cleaning?

The good news is that the drive is at least partially functional. I'm thinking my next step may be to spray some compressed air into the drive. Any opinions on that??

Next up: the iPod/USB thing. I see on the adapter what I assume to be the RCA cable coming off of the iPod dock connector. I pulled the slack out of this to see if the RCA connectors that were supposed to be plugged in to the back of the unit were completely unplugged and pull-out-able. After pulling out somewhere between 4 and 6 feet of slack, I could pull out no more. I assume this is a sign that either the connectors (or one of the three, at least) are connected to the back of the unit, or that they simply got stuck on something out of my field of vision in the interior of my dash. Who knows. Maybe if I get drunk and/or bored enough later tonight, I'll dig around back there with a flashlight.

It's depressing to think that so many basic things are non-functional to the point that I don't even notice the useless navi-boxes, slow boot time, or delayed responses to keypresses. Obviously the thought of bypassing is far out of my mind at this point. *sigh*

MORE INPUT WELCOMED!

I dont know the answer to your problems, but it seems the solution would be as simple as taking it back to where you had it installed. It sounds like you may have a faulty unit, as well as some install issues. The shop should take care of the install issues, as well as replacing the unit, assuming you bought it from them. Thats why you paid for a "professional" to do your install

Exactly. What I would do if I were you is simply bring it back. It's a new unit, and the disk drive is supposed to be operational. The drive scratching/engraving the disk is a clear sign of a mechanical defect. Either it is physically scratching the disk or the laser isn't operating correctly and actually burning scratches into the disk. A lot of the older Playstation 2 consoles had a problem just like that. Some kind of problem with the laser calibration, and it would basically ruin ay disk you put in the unit.

It would have to be mechanical. It is not possible for the laser in a dvd player / reader to develop enough energy to burn the disk. Readers are maximum 5mW while writers can peak at over 200mW. Even if an electronic fault put enough current into a 5mW diode, it'd just overheat and die rather than pump out any more light energy.

I might not know much about audio stuff but I do know lasers..

Sorry man it's time to take it back.There should not be any scratches at all on the cd/dvd's.The place that install it should have checked all the functions before they let you take possession and should have caught that problem before you took it home.

RE: #3

In case it's of interest to anyone to compare how other companies handle hardware connections:

My previous head unit (Jensen) gave me full iPod audio/video functionality via the HU's touch screen with only the dock connector. It did go into an intermediary "media box" first, as did all the other components like Nav and XM, but no RCA jacking was needed for iPod AV>HU.

It did work flawlessly, and immediately on vehicle startup...but I digress

Any theories why both USB and RCA connections are needed for the Pioneer?

It would have to be mechanical. It is not possible for the laser in a dvd player / reader to develop enough energy to burn the disk. Readers are maximum 5mW while writers can peak at over 200mW. Even if an electronic fault put enough current into a 5mW diode, it'd just overheat and die rather than pump out any more light energy.

 

I might not know much about audio stuff but I do know lasers..

PS - you never cease to amaze me...

RE: #3

In case it's of interest to anyone to compare how other companies handle hardware connections:

 

My previous head unit (Jensen) gave me full iPod audio/video functionality via the HU's touch screen with only the dock connector. It did go into an intermediary "media box" first, as did all the other components like Nav and XM, but no RCA jacking was needed for iPod AV>HU.

 

It did work flawlessly, and immediately on vehicle startup...but I digress

 

Any theories why both USB and RCA connections are needed for the Pioneer?

Some of the others can correct me if I am wrong but:

USB - To charge the iPod while connected to the doc

RCA - To transfer Audio and Video

Some of the others can correct me if I am wrong but:

 

USB - To charge the iPod while connected to the doc

RCA - To transfer Audio and Video

Right.

USB = charging and control of the ipod

RCA = Audio & video output to AV1

I'm guessing the RCA outputs are used to enable video compatibility with the new ipods. On the D3, where it just used a single cable for everything, the ipod classics, ipod touch, and iphone would not send video.

Just a theory...

...I'm guessing the RCA outputs are used to enable video compatibility with the new ipods. On the D3, where it just used a single cable for everything, the ipod classics, ipod touch, and iphone would not send video.

 

Just a theory...

Thanks. I was able, though, to send vid from my 5G pod through the dock connector to the Jensen HU. You did have to operate video using the pod interface, unlike music, which you controlled via the HU touch screen. But maybe the RCA's enable full compatibility with all gen's in some way???

Considering the iPod dock connector (on the iPod) carries everything, audio, video, power, controls, etc etc, I suspect that the reason that Pioneer chose to do it the way they did, because it saved them money.

Doing it this way means that they can use basically an off-the-shelf cable for the iPod side. It means they don't need to use a special purpose connector on the radio side. It means they can use the same inputs for iPods as for any other A/V source, i.e. they didn't need to wire a second set of inputs that were strictly for the iPod.

They could have stuck an iPod dock connector on the back of the HU and just used a dock-to-dock wire. Much cheaper to just make people buy a $50 cable and use the existing RCA inputs.

Regarding Sirius, you might check to see if the antenna connection is tight. Also, make sure your antenna is in a good location on a metal surface. I started with mine on the dash, but I got a lot of dropouts whenever I drove into a heavily wooded area. I had it moved to the roof, and now get no dropouts. The antenna needs a clear sight to the sky, metal roofs and even metal based window tint can degrade the signal.