First off let me say this is an awesome site and the members here really do care for one anothers questions and issues and it really is helpful to read on the success stories with the help from the fellow members.

Hello to all. I just recently purchased a avic 900bt with the pioneer CD-IU230V and love the unit, everything works great except for the ipod connectivity. I have tried 3 different ipods (5th gen, brand new nano, older nano) and none of them seem to really work well with the unit. When the vehicle is turned on the unit powers up but does not power up the ipod (it just shows usb and the option is grayed out), yet when i plug in a USB device say thumb drive it works just fine reading and playing the content of the thumb drive but when i plug it into the ipod it does nothing. When the avic unit finnally does pair with the ipod (i never know when its going to happen i just like will be driving and it will do it) it works great sound plays beautifully and album art comes up too yet when i unplug the ipod and say like update it with new songs and plug it back in i basically have to drive around and wait for the ipod and avic to connect. I first thought it was a driver/firmware issue with the ipod, i have reformatted them and installed the ipod's software back & i have also reset my avic 900 twice. The avic is running the 2.0 software so it is updated. Im pretty puzzled on what to do any help would be much appreciated thanks to all! Also do you guys think the apple composite cable is any better then the pioneer 230v? Just a thought perhaps, like i said i really love the unit and am just trying to get this little problem fixed. Thanks again

Also today I was driving and the ipod was synced with the 900bt and all of a sudden it just cut off and was unsynced, i went to AV menu and it just showed USB and was grayed out ...lol .. i was like ahh man cuz it was right int he middle of my song ! Thanks to all .

the problem you are having has nothing to do with the ipods. it was a very common problem with the F-series navs but it seems to have been more or less corrected since the new 2.0 firmware was released. my ipod used to lose connection ATLEAST once a day but over the last few months it hasnt lose connection once. the only issues left is that SOMETIMES when i start up the car the ipod is not recognized and i either have to turn the car off then back or or unplug the ipod and plug it back it. but that only happens every now and then whereas it used to happen every single day.

the only thing i can suggest is making sure your unit has the 2.0 firmware and/or possibly look into getting a new ipod cable.

thanks for the reply - I have the pioneer ipod cable but do you know if its possible to use the Apple Composite video cable on the avic if it will work ? Also is it possible to download version 2.0 on a SD card and try to put maybe a fresh install again of version 2.0 on my unit ? Thanks for the help.

I am having the exact same problem. I was wondering if you got the composite cable and did it help?