After checking the order status last night, I discovered the massive box had been delivered to my back door

Today I installed it.

I followed the minimal instructions exactly, copying down the maps version (not sure why they want you to do this).

Rebooting with the first SD card, upgrades it to 2.00100 or 2.01 or 2.1 whatever you want to call it. It took about 20min and didn't require any codes or anything.

After the install it rebooted. After staring at the splash screen for 4-5min, I gave up on waiting and removed SD #1 and I turned the car off and back on - I recommend leaving the car running, as it'll be 40+min of the car sitting with the accessories on, and may be a bit of drain on the battery depending on your system.

Upon booting, the Main Menu popped up with the "System booting, please wait" screen overlay. I waited. And waited. And waited. Five minutes later I gave up on it and rebooted. The Main Menu popped up again, with the "...Please Wait" still there. It was still there five minutes later. I inserted SD #2, and copied down the Device ID from the resulting screen. The "Please Wait" overlay was STILL there, but I could press the OK that was underneath it.

I took the code to the pioneer update site and got my unlock code, and returned to the headunit. I entered the code, I had to press the appropriate area where the keys for letters I couldn't see were, because the "Please Wait" overlay WAS STILL THERE. Once the whole code was entered, the "Done" in the lower-right was selectable. I pressed it and the system rebooted and proceeded to upgrade.

The first upgrade screen isn't pictured in any of the install manuals, but it has a blinking blue square in the lower right and moves very slowly, about 30min to complete, so it sits at 0% for a couple minutes before moving. Going from 99% to 100% takes about 3x what it seems it should. Once that part is done, it goes into an upgrade similar to SD #1, which takes about 10-15min, and is followed by a reboot.

It asks if you want to keep your bootscreen.

My phones were both saved, and didn't require re-pairing at all.

My presets were gone.

The seek up/down still only bump up and down the tuner (seek up/down on holding for a sec), they don't do preset up/down. Dunno if I need to set the steering wheel control adapter to preset up/down (which the AVIC wouldn't respond to with 2.0) to get it to work.

The screen definitely is more responsive.

I think the phone pairs a few seconds faster.

Thanks for the update... I checked my order status and mine has also been shipped. What was the total time it took to do the complete update?

Things I noticed.

1 - Overall the unit is faster. Buttons response, load time, phone connection, all improved.

2 - Illumination changes colors like a kaleidoscope. (I like it, but you can set it to one color.)

3 - SD performance has gone down. It loads the initial song fast, but takes ages for the rest of the card to load. Maybe I just need a faster SD card. /shrug

4 - Can't comment on iPod connectivity.

iPod connectivity is same as before, but, with regards to boot time, in 2.0, the music would play and there'd still be a few seconds of load screen, now the music plays and it's 1-2 seconds before the iPod play screen shows. This at least gives the impression that it's loading faster.

I haven't used SD cards for audio at all.

I need to hack the maps to get the mute and cancel route buttons back. I miss them.

Things I noticed.

 

2 - Illumination changes colors like a kaleidoscope. (I like it, but you can set it to one color.)

 

I've had my F900BT for a couple days (came with my new Scion xB Release Series 6.0), and it is on 2.006 and has that feature - I just discovered it last night.

Kevin

Things I noticed.

 

3 - SD performance has gone down. It loads the initial song fast, but takes ages for the rest of the card to load. Maybe I just need a faster SD card. /shrug

You were going good until #3. This, if true, pisses me off. Thats the ONLY audio i use, sans the radio. I do hope its your SD card.

Just finished updating one of two AVIC-F90BT units with the officially-purchased upgrade. Wrathernaut - the instructions ask you to copy down your current map version and firmware versions so you can verify at the end of the process that the upgrade was installed correctly. Mine went from Map Version 01.000600 to 2.000400, and from Firmware Version 2.000000 to version 3.020100. I didn't have the problems with the "System Booting - Please Wait" message that you encountered; my update process went very smoothly except for a hangup at 82% complete on the SD card #1 update - got an error message at that point, but I just hit the "Retry Update" button and it picked up from that point and completed successfully.

The entire update process takes every bit of the 40 minutes the instructions tell you it will. I left my engine running and brought a laptop out to the car so I could connect to the Pioneer update web site and obtain the password to continue; that went smoothly. As Miggity79 said, overall the system seems faster. Don't use an SD card for anything, so I can't comment on that; and I haven't used my iPod yet so I can't comment on that either. My phone pairing and contacts also stayed the same after the update, and I notice a somewhat-improved onscreen phone interface while a call is in progress. I also notice that with button sounds "Off", even switching to the Main menu from another screen doesn't generate the annoying "ta-ding" sound as it did under the old version with button sounds off. Map screen looks much improved and cleaner, with nice shaded boxes for the time, distance to destination, etc. data onscreen. Hopefully the map database is improved; will be a few weeks before I get far enough away from my home area to test that out.

So we get a code for the maps off the Pioneer site? And us rookieswon't have to find someone to remove the unit just to get a code?

Having the phone pairing saved is great!

Presets are easy enough to put back in but still annoying.

What about Map Favorites? Do those carry over?

I hope my update comes in tonight... going on a nice long drive this weekend

So we get a code for the maps off the Pioneer site? And us rookieswon't have to find someone to remove the unit just to get a code?

Yes, the official firmware update requires you to input the Media Number, which is found on the literature accompanying the SD cards you'll receive from Pioneer, and the Device Number, which will be displayed during the update process - just be sure and write it down for future reference. (You don't have to pull the unit out of the dash to obtain any info necessary to complete the update process.) In the instructions is the web site you go to where you'll input the above-referenced numbers, then it will display your password which you'll input during phase two (SD card #2) of the update process. Write down your password, also.

ok thanks man! I appreciate the help

I'm printing out what you wrote since I'm sure thats better stated then in the instructions.

No problem. The instructions really aren't that bad; I just can't emphasize enough to write down every code you come across and/or that's displayed onscreen during the upgrade process - you'll be glad you did if you have to start the process over again.

Loaded mine today and did not have any real issues but you will need closer to 1 hour from start to finish!

Sitting for 1 hour in your car with the motor running is ridiculous so be sure you have plenty of gas.

Card #1 went in without any problems, Card #2 also went smooth until 91% then I had to hit retry. From there it finished with no further problems. I also saved my splash screen so there was another 5 or 6 minuets.

Then had to pair my phone and phone book again. Also went to av1 to turn on my ipod.

Can't say yet if it is lots better but everything works so far and seems a tad faster. Time for a road trip!

I lost all my favorite POI's in the update.

And the HD radio presets are still blank.

But overall, I'm very pleased with this update.

Well mine came in the mail today as well...

Install went pretty similar as everyone elses.. Had a couple of read errors towards the end of the second disk...It does give you the option to retry which I did and it did move ahead.

Amazingly everything was saved; phone and radio settings. I can't tell if it boots faster or slower than before, it feels a little slower to me. Not that big a deal to me.

Not getting too many street names in the 3d mode as well although I did read a post somewhere here about a possible fix for that. I really like the 2D Heads up. MSN Direct seems to work fine with it and I have had no phone issues yet.

Haven't gone anywhere yet so can't say much about the maps or the routing. I do know that I miss GTIMatts mod and would love to have it back if he can make it work with 3.02

Regards,

M

And the HD radio presets are still blank.

That's truly terrible. WTF is all I can say.

I'm thinking I'll just get a Zune HD and mount it next to the radio for HD.. lol. At least it can show the name of the station...

IMO nothing major with the update. Sure a tad faster response times, even bluetooth. I doooooo get presets toggle with my steering wheel. For those who have the Audi MFSW, if you press rather than scroll, the left wheel/switch, it will toggle through the presets on AM/FM. Unfortunately or fortunately, depending on how you see it, toggling between presets is only one way. No up and down.

IMO nothing major with the update. Sure a tad faster response times, even bluetooth. I doooooo get presets toggle with my steering wheel. For those who have the Audi MFSW, if you press rather than scroll, the left wheel/switch, it will toggle through the presets on AM/FM. Unfortunately or fortunately, depending on how you see it, toggling between presets is only one way. No up and down.

jgb, did what you did to change by presets do anything before the update or only after?

I'd like to know before I reprogram the steering wheel adapter.

Out of the blue my update arrived last night. I know some people received emails from Pioneer that the update shipped... not me. Nice surprise!

Anyway, I did the update this morning. Only problems were it failed at 5%, 87%, and 99%!! Luckily, pressing RETRY worked each time. Talk about a "oh $%&@" moment or three. I do notice the response time is much better, but I have not really tested it yet. Getting ready to go out and about so I will test it on the road.

An overall good experience for me..1 failure at 99% while "Data upgrading" on SD #2. Funny that the retry logic was built in, I wonder if it routinely failed in testing, what the backstory is there. Either way it carried on just fine.

The upgrade is painful in terms of time taken. 51 minutes start to finish for me.

The result, though, is the way the unit should have shipped initially, in my opinion. Very solid so far.

Just received my disk about an hour ago, and the first update with through flawlessly. I am updating the maps now with the second disk and I am at 98% with no errors so far. Just for some background I have never run a mod I have only had approved pioneer software and configs on my unit, just incase anyone was wondering. I have the XM module, and IPOD, Hard-wire Bypass. My unit is the F90bt. I will update on units functionality later when I get off of work. By the way second disk just finished flawlessly and it ask me if I wanted to keep my current splash screen, which I answered "yes" so no it went to an additional update screen. That finished with no errors as well.

Before the update, clicking the scroll wheel didn't do anything. After the update, clicking the scroll wheel goes through the presets.

Got my legal 3.0 upgrade today. 1st SD card loaded perfect, but I could not get my unlock code from the website. Called Pioneer tech support and got some flunkie who took my info and said he would forward it to the "Engineering" departmet. He said I sould expect a call back the middle of next week. I flipped out, why should I have to wait longer ? I bought the damn thing the first week of July. This is what you get for trying to do things right and not support piracy.......

Hey all check out my post here with pictures regarding the update.

viewtopic.php?f=32&t=26118&p=181679#p181679

I also ran into problems with getting my unlock code. The Pioneer website returns "Error Code 1 Input Device Number is not correct". There is no transcription error. I am entering exactly the device code the program is reporting. Tech support closes at 5pm eastern so I have to wait until next week to straighten this out.