I tried to look around and see if I could find a similar issue to the problem that I am currently having, but to no avail.

A few months back, one day I started up the car and the screen never really turned on at first, then a message in white lettering appeared across the top in a foriegn language. Turn car off.... remove key..... restart..... same problem, and it has been there ever since. None of the buttons do anything to change the screen at all, it just stays black with the message across the top the whole time. All I can do is turn the volume up and down and cycle through songs (though I cant view what's playing). I recently had to unhook the battery cable from the car while doing some other work and now I cant even get music to play since everything kind of rebooted, so Im down to my last shred of patience here.

I had a friend of mine take a look at the message and apparently it is in Russian..... says something like "Caution. The screen may be flipped" or something to that effect. WTF? Im starting to think maybe I bought a knock-off or something. Sending it in for warranty work is out of the question, unless that is my last and final option.

Anyone have any ideas? I have read that there is a reset button somewhere.... do you think just hitting that will solve my problem? Do I need to remove the radio from the dash to get to this button? Any help you can provide is thoroughly appreciated, so I thank you in advance.

-Pat

Oh and by the way, to be more specific about the radio, I have the AVIC-F900BT.

I'm having the same issue on my F700BT...it started this week. The SAT. radio will play however the screen is black with the following message across the top of the screen:

CAUTION: THE IMAGES ON THE SCREEN MAY APPEAR TO BE REVERSED

I've tried several times to reboot the unit to no avail.

Anyone else having this issue?? UGH!!

Well while I am sorry to hear you are having a problem, I am kind of relieved to hear that someone is having the same problem that I am. Upon looking into this situation more, I have learned a few things. One is that mine is probably in Russian because that is where the programming is done for Pioneer. Second, I have been told that this is more than likely a firmware issue. I am waiting to hear from someone right now as to whether or not he can properly update it for me, so I will be sure to keep you posted on the outcome.

If anyone else out there is following along, feel free to do the same or chime in with any other advice.

I'm having the same issue on my F700BT...it started this week. The SAT. radio will play however the screen is black with the following message across the top of the screen:

 

CAUTION: THE IMAGES ON THE SCREEN MAY APPEAR TO BE REVERSED

 

I've tried several times to reboot the unit to no avail.

 

Anyone else having this issue?? UGH!!

This one actually sounds like it has selected the backup-camera as a source, and you don't have one (does the 700 support a backup camera?). See if you can get to the Menu and disable the camera input. Also, I seem to recall that there is a wire that normally hooks to the backup lights signal in your car to automatically turn this on. If you left that wire loose when you hooked stuff up, perhaps it has moved around in the dash and come into contact with a 12v source.

I have seen this multiple times....

What you want to do is let the unit boot up completely. Once it has fully loaded try pressing the MAP or MENU buttons until you are finally able to reach the MAIN MENU. it may not work at first but keep trying and it should eventually let you get there.

Then you want to go into SYSTEM SETTINGS and turn BACK CAMERA to off. or to ON then back to OFF. whichever works.

This should let you use your unit but unfortunately there will still be some left over problems. Specifically. I believe that if you go to the LANGUAGE settings it will show the voice language is BLANK or has some unusual characters in the the box. If you try to select the proper language your unit will probably freeze.

I do not know if there is anything you can do to solve this part of the problem. Perhaps trying to reload the firmware via instructions posted somewhere in this forum.

I have also seen this problem one time way back last year when I upgraded my factory speakers to Polk DB's. During install I wasn't able to use the factory speaker plugs that plugged right into the factory speakers and Crutchfield had no adapter so I had to tap into the original speaker wires which was not any big deal. But I hadn't left quite enough wire to allow me to route the wire properly, so I had to stretch it a little and it was rubbing against the metal on the door.

Apparently it shorted for a very brief moment and that was enough to produce what you are seeing with the weird boot up and the weird foreign language (really freaky to see). I immediately knew what the problem was and removed my front door panels (sort of a pain which is why I hadn't done it earlier) and rewired the speaker plug ins in the front door with longer wire and no chance of rubbing against the metal door frame. No problems since and that's been almost a full year.

I have two trucks with these F series installed. I also had an issue on my other vehicle where one of the speaker wire plugs came unplugged from one of my rear extended cab doors and it made the occasional boot loop occur whenever it swung into contact with the door frame (I'm speculating on whether it actually shorted against the door frame). I would have little odd things happen on my F90BT in that truck until I finally realized that that right rear speaker wasn't actually working and found the wire unplugged (you'd have thought I would have noticed that speaker not working earlier but my hearing is obviously not what it used to be). I replugged it more securely and that was 4 months ago and since that time my F90BT has never had any of those odd problems I had been experiencing.

My point is--sometimes it is a loose wire somewhere in the install--even a simple speaker wire--that causes weird behavior on boot up and at other times on these units. We jam so many wires into the dash there's no telling if something is just slightly loose somewhere.

Guys thanks so much for finally chiming in with some advice here. Next time I'm out in the garage I'm going to try the buttons trick to get it out of camera mode. If that doesn't work, I'm going to pull the radio and find the wire for backup signal and make sure it's tied up properly. I will be sure to post up my findings.

Keep the advice coming if anyone has any other suggestions.

I have seen this multiple times....

 

What you want to do is let the unit boot up completely. Once it has fully loaded try pressing the MAP or MENU buttons until you are finally able to reach the MAIN MENU. it may not work at first but keep trying and it should eventually let you get there.

 

Then you want to go into SYSTEM SETTINGS and turn BACK CAMERA to off. or to ON then back to OFF. whichever works.

 

This should let you use your unit but unfortunately there will still be some left over problems. Specifically. I believe that if you go to the LANGUAGE settings it will show the voice language is BLANK or has some unusual characters in the the box. If you try to select the proper language your unit will probably freeze.

 

I do not know if there is anything you can do to solve this part of the problem. Perhaps trying to reload the firmware via instructions posted somewhere in this forum.

Yep, through trial and error, I figured this out as well! I'll check the Backup Camera settings shortly. I do recall the voice language was set to Italian however the device would freeze up when I tried to change it.

I'll post my findings as soon as I can!

Okay the back camera was not set but I set it to ON then to OFF and that appears to have resolved the issue. I'll post any unusual niggles if I experience any. Cheers!!

Mine does the same thing at start up, but it won't let me go past it to the main menu anymore. The language was messed up, but I was able to fix it. The only thing that works is the main knob. I can change the track and turn the volume up and down. Any suggestions?