So I got a z120bt installed in my car a couple days ago. I previously had a f90bt, it took a dump and is out for warranty service. In the meantime I bought a z120bt to upgrade as I'm over the drama with the f90bt. Previously did not have this problem at all with the f90bt, so this is hu related.

I have a 5 channel amp running my fronts, rears, and sub.

I've noticed sometimes when I turn the key to on, the hu will start. A couple seconds later I start the car, so the hu restarts it's startup sequence. When the audio starts, sometimes I'll have no sub audio. Or no audio at all. Or no rear and no sub. Once I realize this, I'll turn the key off for a couple seconds and back on. The deck fires up and everything is fine, all audio works correctly.

Has anyone else had this problem? Does the hu just trip out because it hasn't finished it's boot and that's why it will randomly not have any or all audio?

I love the deck and pioneer's iPod interface, but if it's going to be more pioneer drama, I'm just going to return this thing and get a kenwood instead, I feel like the pioneer issues are getting ridiculous.

I'm assuming you have a diesel car/truck and why you have to turn the ACC on prior to cranking.... You could try to find a power source that does not power down during cranks(but is off when the key is turned off).... Something like a fuel pump circuit or the likes..... Otherwise, you could rig up some sort of capacitor/resistor setup, so that it'll keep power to the unit while cranking....

I have this same issue.... it's very rare.... But sometimes when I fire up my truck, I will not get any front or rear chnnel sound.... only Sub.... I too do the same and just turn it back off for a couple of secs, and fire it back up and everything works perfect again....

I always though it was the PAC TATO interface that was the culprit.... As my previous Z2/3 would do the same... But now you have me wonder if it is in fact the HU....<-- and if that is the case, about all you can do is write Pioneer and/or blast the issue on their YouTube channel for the world to see....

Supposedly they are aware of my other two bugs and there is a fix coming....

1)sometimes the IPod is not seen at bootup

2)if you don't immediately hit the OK nag screen(prior to BT connection)VR will fail

No, I don't have a diesel, I just turn the key to on, put my seatbelt on, then start the car. I never really noticed it before, I guess I just do it that way out of habit. I was told to buy a Kenwood dnx9960 before this, but I like the Pioneer interface for the ipod and such so much I figured I'd give Pioneer another shot. The avic-f series was a disaster, as my f90bt shows as well as my friend's which failed as well (in weekend cars, no less.) I'll give it another weekend or so, as much as I hate to do it if I see anything else disconcerting about this hu I'm just going to take advantage of the 30 day return policy I got and be done with this.

The 9960 has exhibited the same behavior for some including myself. What amp do you have by the way? The one I had a problem with was a JL Audio. As soon as I switched to a different amp the issue went away for me. The problem with 9960 seems to be related to very high end amps that may be less forgiving when it comes to power demands with the head unit. the Pioneer may have the same issues with high end amps.

I have a JL hd900/5 running my fronts rears, and sub. Forgive my ignorance but when you say the kenwood had a problem with the demands of the amp, what is there for it to have a hard time with? You're just using remote power to turn them on and feed them signal for the music. Or is that whole process a lot more demanding than it sounds?

I dont know. The issue really doesn't make any sense at all anyway. All I know is the amp I have has been tested and is not defective and I don't have the problem with the other amp. Apparently either a lot of modern vehicles theses days are regulating the voltage of your car to the point that it cant work with certain amps at times or the head unit and the amps are competing with each other for power resources and one cant get what it needs so something has to give. In my case it was particularly weird and left several of us completely baffled in that the signal to my woofer amp was cut only when I put my foot on the gas. The amp was continuing to receive power but the head unit was cutting the signal at the pre out. One solution that worked for a sort time was to tap the 12v switched power wire into the remote turn on wire. That solved the problem for about three weeks but then it started acting up again. Once I eliminated the JL amp from the equation the problem went away for good. And the amp I have now gets about 25 watts more then the JL amp did. I don't know where the blame is but I don't really think it is a head unit or an amp fault alone but a combination of the two with resource hungry DD units, certain high end amps, and certain vehicles. A perfect storm if you will. Consider going with a different brand of am and see what happens.

Now last night when I turned on the headlights, all the audio dropped. I shut I off and turn it back on and it's fine.it happened a couple more times after that too. I think I'm officially over this deck lol.

Do you have H.I.D.s on your car and did you install them?

Guilty on both counts, Sir

Do you have a relayed harness to your battery to power the H.I.D.s?

Now that you mention it, the headlights are relayed from the battery, but the fog lights are just in line plug and play.

Eliminate the relay and take the H.I.D.s straight to the switched harness from the car. This happened to me and several others on this forum last year and this was the solution I found. There is a thread somewhere on here about it. Once the relayed harness was removed, none of the people that reported that problem here ever saw the issue again.