I did another restore and it connected this morning and I drove up the road about 5 minutes and came back home because I forgot something. I turned the car off and grabbed what I needed and cranked the car again with the iPod disconnecting. Maybe it could be a loose connection somewhere or something.

I think I might try to pull the head unit out today and open it up to check the plug inside the unit that has the female USB port on the other end.

I haven't had a chance to pull the unit out yet, but like I stated in an earlier post, an 8gb USB drive seems to connect every single time, if I push the male end of the drive "almost" all of the way in to the female USB port of the cable. Sometimes if I just push the USB drive in all of the way, I see the light slowly flash on the USB drive meaning it has power, but the unit isn't accessing it. I tried this with the iPod several times with it either disconnecting almost immediately or it'll connect, but after I change albums with the head unit, it disconnects. All of this was tried holding the head units USB cable in the same spot and as still as possible.

Well I did a full reinstall of the fx3.1 software and was able to get Samantha TTS voice file to work properly... It may have had something to do with the newer maps, but either way the iPod still doesn't work. I will hopefully take the unit apart tomorrow and check the internal plug that goes externally to the USB female port cable.

just for shits and giggles, please make sure your dock connector (ipod) is clean, and does not have any dust, pocket lint... inside it

I did that, but I can certainly do it again.

Does the cable USB Pinout post on the forums, need to be something I look into?

http://avic411.com/index.php?/topic/33736-avic-f700bt-usb-cable-pinout/

I have an f90bt, but wondering if this could be a possibility, although the USB drive works pretty much works every single time. The other times it appears to be like the headi it doesn't want to access it unless I unplug it and plug it back in.

so have you ever checked yet to see if other ipods acted the same way or if it is only happening on your ipod?

i would definitely confirm that this problem happens on all other ipods before i would take anything apart!

I'm fairly good with taking electronics apart and putting them back together... (I've dismantled my ps3 twice for some dust removal. Lol!) hopefully tomorrow when I meet up with some friends they will let me test their iPods to see if mine is possessed. The funny thing (and the reason I don't feel taking it apart will help anything) is that my small 8gb USB drive connects every single time.

If worse comes to worse and it wouldn't be a big deal, could I use a portable 100gb harddrive as long as say the "cigarette lighter" is powering it?

The funny thing (and the reason I don't feel taking it apart will help anything) is that my small 8gb USB drive connects every single time.

if a flash memory drive works every time with out fail, then you problem is not an internal wiring issue, its either a problem with the ipod, the software on the avic, or a compatibility problem between the two softwares.

I'm currently trying to convince my friend to let me use his iPod for a few minutes before I head home today, so maybe I can have a definitive answer in a little while.

I'm currently trying to convince my friend to let me use his iPod for a few minutes...

sounds like you need better friends! lol

Hah! He's a pretty cool guy, although he didn't let me try his iPod out. At this stage I'm just stuck. When I get some time I'm going to get me a USB car charger and make sure it will power my USB drive so i can just listen to music from there.

Out of curiosity, is the 4.0 hybrid firmware worth putting on the f90bt? I'll just use te maps from my fx3.1 install. I'm curious if some drivers that are built into the fx3.1 would maybe be causing issues. I've connected my iPod classic countless times to the same friends avic d3 and it worked every single time.

I don't have an iPod to use on the F90BT, but after upgrading to the hybrid software a week or two ago I'm very impressed with it. Found a set of 2011Q4 maps to use with it also. The button layout on the map screen is significantly improved, among other things.

the ipod and all AV for that matter arent affected by what myflashdisk you have... so no fx3.1 vs hybrid 4.01 will make no difference. These versions primarily affect the navigation side of the units. There is no real benefit of going to 4.01 unless you are also "purchasing" updated maps. You are better off adding the Daftia mods on top of your present fx system or find another finished mod more to your liking as these mods add much more costumization to anything pioneer has done in the multiple years the units have been out.

Could a problem be with me having restored the iPod on the mac versus windows? I see under iTunes the format says "Macintosh" and since the avic runs on Windows, could that be a problem. The only reason I questioned my fx3.1 software is because the my iPod works perfectly with his avic d3.

I used multiple iPods on avic with fx3 software. Though not a 120gb do you have a thumb drive you can put music on? Does that work (have to change settings for USB)

Yeah. I'm currently using an 8gb Sandisk Cruzer thumb drive with the f90bt. It has connected every single time. I just leave the av1 source to iPod and it works with the USB drive. I can have the car off and unplug the thumb drive and plug in the iPod. Upon recranking the car, the iPod never connects. It attempts to, but just immediately disconnects.

What does the iPod say when car is on?

I believe I may have actually fixed it this morning. I'm trying to allow some time to verify it. The iPod was formatted and restored in iTunes on a Mac. Since it doesn't take long to do a restore, I went ahead and did a format and restore on a windows computer. That seemed to do the trick.

I've used the same USB data cable with both operating systems and have done multiple restores before on the Mac. This is the first time I've tried a windows-based computer.

Note: its a Mac running both apple operating system and bootcamp running windows on the same computer, with same USB port.

So for now I seem to think it has something to do with it being a windows formatted iPod versus a Mac.

I'm still giving it a bit of time before I consider it the definitive problem, but for right now, its performing like a champ.

I went out to the car after copying a movie in iPod format and when the movie finishes, my iPod disconnects as well if I hold the fast forward button for about 5 seconds. (I assume because it's fast forwarding very quickly.) Also just watching the video for about 3-5 minutes, it will disconnect the iPod.

Luckily, when I manually disconnect the iPod by pulling the cable and connecting it back it works perfectly fine with the music. So music and connection issues appear to be fixed, except with videos, but I'll look for some fixes with that hopefully. So it appears I'm just tackling one problem at a time. At least I'm making progress.

Well. Never mind. It's acting up again, but I blame it on myself connecting and disconnecting in iTunes so many times. I plan on doing another windows restore tonight.

Does anybody use a Mac when syncing or formatting/restoring their iPod classic? I'm curious if the windows formatting versus the Mac formatting may cause issues, otherwise I believe I can blame it on the connection between my iPod and the headunit, which I don't believe is the problem.

I use a Mac and never had an issue. I believe the issue is with the dock connector on your iPod. That is why you need to try a different iPod. Hell go buy one just for testing and take it back once you know for sure.

agreed, restoring an ipod more than once is usually a waste of time. its as simple as its going to be one of five problem

1.software problem on the ipod

2.hardware problem on the ipod

3.the connection cable

4.software problem on the AVIC

or 5. a hardware problem on the AVIC

now identify, isolate and eliminate

you have now proved multiple times that it is not a software problem on the ipod

X1

you have tried a different cable so you know that's not it

X3

you where told days ago to swap out the ipod to rule out (or more likely confirm) that the problem is with ipod itself could be many internal issues with the ipod almost all needing the ipod to be replaced

?2

so now you can choose to rule out #4 and #5 by either replacing all of the software on the AVIC or by trying a different radio or easier yet, going to a store with your ipod and testing it on some displays, this will be a win win, because you will either confirm that your problem is with your ipod or you will confirm that your avic is the problem and then you will be able to replace it right there, i would also recommend trying a store that sells both nav systems and ipods

also not to get off on a rant here, but if you still cant find one of the 300,000,000 ipods that have been built to borrow for some testing, you either have the worst group of friends ever, or you are that friend that everybody has that just doesn't respect everybody elses shit and any time they do let you borrow stuff it comes back all jacked up.

this issue should have been solved in a day or two, not dragged out for three weeks.maybe its just me or the fact that every hour i waste trying to fix my own problems is just another fist full of cash im pissing away by not working on a paying job.

Regardless, all of the possible outcomes are now contained in this thread. Good luck!

also not to get off on a rant here, but if you still cant find one of the 300,000,000 ipods that have been built to borrow for some testing, you either have the worst () group of friends ever, or you are that friend that everybody has that just doesn't respect everybody elses shit and any time they do let you borrow stuff it comes back all jacked up.

LMAO!!! I so almost pissed myself my friend.