I installed the N3 and have everything connected, VSS, reverse, etc... the head unit is plugged into teh car harness, and the brain is plugged in as well.

The parking brake wire is not connected, haven't found that, but I bypassed the unit so it should be a moot point.

I turned on the car and pressed buttons and nothing's happening. Read in the manual to press the reset button. Did that, nothing.

When I take off the face plate I see the red blinking dot, so I do know the unit is getting power.

The unit came direct from Pioneer.

What am I doing wrong?

Year/make/model of vehicle would help. Have you checked ALL of the fuses in the vehicle?

thanks... I thought I was really detailed. my mistake!

1994 Mercedes E320.

I'll check all the fuses.

the car wiring harness has a ground that I haven't connected to the N3 harness, wasn't sure where to put it. the N3 has that combined yellow and black ground wire, and I've connected to a screw-down ground lead.

Be careful, because I had a screw down lead behind my dash, a bit farther down in my Mercedes SLK - When I tested it, I realized it wasn't a ground lead, it was a common Illumination terminal!!! When I turned the lights on, it zapped everything that was plugged in!

-Also, do you have your brain properly wired up? The E and the SLK have pretty much the same radio, its a bit tight behind there, make sure your brain cable is on properly and not popping out of place when you shove it back in there.

The blinking red dot will come on regardless if the brain is even hooked up. That dot is often not a bad sign. So if your brain is connected, and you turn the car to ACC, put the faceplate on, hit the reset button (if need be), the screen should come out and bend all the way back and smack your instrument panel (in my case AC controls) nice and firm, then you can adjust the angle using +/- buttons.

Thanks for the tips so far, really. I want to get this thing working!

Tight is right.... no room at all back there. None.

The brain is hooked up properly, I haven't mounted it permamently yet, so I can continue to get to the connections easily.

I've checked the fuses and all are ok.

I have a creeping feeling this is brain related... Dunno why.

Can you get access to another brain/din cable to test it? IMO that would be your best bet. If it still doesn't work, and you're getting no response from the Avic, maybe something is wrong with the HU. But what's happening with you is exactly what happened when I didn't have my brain plugged in. Absolutely no response, no power up. Another thing to consider is to make sure your ACC wire is hooked up properly. Depending on what harness you're using to connect your AVIC the ACC and BATT PWR wires might be switched on your Merc. I know on my car, when I used the VW (1784) style harness, the power and acc wires were reversed. When I got a Mercedes-specific harness, it had them the right way around. This MAY or may not cause a similar problem in your case. It would be super if you could take a snapshot or two of your harnesses for your radio, and the harness you're using, because if I (and i'm sure others on here) can see them, we may be able to spot if you have any wires hooked up incorrectly.

Regards,

YK

You were 100% right!

All that stressing, and the problem was the brain.

That is fixed, now I've got a new issue, no sound... geez!

Let me be honest..... it wasn't plugged in. I had so many other issues, wiring a brand new harness, removing the front and back seats, getting to the trunk, mounting the brain, removing the center console, etc. that I just slipped up and didn't do the easiest thing.... man!

Ok, all is running, gps signal, etc, but I have no sound. I have the regular stock speakers that came with the car. I did the wiring according to the color coded harness that I got for the car and the pioneer harness. any ideas as to why I can't hear anything. everything is plugged in and no fuses are blown. it's so cold outside my hands are frozen trying to type this, just came in from the garage.

I'm glad you were able to make it work. As for the sound issue... this one i'm not sure about... It should work perfectly as long as everything's hooked up...play around with the volume i guess? maybe you pressed in the vol knob and attenuated the volume? I'm not sure, really.

I had a problem with my sound at first also. It was because when I was installing the dome light never went off and the battery was almost dead. I got a jump from a guy and the sound started working. Maybe this is your issue also?

I'll re-hook up everything, there could have been no sound because of what twinkie said.... the car hasn't been driven in days and the battery was low. I had to go somewhere last night so I put the car together (the seat, the console, hiding wiring, etc), minus the N3.

I'm also gong to move this to a new thread later on today if it doesn't work.