I don't really know how it restores it but I'm guessing it just erases the data that wasn't factory installed and the corrupted files came from either the music or user inputed map points or data.

oh the restore is on page 175-178 of the manual. Its the Method 4. Method 1, 2, and 3 didn't work for the people who tried so I did the Method 4: complete restore.

Awesome!

Thanks a lot for your help! I hope this will do the trick for me too

It's kinda sad that you pay $2K+ for a system which proves to be completely unreliable

dimaj

Goodluck.

hey look at what I just stumbled upon. It would help if these topics were combined. Method 4 reset worked for someone else too. read mrhappi's post, page 2.

http://www.avic411.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=3111&postdays=0&postorder=asc&start=15

I wonder if it has anything to do with ripping burned CDs to the HDD. What if the burned CD had an error but still playable and that error transfered to the drive? I mostly used burn ones.

That is interesting. I would buy that if unit would get stuck in boot only when last source used was Music Library. It tries to read that specific sector and then BOOM! In my case, it can be on XM, FM or any other source which doesn't require HDD usage.

I don't know if unit does a complete scan at boot time to check if everything is ok in terms of HDD read errors.

If you are saying that due to my post with not being able to play certain songs from HDD, those songs used to work before. What I found (which freaks me out) is that it is volume sensitive. If volume is higher than 5-10, it will skip after a few seconds (at the same time stamp).

I hate loosing all my information (addresses, phone book, music,...) but if that's the only way to get this thing up and running again, I don't have much of a choice

dimaj

So, I decided to bite the bullet and did a level 4 reset a few days ago. Today I was parked under the sun for about 40 mins and when I came back... yup it never booted up... Do you guys think that it is a HDD problem? Unit problem?

Thanks.

dimaj

man that sucks. The other day I was listening to a song in the Libary and it froze on a song for like 10 secs then skipped to the next one. It played for a while then froze again. Then finally played. Although the boot screen still hasent froze, I'm begining to get worried now.

This is unacceptable! We didn't spend $2K+ on a system that decides for itself when it wants to work!!!

dimaj

I've had $200 radios and lots of other cheap ones that lasted way, way longer than my Z1. Our Z1's are practically new!

I have the Z2 and in the valley its 97 degrees outside im sure its hotter inside and i have not experienced this problem.

When did you get your unit and when was it manufactured?

maybe it is happening with units with certain sequence? just a wild guess...

dimaj

I bought my unit in Sept. 06 and it was manufactured July 06.

My brothers unit is June 06 and bought the same time but it has not froze.

I have linked my issue to the way i start the car sometimes. If I crank it right up, then it is fine. If i wait until it is in the bootup sequence or is fully up it will lock up every time. It needs time to drain the power from the system between power cycles. You can't just kill the power to it for a split second or it will lock up bigger than dallas. So it wasn't a temerature thing for me after all. And i looked up in the service manual that the unit would basicly be melting before it would get a high temp lockout. They are more concerned with locking it out based off of a low temp.

I noticed this lockup issue when I would get someone at the gas station to fill my car up. (I am a paraplegic) They would ask me to turn off the car so I would leave the key in acc mode so I could continue the radio. But when I went to start the car back up, the unit would just hang until i did a reset and let it sit for a couple of minutes to discharge the internal capacitance. Then it would boot up fine. I think the bootup lockup is a EEPROM issue (CMOS or BIOS issue) Just my thoughts anyways. So next time you guys get a lockup, post up the exact senerio at which it locked up so that we can work around a solution.

interesting...

In my case, I let it sit for a minute or two before powering it back on.

Today we had about 102 degrees in the afternoon, so I decided to make a little test: I parked my car on a parking lot under the burning sun with all windows rolled up and moon room cover opened (so that the car could get as hot as possible...) I kinda regret I did that when I got back into the car... But anyway, I let it sit like that for good 40-50 mins and when I got back - it would just sit at the Pioneer boot-up screen. I turned off my car, waited a few mins and turned it back on - same result.

Then I took a 10 min drive on a highway with all windows opened. When I arrived at my destination, I power cycled it and it worked.

I'm taking it back to the installer tomorrow. They probably hate me by now

I just hope that they will give me a new unit and this will never happen again.

I would still have to blame the HDD for this. I would assume that it goes through the BIOS just fine and it just hangs loading the actual app from the HDD.

Let's take everybody's fav Windows for example. If you will mess with some system files and/or with registry, Windows just won't boot. It would sit at the boot screen with the scroll bar constantly moving, but computer wouldn't be doing anything. It is basically at a deadlock (where it cannot finish a certain action and other actions are waiting indefinitely until current action completes)

But so far, I am VERY disappointed in this product

dimaj

manufactured on March 07

on the boot-up screen it says that mine is Released in Feb 07 and i bought it i n April.

my z1 freezes at the pioneer screen. reseting using all methods according to the manual didn't do anything.

time for RMA.

my z1 only works in the morning when the temperature is cool, i think. i drove for a little bit and stop the engine. turn it back on and my z1 freezes at the pioneer screen.

got a few questions for you:

How long you were driving?

Were you driving with AC on?

Did you just "restart" your car or did you park for some time and then came back to it?

How hot was it when your system froze?

What car do you have?

all i did was turn on the engine, wait til the avic powers up, then everything works just fine. i noticed this only works in the morning (cool temperature). a couple minutes later i turn off the engine and then turn right back on, my avic freezes. the AC on didn't help either. i have a pathfinder 05.

i called pioneer tech support. i explained what happen and they said the problem came from the hard drive. i'm going to send it in since it's within a year of manufacture.

this is interesting... If I'm not mistaken, I've read in one of the threads that AVIC Boots from Flash memory, not from HDD... HDD is used for storing maps and music. I think it was on one of the pages of the bypass novel.

However, when this happened to me for the first time, I went into the Service Menu and did a read test, which successfully failed to read some block. What was funny is when temperature cooled down, reading passed.

also, i tried resetting my avic-z1 using all methods according to the manual and it was not responding to the commands or buttons.

is your avic-z1 working?

My z2 always freezes on boot if the outside temp shown in my car exceeds 92 degrees and the car has been in the sun for 1 hr or more.

Is this a normal condition or should I seek a replacement unit

Yup... I use a sun shade and leave my window open about 1/4 inch that has stopped my issues of freezing up... I live in Houston, TX and today was 96 so its hot and it will freeze up if I dont cover it with the sun shade...

I've been having the same issue with the z1 freezing up on the pioneer boot screen. Manufacture date: June 06. I have the flasher bypass chip installed. Has been installed and working fine for about a year now. I stay in milwaukee, wi and it doesnt get too hot up here so I don't think its a temperature issue. Last summer we had a few hot days and i never had this problem. I recently did the CDDB database update maybe a couple weeks before my problem started to occur. I sent it off to pioneer and they said it was working fine. I installed it yesterday (approx. 70 degrees) and got stuck again on pioneer boot screen. I disconnected the chip and still was unable to get the z1 to boot up. I've tried to perform all methods for resets but I'm unable to even get past the boot screen.

On one occasion I was able to load the CDDB update disc that i had used previously and performed the level 4 reset with the disc in the z1 and was able to get it to boot and work fine (unbypassed). I took the update disc out and got stuck at the boot screen again.

My question is: could the CDDB database update work like the bluetooth update and cause the flasher bypass to stop working and be the cause of my problem since im almost positive its not a temperature or hard drive issue?

i really don't know what causes the screen to freeze. i will send my z1 in, for pioneer to troubleshoot under warranty. i hope they will find the problem.

i will keep you guys posted.