well i had mine lock up just now and its cool out side

but funny thing is my ipod was still working

ohh but the unit was hot i opened the face plate and touch the panel where the HD is and it was hot

If it's the HD, why does music still play off my library when it freezes?

this is fucked up

as i stated the z2 cannot cool the hard drive down once it gets too hot.

not sure why bridge4d can play music through the hard drive.

mine will just jump around song to song even if it boots when the hard drive is too warm. if your unit doesnt boot see how long it will play a song in the hard drive.

try this when it doesnt boot, pop out the hard drive and put it in the fridge or freezer put it rite back in and i bet it boots. guys this hard drive pops out in a few seconds give it a try.

im also wondering if stuffing this z2 in a dash if a few of the wires in back are blocking the airflow to the fan in the back of the HU

Iwould not recommend putting your HD into the freezer or fridge.

Iwould not recommend putting your HD into the freezer or fridge.

Me neither, condensation is a bitch...

I once made the mistake of taking my computer outside to dust it out with canned air. My house is quite a bit cooler than the outside, cold met warm, condensation formed somewhere in my psu. Once I was back inside, i promptly attemtped to start my computer up right after it had been outside for a bit. I saw lots of sparks and got a dead psu for my efforts. Luckily the rest of the puter was fine, but it was a lesson learned.

sorry guys ive been in the PC biz a long time putting your HD into the freezer is an old trick to retrieve data on a failing HD sometimes its the only way to get data off

id didnt say leave it in there a long time lol ive done it to my z2 5-6 times now. you can put them in the freezer for 15 minutes to get data that is other wise lost. to cool it down your ac duct on your car works fine and is the best method but you can still stick in the freezer or fridge for 5 min with no ill effects.

oh well you dont have to follow me

sorry guys ive been in the PC biz a long time putting your HD into the freezer is an old trick to retrieve data on a failing HD sometimes its the only way to get data off

Interesting..... I can understand the cooling effect, but I also know you're not dealing with a freeze-it compound that doesnt form harmful condensation after spraying. Many times when we have faulty cca's we will spray the ic's down with a freeze-it compound and it gets them working again long enough to help us verify which one to replace. But there is no harmful water condensation; just the compund which dissapates.

But hey, if it works for you, then have at it. Just doesnt sound very safe to me.

i got april version just started to freeze up last two week call wholesale told me been problem sent me new one got july one today

look at the brights side in another 4-6 weeks it will be cold enough our units will work great till next summer lol we should get close to 7-8 months of trouble free operation no thanks too or from pioneer.

marful: I have a Toyota 4-Runner. I believe this also contributes to the problem, as the 4-Runner radio opening is at the very top of the console, right under the dash, with no insulation under the dash.

 

I would guess that vehicles with the nav unit mounted lower, maybe with some buffer between the unit and the dash are not nearly as likely to have a heat issue as mine is.

 

On the 4-Runner, the a/c vent is right behind the nav unit, so it was simple to cut a hole to allow air to blow on the Z1

I don't think radio placement has anything to do with it. My 99 Maxima has the radio located under the a/c controls and vents. My Z2 locks up almost every afternoon.

#1 the z2 does not disipate heat well enough to cool a hot hard drive. this is really evedent.

That much is certain. Lets squeeze a hard drive into a tight plastic housing without any vents or cooling fins. Hmmm how can we make it worse… lets seal the only opening with a 7in LCD screen. This thing is poorly designed from a thermal standpoint.

One other rant – what’s with the ipod adapter? It horrible is you want to search for songs.

look at the brights side in another 4-6 weeks it will be cold enough our units will work great till next summer lol we should get close to 7-8 months of trouble free operation no thanks too or from pioneer.

In the immortal words of Homer….. Doh!

sorry trying to make a little fun in light of this

Hi, I wanted to chime in on this subject:

I had mine Z2 (+ BT + IPOD + REAR CAMERA + XM modules) installed professionally in my Audi S4 about 3 months ago. I like the unit a lot and it wows anyone who checks it out. -- I have some gripes about menu options and other issues that other people are complaining about as well... but on to the main issue at hand:

About 3 weeks ago my unit locked up on startup for the first time. I turned off the car, waited about a minute then started the car / unit again. Another freeze again; and another and another, etc. I pressed the reset button and then turned off the car. Started up correctly this time.

This same thing has happened now 3 times over 3 weeks. Very intermittently.

What causes this: vibration, heat, both?

I appreciate the feedback.

Thanks!

Current thinking is heat. The hard drive has an operational temp limitation of 158F and I believe the software tells the unit to shutdown the HD at around 130F of 140F...something like that anyway. Generally, most here have noticed that once you get your first freeze the unit will start freezing more and more often. The first time my unit froze it was three weeks until the second occurrence. Then it was anytime the car would sit in a parking lot in direct sunlight. A sunshade helps and I've had very few occurences when I make an effort to make sure the car remains well ventilated and in the shade. Also, I just ran the update on mine earlier this week and have not seen a freeze even when not using a sunshade or ventilation.

That's number 43 gentleman!

theres no dought about heat being the issue.

now with your first freeze watch when its hot out and it freezes when you get it going again try playing something in your library and watch your music just dance around. sometimes it will play a song or two then the hard drive short of overheating starts reading incorrectly making your music jump around.

when it does freeze put your hard drive in front of your ac vent for a couple minutes and watch it boot up perfect

i dont know if anyone has tryed this yet but it seem to work for me i put a computer fan in the back on my radio blowing out of the radio and have not had the problem since the reason i used a computer fan is i can hook it up directly to my acc. wire vs. the pioneer fan turns on at a certan temperature i think well anyways a 120 inch fan worked for me

i bought a Z2 worked great except for the rear camera thought it was the camera brain ordered a new one did not fix problem, it ended up being the input on the deck was bad so i got a new unit from my retailer now i also have the heat problem *old unit worked fine was from apr 07 new unit is from jul 07* seems when ever the temp is 90f+ the unit will not boot music still play. if temp is below 80f the system boots regular though the new unit does seem to take allot longer to fully boot up over the old system.

i read about a software update that may help with the heat issue, where would i find the official version or should i use the files i found for the by-pass in these forums ?

the files in the bypass section worked great for me

I had my first lock up last friday. It was a scorcher here, up in the low 100s, sat on the first graphic screen (whatever thats called) and hung there. My music from my playlist was playing the entire time. I shut the car off, turned it back on, and it came up just fine.

However, this was AFTER i had the ac on for a few minutes. So, i would most definitely say its a heat thing.

theres no dought its a heat thing and its a HD thing as well.

some of you guys are lucky and your files will play from the library and quite a few others cannot play library music and the songs jump around.

UPDATE: It's been almost a week since I updated my unit with the cndv-700hd disc and I'm yet to experience a freeze up. I've not used the sunshade or any ventilation tricks. It's been 100F+ for the last few days and my unit starts everytime. I guess the update fixed any bad sectors on my drive and it's only a matter of time until the heat does it again, or the update adjusted the temp sensors threshold?

Either way, all is right with the world again. Birds sing, dogs hump and my laundry has never smelled more April fresh.

mines only locked up once since the update, i honestly think all these hard drives have a different heat thresholds as a few of us our library gets jacked and the rest library is fine in the heat.

and too confirm the heat in the HD is what is causing the library to jump around and not finish songs or record the whole song. ive cooled my HD when there were errors and then it worked perfect before any temp changes had taken place in the HU

Crapola...guess what. First freeze since update when leaving work today. I had it coming after gloating yesterday. Although, it didn't take nearly as long to become available, only a couple of minutes.

So, I have a theory. I believe there is a thermal limit measured by the temp sensor. Why else would they have a temp sensor? That limit was increased by the update, however it's still getting up to 105F here and internal car temps are probably reaching 130/140ish. The unit cools down below the new limit quicker and thus become available quicker. If this is the case, then simply putting a new HD with an increased operational temp won't help...it will be a slave to the temp sensor and it's pre-programmed threshold. If this is true we'll need to find the code that sets the temp sensors limits for a new HD to do any good.

they may have raised the temp limit in the HU with the update im not sure. i did notice like you since the update its got better. today parked in the sun 97f but using a sunshade it booted fine.

A new HD will work though as long as it has a higher heat threshold. when i pull out the HD when the HD is hot almost to hot to hold in your hand [over 100 thats for certain] and i cool it and put it back in the HU that is still hot it boots fine and plays through the library.

the reason the HU wont boot is because the HD is reading to many errors in the boot sector. and i wonder if just replacing parts of the boot files is what helped us.