Luis_M

has anyone encountered this problem? radio was usually working great, then the "P O R S C H E" welcome greeting on the display stayed on for several minutes before it switched over to the radio info and the radio started playing now and then, and now the last few times it's just staying on the PORSCHE message the whole time. I read something about the radio needing to validate itself with the car computer before the PORSCHE message goes away. Any ideas how to fix this or is the radio toast?

Luis
03 996TT

fpb111

I have had this happen a couple of times on my 2003 C2 Cab, the only way I could get it to behave was to pull the sound package fuses, D8 & 9 for about 15 seconds.
.

Pac996

If you do more I suggest making sure you know not just read the procedures and have the radio code before trying to make sure all the connections are good by unplugging and replugging them. A guy named Murphy wrote a story about the deal

Randyg308

i wouldnt be suprised if this head unit acts up from time to time,mine works fine the majority of the time,but also has the same issues you mentioned.along with the tone controls defaulting to zero from time to time,its the nature of the beast!topic has been brought up many times here on rennlist.....good luck

fpb111

2003 has radio codes stored in the DME so if you pull the fuses, battery, etc... No loss of code for radio.

logray

And you can always get radio codes on renntech.org, assuming you follow the correct procedure of course. :-)

sanjeev

I had the same issue with my car (2003 C2 w/ CDR-23). Dealer tried several times to fix, inside and outside of warranty, to no avail. Oddly enough, in my case, the problem was more frequent in cold weather, neve happenned in summer. I finally chalked it up to first year teething problems with the MOST bus system used in Porsche cars.
A quick fix that worked was to reinitialize the system - you may not need to mess with fuses, a key remote lock/unlock cycle re-arms the alarm and data bus, and this always worked for me to reset the stereo.

Luis_M

No success hunting for the Murphy thread mentioned above... anyone know the right keywords?

Luis_M

I tried this and it did not work. Based on another post I found, I also tried turning the radio off, shutting car off, locking car/arming alarm for 10 seconds, unlocking, restarting car, turning on radio. No success. Will try pulling the fuses next.

Seems to be getting worse now in that I don't even get the PORSCHE start-up message when the radio powers up the first time now; I have to turn it off and back on again to see the message.

I sent an email off to the Becker AutoSound people in New Jersey last weekend. here is their reply:

"Sounds like a fiber optic issue. Ship the radio to us to the address listed
below for analysis"

seanmcr6

I usually press CD and the unit starts playing the CD...then I press the stereo buttons and it comes back. Not all the time, maybe 60/40

Luis_M

Thanks fpb111!
This tip (pulling D8 and D9) worked for me. We'll see how long it lasts. Anyone have any ideas as to what the core problem is that leads to the radio freezing up?

fpb111

It is controlled by Windows 95 software.
Be glad you don't have to stop the car, shut all of the windows, turn it off, get out, then get back in and restart it.

Mine still does it occasionally.
Mostly when the radio is on while starting the car in cold weather maybe, spikes, volts too low, during system initialization??

If I remember to turn it off before I shut the car off it seems to work much better. I also give it a minute after starting, to allow any sluggish or hyperactive electrons to get to their assignments and settle down before I turn the stereo on in cold mornings, that has been working so far.