kshepley

Complex situation:

Problem: 6-speaker system formerly with bass/treble/midrange and aux CD now behaves and appears as a 4-speaker, bass/treble only and no aux CD system. Car has navigation system.

Background:

Tree fell in storm damaging roof. Body shop removed headliner and aborted roof replacement due to side air bags (did putty repair from outside instead). Said they touched no wires and re-assembled. Disconnected battery.

Upon getting car back I found I had no radio/navigation. I had to reset using codes. Navigation is fine. Radio problem as above. The code Honda gave me when I bought car is a 4 digit code and the owner's manual describes a 5 digit code. Manual contradicts itself and is unclear as to number of digits code is supposed to be. The word "code" gets spelled out in display as numbers are entered, so it stops at four numbers. I called dealer, they looked up somewhere and gave me a 5 digit code. They also had my 4 digit number on file, so I am not sure which code is correct. The five digit code is no good, quits at 4 numbers and returns an error. I actually looked up the codes online from Honda, got yet a different 5 digit code and same thing - error. System only takes a four digit code. The 4 digit code I have is accepted, it just "brings up" the wrong radio system.

The other fact is I installed a Blitzsafe aux input device for an MP3 player. Has worked fine for over a year. I don't know if that could be significant. The system also has a Honda installed tape deck that now works fine. System also has XM which is also working OK. The preset channels were maintained through all this.

It looks like there must be a firmware chip somewhere that can optionally run as a 4 or 6 speaker system with different associated options (I'm guessing).

To summarize: I don't have an Aux CD deck "tab" in the display now (which was previously used by the Blitzsafe device), don't have a midrange (3 band) equalizer (only bass and treble) and the system appears as 4 speaker system when you adjust "sound" settings in the display.

Any help would be very much appreciated. The body shop is claiming ignorance, the dealer is saying bring it in, but I don't want to pay to fix something the body shop did. Plus I miss my radio, this thing sounds like real junk now!

(Note: I have been resetting by pulling the radio fuse).

Thanks very much for any guidance.

BishopB18C1

as far as i know there isn't a midrange setting. my wife owns an 06 ex-l w/navi and i swear i can't find the midrange you're speaking of.

kshepley

Thanks for your response. I was getting ready to post the answer, which I discovered on my own (again). I discovered it the first time after I first bought the car almost two years ago. I am very disappointed that Honda could not explain this to me. Instead they kept acting defensive.

In essence there is a 3-band equalizer; however, there are only bass and treble bars for adjustment in the digital display. A graphic appears for the “sound” adjustment (accessed by pressing in the radio tuning button, or by a “sound” tab in the digital touch screen). The graphic shows bass on the left and treble on the right. The hidden trick is that midrange is anchored (invisibly) and as you increase/decrease bass and/or treble, a vee shaped bar is formed with midrange being fixed at the baseline value (which appears at the center point between bass and treble). So it really functions as a crude 3-band equalizer with only bass and treble adjustments being adjustable. To me the difference in sound quality is tremendous. The manual doesn't mention this either.

All I remembered is that there was a 3-band equalizer, which I would still say is true; it just appears on the surface to only have traditional bass and treble adjustments. I should have remembered this, but Honda should have known their product better than me. The manual should also explain this feature.

kshepley

PS: I forgot to mention that the lack of a CD/AUX tab was really not a problem either. It is accessed by scrolling through the feature tabs (AM, FM, XM1, etc) with the physical buttom (CD/AUX??) to the left. The digital tab only appears after scrolling through in this fashion. It is not a normal choice that appears when you turn on the radio. Another detail I forgot about because I hadn't used the radio in a while....

BishopB18C1

sorry for the late reply as i never received a email response notification. i'll have to check this out.

michla77

hey
I am having a similar problem to the one you had. Honda gave me a 5 digit code for my radio code. every time i enter the 4th digit it says error. I called them and they say that is the only code they have for my radio. I too have a navigation system but my car is a 2003 accord. It will cost me $100 if Honda fixes the problem. I want to avoid paying this especially since i have the codes. The navigation system code works, but i have no audio or radio. How did you get that 4 digit code?

kshepley

They give them to you when you buy the car new, and there are two labels in the glovebox with s/n's and codes (nav + radio). The 5 digit code is confused. The manual talks about it and Honda gives them out, but my radio only accepts the four digit one that came with the car. I got a five digit one from the dealer and a different five digit one through Honda's webpage, but both did not work. The radio spells out the word code (C-O-D-E) as you enter digits, which is obviously a four letter word. If you have the right four digits, it accepts it and there is no way to enter a fith digit. Something doesn't make sense.... I find it hard to believe Honda is not aware of something like this. Check the glovebox

K-frazier27

PROBLEM SOLVED!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Everyone! The same crap happened to me. for about 5 months I was without a radio, my navi is fine.I just got it back after the longest 5 months of my life. Here is what you do. 1. if you dont have your serial number you can get it by(if you have a navigation system) turning the engine on, then turn your radio on, and hold down the seek up button and the change disc up button at the same time. when you do this your serial number will show up in the display. copy down the letters and the numbers(make sure you get the letters because it plays a huge part in doing this).After that is done( now you may have tried this already and they might have given you a five digit code but bear with me and KEEP READING THIS POST! you will be glad you did) call american honda customer service at 1800 999 1009 and get to an operator for radio codes they will ask for your vin and if you are not registered as the owner of the car through honda then you may have to fax over some info for security purposes. After you get through all the red tape give the associate your serial number Letters and numbers! and see what they give you. They will more than likely give you a five digit code(either everyone at honda is ignorant of this problem or they are trying to rip people off) luckily when I called I got an indvidual that knew what she was doing. when they give you that 5 digit code they are entering in your serial number without the letters in it, ask them to enter the full serial number with letters and numbers and a 4 digit code should be given to you that will work. Good luck e-mail me at k-frazier27@sbcglobal.net if if it works or not, because it worked on my 03 accord, and I happy to be able to share this with people having the same problem.

ekb16

iTrader: (1)

Navi is usually a 4 digit # and radio is a 5 digit #

Bobybull

I can see this is one of the best Honda forums on the net, so there is my problem waiting for solution..
Honda accord tourer 2005 2.2i-CTDI cd changer is not working.
I could load all CDs 6 of them but player didn't play them.
there were some originals and some written (burnt) cd.
Radio is working fine but CD player says ERROR and jump back to radio.
when I push eject says error and jump back to radio.
Today while I was driving tried to push eject and some CDs have come out some haven't.Player still doesn't play CDs only I can hear some noises spinning it and after says ERROR jumps to radio.
Should I buy a new one or just some reset could help?
I am thinking of buying some MP3 car hifi or DVD player for my Honda, but the genuine one can't be changed, can it? because there is the air conditional displayed and the time everything is there.Has everybody had problem with factory made Honda CD player or changed it to MP3 or DVD?
how can i use AUX button on the front panel? can I connect an external player to it?
Regards Joe



Modified by Bobybull at 6:08 PM 10/26/2008

El Ferrera

I got the 5 digit code to reset the radio. I keep getting code error e and I can't reset it. Anyone know what to do so I can get the code in and reset it. I think the last time, it only took 4 of the 5 digits, but this time it keeps reading error code

cate)

honda had a inoperative recal when these cars first came out some radios when exposed to allot of heat the screans would go blank (heat after the pdi might i say like o setting on the lot in the sun) So the radios were replaced under the warantie. Yay for new owner, untill you change the battery and radio wants a code right. Well the navi (4digit)i am not too too shure of but for us who have the (5 digit radio) cd player or 6 disk in dash when they were replaced the verry nice tech that changed it probably did not update the cadio cod in the glove box or on the card in the service manual. Boo tech right but there is a way to still receve your code. By pressing the 1 and 6 buttons and then turning the power in you will recieve your radio serial number. Take thid number and call your local honda parts department and they will give you your code.