Sutitan

My navigation has slowly been dying on me, but recently the battery was unpluged and its having difficult downloading the software. Before when they battery was unplugged, it would download the software, and then the navi would work. The navi would show an error every now and then when booting, but it would eventually start working. as of recent, the errors became more and more frequent, and took longer to iron out themselves. So, when the battery was unplugged this time, it fails to download the software. It says "Please Check your disk". I tired disconnecting the battery and trying once more, but it just fails to download. Im assuming the navi cant get a good read on the disk and eventually just gives up.

So here is what im thinking. All the recommendations ive seen from searching go like this:

1) Try to clean the disk
2) Try a "laser cleaner" disk
3) Buy a new navi cd (if you have money to burn)
4) Pull the unit and ship it to alpine and have them fixed it for $358.

So, alot of those signs are pointing to laser disk error/failure. Ive seen and fixed plenty of failed dvd units that just needed a little cleaning. A q-tip with some Isopropyl Alcohol. Its usually really simple. but I have no experience taking apart the navi DVD unit. I was wondering if anyone has shared my curiosity and taken the unit apart.

Also, I found someones diagnos from alpine. this is what they listed

01T55533Y04-RM IPF PWR UNIT BN-M30U04 Qty 1
81D61456Y01-RM DV36T02C, IPF DVD MECH Qty 1
Mechanical, Apply Countermeasure:
07-05603Z01 BKT,SPRING NUT2, ATN-A051620 Qty 1

Looking up the part numbers, I noticed it was the Navi logic board, the dvd drive, and a spring nut. I cant imagine them replacing the whole logic board and the dvd drive, so I cant really comment on that. I cant imagine a spring nut being much of an issue either way, so I feel as if their diagnostic is a little useless.

Also, during my research, I found out the CRVs use an identical unit. And guess what. They also have the exact same issues we are having in the TL. Anyways, I pulled up a couple images to get an idea of what the drive looks like. Without blowing up the forums with a bunch of large images, heres a good one showing the DVD unit.



Also, digging in further, I found a guy on the CRV forums who actually was brave enough to remove their DVD unit. Sure enough, it matches the pictures of the DVD unit I found. Their unit is incorperated into their headunit, which kind of makes it a big pain. But his write up is pretty comprehensive. But its a great read from a seemingly very intelligent guy. He manages to fix the issue by cleaning the lense.

http://www.crvownersclub.com/forums/...sassembly.html

Im hoping to maybe tackle this tommorrow. I really should be studying for exams coming up this week but ive motivated myself over this issue, and really want to tackle it. Id really appreciate any input on the subject. Maybe even just a little encouragement would help.

Sutitan

Alright, so I stayed up late reading up on procedures and various comments. I guess my goal will be to remove the DVD unit and move this center metal spring clamp. The green circle in the picture below shows the screw that supposedly allows direct access to the laser lens. The lens is supposedly where the red screw is shown. you can kind of see a slot where I believe ill have access to the top of the lens.



Oh well. wish me luck. Hopefully ill be able to come up with a solution to save future TL'ers with this issue a few hundred bucks. Either that or ill end up with a dead DVD drive.

Sutitan

Found this on a german accord forum. supposidly they have the same dvd drive as us.

http://translate.google.com/translat...82f7e88df03fa5

Remember, this is google translate german->english, so the grammer isnt the best. Makes enough sense though.

Sutitan

Ive been researching for way too long. It seems like a ton of people are having these same issues over seas. Germans, French, Italians, Spanish, Brits. Everybody! Ive read some pretty nutty stuff. Alot of them are buying glass cleaner wipes and wrapping them around a thin a ruler and then jamming it inside their dvd drive. Im not that brave, even though that seems like a quick simple fix. Im afraid of damaging some moving component. Anyways, for anyone that stumbled accross ths thread, and would like to pour of the hundreds of comments, ill post a few more links. Long story short, taking the unit out and cleaning the lens is working for everyone.

http://www.howtomendit.com/answers.php?id=68955
http://www.topix.net/forum/autos/hon...RPKUDTPJD7D/p7

on the first link, look for Craig (December 08) and pol141 (June 09). rest of comments are mostly success and discussion.

Sutitan

IT WORKED! reinstalled it and it booted right up! Im honestly a little surprised it did. A little write up coming up in a bit. Im going to go eat breakfast real quick though.

Im so pumped. I hope this ends up helping someone else in the future.

Sutitan

Write up posted here

https://acurazine.com/forums/3g-tl-audio-bluetooth-electronics-navigation-94/diy-how-fix-navi-disk-read-errors-873489/

harjcon

I am wondering if this please check disk error will work on my Honda Accord.
Replaced car battery now have this error. I know that when you buy a new map disk it says for honda & Accura.