I have a 05 RL that the navigation is acting up. When I first click on the navigation, the marker shows the correct location but then it will start veering off into the void and freezes up. Also, the address input will not work. I checked the owners manual and it mentioned something could be blocking the signal but I can't find anything that would cause this. Hoping someone can provide some insight on this.

Thanks!

 

Try "rebooting" your car by disconnecting the battery for several minutes. Just remember to have your radio and nav codes handy BEFORE disconnecting the battery.

 

Are you still under warranty?

The dealer can perform a reset, but store all your profile data on the shop diagnostic system first.

They may do it anyway if you go in for an oil change or something.

 

Do you have your rear window tinted? Certain types of tinting (those with metallic materials) can interfere with the GPS signal.

If it just started acting up (i.e. worked fine before) and nothing has changed then the "reboot" may help.

 

^^^^^
Official answer.

Welcome to AZ!

 

Are you positive that the address book can be downloaded? My dealer wasn't sure.

The reason I ask: I got the new updated NAV disks for my 05 RL last week and the setup disk was corrupted, which locked up the entire system, permanently. Disconnecting the battery didn't clear the bad software that was stuck in the NAV system's EEPROM (or wherever).

Got a second set of disks from Alpine Electronics, the new setup disk wouldn't run at all, just got the same "check disk" error message. After going to my normally great dealer and getting told "not our problem, call Alpine, go away", I contacted Acura's USA headquarters tech center and explained the problem. They said the dealer could have just hooked up a computer and erased the bad data so I could use the second setup disk, and that they would be getting in touch with the dealer.

I then called the dealer and spoke to a manager, complaining about the rude treatment, and he nearly fell all over himself apologizing and told me to bring in the car the next day -- I've bought 3 TLs and one RL from them since 2000 -- some of the folks there know me on sight and usually rush over to me with a deal on something -- they offered me a 2008 RL for only $43k last fall, $10k under list.

Anyway, the next day I dropped off the car and went to look for the manager, but found the owner of the dealership instead. I sat down with him and went over everything that I'd been thru while he took notes (I do not expect a certain service rep to be there when I go back to pick up my car). He assured me that everything would be taken care of, free of charge (NAV system disk problems are normally not covered by the warranty).

They ended up ordering another set of DVDs, a new NAV unit, and a new GPS unit. Still waiting for them to get the parts in house and do the repairs, the big snowstorm yesterday didn't help, I'm sure (I'm in MD). I literally begged them to try to recover the (rather large) Driver 2 address book, there's no way I can recreate the list since I couldn't access it and hand copy everything. And a lot of golf courses weren't listed on the old data DVD, I had to hand enter everything *after* using Mapquest to find and drive to the damn courses first.

 

Address books? Don't know. I think of two types, the HFL and the Navi...

When I made the saving the profiles statement, I was referring to all the personal settings in the car that are lost when the battery is disconnected. I recall reading that Honda has a way to preserve those settings...addressed below in the June 2007 Acura Service News that can be found in the sticky at the top of the 2G RL forum

I did some research and found a couple of articles that dealt with saving personal data when you change the battery (June 2007) and saving personal data when you change the navi unit (Dec 2008).

The June 2007 deals with an auxillary power source for the computer so you don't loose a bunch of settings including radio. No idea if this saves the HFL address book, but they have some system that does preserve that because I have never lost it.

However, since you are talking about the Navi system, you probably mean the Navi address book. The December 2008 talks about transferring personal data to a new navi unit, but they claim it only applies to 08s and up. Take it to your dealer and see if they can do something similar for the 05 units. They do also advise the following:

Your client’s personal data is model
specific and will only load into a new navigation unit
with the same part number. This means you can’t
transfer that data, for instance, from a TSX to an RL.
You also can’t transfer it to the same model with a
different software version, for instance, from version
4.41 to version 4.51.

Good luck. Sounds like they are taking care of you. Tell us what happened, and if they can do the PC card trick in the 05-07 Navi units.

 

Heck, if they can just download the NAV system address book and print it out for me I'd be thrilled! Better to take an hour or two re-entering all the data than losing it entirely.

Didn't hear from them today, which means they're apparently either having problems getting the parts or getting them to work. Phone call update yesterday afternoon said they still hadn't gotten the new parts.

P.S. Disconnecting the battery does *not* delete the radio settings, at least the presets, because I did it before I handed over the car to the dealer.

 

Thanks guys! Will give that a shot and let you know.

 

Well guys (and gals?), here is the final outcome:

My dealer replaced the the DVD unit, they suspected that it was scratching the new disks I got from Alpine, which caused the software update to fail. They also replaced the "core" of the NAV system, whatever component that is.....all told, they had my car for 1 1/2 weeks. Frigging Alpine took over a week to send them the two new disks I needed! When the first install failed with the first set of updated disks they overnighted me a new set for free, they must have put the disks for my dealer on the back of a donkey for delivery or something.

So, here's the dope on what was saved and what was lost: My HFL cell phone address book survived intact, and so did all of my audio settings and the multifunction display settings (the data displayed in the speedometer, like outside temp, trip A mileage, etc.). My seat, mirror, and steering wheel settings were lost, along with all of my NAV data (the address book) and of course the map setup data was gone (which icons I wanted to see, for instance). They were not able to download it, something you mentioned was a problem for pre-08 cars.

All in all, not a terrible outcome. I sat in the parking lot of the dealership for about 1/2 hour finding and saving most of the golf course addresses that I had lost. I *am* quite disappointed with lack of certain data on the new disk though -- I tried inputting multiple phone numbers to find addresses the easy way, but every single one came up "no POI for that number". Even failed for my Dad, who has lived in the same house with the same phone number since 1962!

Now, one HUGE gripe over a function of the new NAV system: when I move the current car position cursor from my current location to somewhere else on the map the bloody thing beeps with each cursor move, it's irritating beyond belief! My old system didn't work that way, it was silent. I literally read the entire RL and NAV system manuals from cover to cover, and nowhere did I find any mention of how to disable that annoying beep!

Please, please, does someone have the answer to my plight, or do your NAV systems behave the same way?

 

NAVI data will not have home phone numbers! Only numbers for POI.
Regarding cursor movement beeping, I do not experience that (at least I don't think so).
Have you tried setting "Feedback" to Minimum in Set-up?

 

Oops - I was wrong on the beeping. I have the latest version and it does beep when you move the cursor. However, only beeps when you start to move it. Does not beep at the end of the movement.
The other beeps I noticed when I upgraded were the beep at start-up (the OK screen) and the beep if you do not hit OK.

 

You can turn the beeps on and off through preferences I believe...