I am VERY upset. I had my iPod Music Link looked at while I as having my A-Spec suspension and wheels installed at the dealer today. The tech who installed it claims he got music to play. The service rep and I spent 1/2 hour at the end of the business day trying to figure out what he did to get it to play, to no avail, and after following the instructions. This is supposed to be a plug and play device and I've never gotten it to work once. I clearly have a bum unit and don't see why they don't just replace it.

Perhaps I need a step by step guide to doing this correctly.

Perhaps I am going about this all wrong. Here is what happens:

(iPod is a 5G click wheel 30 GB video iPod, volume turned to about 75% of maximum)

With car off, I plug in ipod, also off. I turn the ignition switch to ACC or "On". iPod turns on, screen appears saying "OK to disconnect".

I press "DISC" to get to get to CD-C. On the clock display (above the navi), Disc 1 flashes. This continues whether or not I press 5, 6 or any button on the steering wheel or console. No sound ever comes out of the iPod. When I press "audio" on the center console, I see "Extension".

The only headway I've made is that when I press the channel up or down key on the steering wheel for one second, I hear a "beep". However, I still get no sound from the iPod and none of the keys noted in the instructions work.

Help! What am I missing?????

 

You're missing a working unit. The flashing "Disc 1" makes me think that the link isn't telling the unit that youve got somethign connected.

Demand that the tech produce sound from your iPod, or replace the unit.

 

I'm not in front of my unit but I think you have to push the disc button again. I will check this tomorrow.

 

It is NOT compatible with the 5G. The car needs to be fully rebooted. Then, you need to use a nano or 4g. I ended up getting a nano. Acura is aware of this.....no fix yet. My service tech had to call acura. I had this happen, replaced the unit, had it happen again, and finally they called. The dealers were given a nano.

Now, I got an "old" nano at Target. The new nano may have problems too.

Good luck.


I think the IPOD interface is the worst implemented part of the car. It stinks big time....there is NO REASON ACURA TO NOT USE THE IPOD STYLE GUI ON THE SCREEN!

Yes, I am shouting at Honda/Acura. They need to fix this.

JB

 

You have GOT to be $hitting me. When the MusicLink came out earlier this year, the 5G iPod was several months old, having been released in October 2005. I bought mine a month later. You mean I'm going to have to find an old 4G iPod or Nano?

Forget it, I'm having this ripped out and am going to go aftermarket. The dealers don't know this and Acura does not mention this on any of its instructions for the Music Link.

I am going to write a nastygram to Acura about this crap.

 

why dont you try a power reset to the ipod link
To do this you remove the fuse that powers the radio.
I had an issue with mine shortly after I installed it, and resetting the power to the radio (which also removes all power to the Ipod link) solved the problem.

 

Tried this when it was recommended before. Didn't work.

Just looked on Acura's site, it indicates that Music Link is compatible with 4G iPod and above. Are they fibbing to us?

Oh well. At least my A-Spec setup is working out great. Pix coming this PM....

 

Not true. My 60 GB video iPod works and plays just fine.

 

Thanks for the help, guys. I tried resetting the radio again by unplugging its fuse. Still didn't work at all. It's simply a nonworking unit and I will demand a new one on Monday.

 

when you reset the power, did the nav and radio ask you for the codes to work?
if they did ask, then you did reset it, if not, then you didnt reset it.
Not questioning your abilities- just want to help you to verify if you succeeded in reseting the radio and Ipod.

 

Yep, both the radio and navi asked for code reset. Got no love from the iPod.....

 

My 5th gen 60 gig works fine but my 80 gig has glitches. It wont turn off sometimes when the car turns off therefore drains the battery of the ipod, I also cannot do the trick that allows you to gain control of the menu on the ipod with the 80 gig. The 80 gig sounds slightly better though and I use iq setting "Deep".

 

Well that clinches it for me, I'm gonna pass on the iPod Music Link! I can live with XM and the six Discs to choose from. Neuronbob, once again I'm sorry you had to go thru that. I now how frustrating that must have been for you.

 

On a positive note: other than this, the RL experience has been FLAWLESS. Would you believe I almost don't miss my TL at all?

 

It is possible you got a bad unit....that is what I did. After the re-install, it still failed. I had the 30Gb Ipod and it worked for a few minutes and the next time the car started...no ipod was seen.

Nano (4gb) has been flawless. Found it second hand fo 90$...person wanted more space and did not care about money. Me, it is more than enough space.


Good luck. I was told Acura is working on it. I wrote a letter to Acura. They called me at work. I talked to a person in the developement/executive zone. He agreed with our view of the product....all he could say.


JB

 

I agree. As much as I enjoyed my TL, I can't say that I miss it very much.

 

The latest update: It's back at the dealer. They kept my iPod (early 5G as noted above) and used it in another RL on the sales floor with Music Link. Music Link also failed to work in that RL. They are trying to locate one of the salespeople with an iPod to try in both my car and the other RL.

I am beginning to think that my iPod is simply crashing the system and is not compatible.

Would wiping the iPod and starting over again help? I'm also thinking about having the dealer refer to Acura's tech support to figure this out. I'm in this so deep, I might as well figure out what the problem is.

 

Thanks for the effort Bob. I have yet to try my iPod in my RL - I have a 4G 40 Gb and a Nano. I have not added the software that came with the MusicLink - may forgo doing that. I always listen in shuffle mode anyways. Please keep us updated and informed.

 

They hooked up a manager's Nano to my car and it worked right away. I asked for them to report the issue to Acura's tech support and alerted them that there are others who have had this problem with 5G iPods.

My choices at this point are: a) go back to the old 5G iPod firmware, which probably works, b) wait for Apple to release another firmware update (I have 1.2, the latest for 5Gs), or c) get a close-out 2G Nano at Overstock.com for $129.

c) looks to be the best option for now.

 

I AM a doofus.

Before deciding to go out and buy a new Nano, I restored my iPod. What a pain in the butt to reinstall music on my iPod.

I installed a few songs on the iPod, then I plugged it in to the car and it all works to spec.

I repeat: I AM a doofus. I wish I had known to do this BEFORE I wasted two visits to the dealer.

Lesson learned that shall be passed on the Acurazine masses: If your Music Link doesn't work, restore your iPod, then try again. You never know what will happen.

I plan to pass this on to the service staff at the dealer as they admit they didn't know what to do.

WOW.

 

Thanks for the heads-up Bob. My 40Gb 4G iPod just bit the dust this weekend and I replaced with a 5G 30Gb. Hopefully no issues for me.

 

No problems with my 5G 30 Gb iPod. Now, to load the Music Link software. In the manual it does suggest loading a Text-to-Speech software from microsofts wen site. Tried to DL but the engine is not showing up in my XP OS (control panel>speech). Any suggestions on what i should do to get it to DL?

 

The software is buggy, slow, and hard to use. Stay away!!
I deeply hate everything about the ipod link except the sound quality, which is fine. I would much prefer a plain old AUX IN jack. Is there any way to hack the Acura Link device so that I can use the controls on the ipod?

 

My comment stands, but I withdraw the question about gaining access to the ipods own controls. I see that it has been addressed in other threads, unfortunately with no good answers.