Navigation Screen Stays Black
 

I have a 2005 Acura RL and the navigation screen is just black. It appears that it is back lit still as it does glow through the darkness.

I have searched hundreds of posts and did not find any with a similar issues.

About two weeks ago I had the driver side door handle short out which resulted in a blown number 7 fuse in the driver side panel and stopped my keyless entry/starting, door locks, seat memory and navigation from working. Per the information from other posts I removed the door panel, unplugged the faulty handle and replaced the #7 fuse. Everything seemed to be working fine after.

However, during the last week the navigation system started to faulter. At first the Acura Navigation screen would pop up followed by the caution screen on which I would press okay and it would take me to the map. A few seconds later the whole screen would just go black. Now whenever I start the vehicle the screen is just black and stays that way.

It seems like to much of a coincidence that the door handle would go and now this a little over a week later.

Does anybody have any ideas what I can try to correct this issue or what would have caused it? I have read in some older posts that strange things happen before the battery dies, could it be the battery?

Please help.

Have you determined if the DVD is rotating by putting your ear to the drive in the trunk after ignition. I do not remember if ther is a light on the unit but you should be able to hear it spin if you have somebody else operate the car and you in the trunk.

I tried listening to see if the disk drive was spinning but I can't say that I heard it working.

Today I tried a couple other things to get the system working.

I replaced the car battery with one I picked up from Acura. I thought this would be a good start as the battery is the original.

I ejected the Nav disk and their are no scratches at all. It is the original nav disk as I have never updated it.

On my drive back from picking up the battery the navigation came on and seemed to be functioning properly. I went to the maitenance menu in the navigation that you get to by pressing the three buttons (Map/Guide, Menu and Cancel I think). In this menu I cleared the memory and also went to "Download" to reinstall the software. Everything in the navigation functioned normally all the way home.

When I got home I turned off the car and turned it back on and the navigation was no longer working. It just stayed on the black screen. I have drivin the car a couple more times, once before I installed and new battery and once after, and the navigation has not worked again. It just stays on the black screen.

I should also note that when I was in the maintenance screen I went to the various diagnosis items in the menu and it said everything was functioning properly.

Is there any way to diagnose whether it is dvd-rom in the trunk or the main navigation unit in the dash?

If you remove the DVD does the display state that the DVD is missing? This would tell if the system is at least trying to boot.
If you press the normal commands from start up dpoes the car function? This would tell you if the system is working but the display is not lighting.

When the Navi screen is black, what happens if you press the audio, info or hvac buttons? Do those screens display?

If I remove the disk the screen does nothing. Just stays black.

None of the buttons below the disk selection buttons (1 through 6) do anything. There is no change on the screen and there is no sound like a beep to indicate that the car has registered me pushing a button.

The back light on the LCD screen definately comes on when I start the car as I can see the glow. There are no images.

I went through the diagnostic for the "No Picture is Displayed" per the vehicle manual that I found in the garage sticky. Fuse 5, 7 and 32 are fine, radio operates fine (with the exception that I cannot access the audio menu by pressing the audio button), connector C has voltage running between No. 1 and No.2 terminals (I am not sure what the voltage levels should be though) and there is continuity between the No. 4 terminal in connector C and the body ground.

The next step per the guide is attempting to "Force Start the Display" which is done by connecting a specilaty diagnostic tool to the wiring harness of the unit. I do not have access to such a unit to attempt this.

I am thinking I will just send the unit to Alpine and then go from there. It just seems to coincidental that I would have to disconnect the door due to a short and then shortly after the navigation stops working. Is there any wires in the door the I could have messed up creating this problem?

Hi guys. I have the same problem as galaxie. I checked all the fuses too. And still nothing.. Do u guys know what I would have to do?

Fuse by the kick panel on the driver side should be burnt out, same thing happened to me. Reset battery then start it again, put in the codes and you should be good.

In the diags menu I think that there is a screen check menu where you can send Red Green or Blue to test the display.
BTW sending the trunk DVD player to Alpine is a cheap diagnostic and is my guess as to the culprit - approx $180.

At -x-. Do u know which number it was. Cause I checked all and all seemed good. Put I'll go check back if u know which one it was. And db22. I'll try that out. And is the $180 for the fix or just test?

$180 is a flat fix charge irrelevant of the problem. If it is not functioning then you will probably get a new unit.

Ann. I can c at night that the LEDs r on but it's a black screen and won't let me navigate to anything...

The unit is bad. Must be sent back to Alpine for repair.

There are threads on here about sending it to Alpine for $400 (they raised their price).

I have a bad DVD unit as well. All the screen says in "Downloading Please Wait."

Without a working Navi, is there anyway to turn on or change the fan speed? As of now, the HVAC buttons light-up, but no fan and voice commands do not work.

Thanks

Has anyone sent their unit to Alpine for service?

Well i was Driving home from work today and the Navi screen goes black.Checked all the fuses and the disc is clean. i turned the car off for a few minutes and then turned it back on, and it started up normally. I went to the 3-button menu system and went thru most of the tests and everything passed. not 2 seconds after i think all is ok it blacks out again.
something is wrong and a payment to Alpine is in my future.
Any guidance getting the unit out and going thru the process with the repair service.

any help appreciated

I have the same problem Galaxie has, also with my 2005 Acura RL.

After starting the car and pressing OK/return at the nag screen, the navi starts up fine. After a couple of minutes to maybe twenty minutes driving, the screen goes black, but remains backlit. It sometimes then reboots after an indeterminate period,and works fine afterwards, sometimes it reboots and gets stuck again and does not come back, just remains backlit. All the related buttons are dead, too, below the radio, including the speak/cancel button on the steering wheel.

I too have searched and did not find any with similar issues except this thread.

I had a navi update burned on to a non-standard (non-silver backed) disk, one of the blue-backed ones, and after some time it caused errors with the nav being unable to read it. Some research, and the Acura service manual, indicated that the non-silvered disks can present problems that look like hardware errors, so I replaced it with the original disk and the read errors went away. This was months ago. I have also had the active front lighting system complaining on and off for the last few hundred miles, but I can't see how that's related.

I have also had the following done:
- Front door locks cycling - cleared and reset memory
- Front passenger door power latch replaced
- A/C field coil replaced
- VSA control unit recall fix

I would love to know if anyone's found the cause. I've already had the DVD unit out because of the disk read problem, and it looked very clean. I made sure to clean the laser head too.

I just bought an 05 RL and wouldn't you know, the nav screen went black within 3 hrs of delivery.
It seemed to work flawlessly during the test drive the day before and the final inspection the morning of, but now is black with some back light. None of the buttons do anything, no sound...nothing. Took it to a hifi shop today, they did all the troubleshooting and upon realizing the DVD unit was bad, I had them take it out. Not sure Im sending it to Alpine though - $358 seems ridiculous.

My wife was driving it and I told her if she didnt want to mess with the nav to just leave it alone, prior to this it worked, when she came back from her errands....it didnt. Any ideas?

Also, is there anyway to do away with the nav and still have the screen function for the other items? i.e. audio, hvac?

thanks in advance for your time, first post here.

Another question.....how do I set the time in the upper LCD screen w/o a working nav screen?

AFAIK, the only way to set the time is via the nav screen. But if you had the clock set to automatically set (via the GPS) then hopefully that functionality still works. Otherwise, I think you're SOL.

SOL is right, I think I could live w/o the nav screen....but not having the correct time really is a bummer.
I sent the nav unit to alpine, they should have it today, hopefully I will get it back by Christmas. Then i will have the correct time :)

Wish I had good news here but I don't. Expect to pay $3000 or find a replacement from a parts car.

I was in a car accident and was rear-ended on the drivers side a number of years ago. The NAVI had literally just started to act up. So fortunately for me, the accident damage inspection by my inssurace company revealed the unit malfunctioning as it sits on the drivers side.

My insurance repair coverage covered the cost of the Navi and it was "sent for repairs" by the dealer (meaning Alpine refurb'd it). They wouldn't replace it with a new unit. It worked for about 18 months and then started acting up again.

Due to the fact that my insurance policy gives me Lifetime warranty on damage repairs and the NAVI was considered part of the damage, when it malfunctioned again, I spoke up very loudly (took 4 weeks of back and forth phone calls) and insisted that it be replace with new as the repair units were just as faulty. They finally agreed (been with them for 25 years) and the dealer installed a new 2005 unit (I tried to get them to upgrade it to 2009 but they wouldn't).

I have not had any issues since as it's a brand new unit. Unfortunately, I believe that the 2005 units are faulty (too many posts on this site with the same issue) and in my experience even the repair service doesn't work (like getting your VCR repaired). Only a replacement will suffice over time. Solution....I'd suggest looking on eBay for a unit from salvaged car (2008+ as it has rear-view camera & iPod integration) instead of trying to get them repaired.

So much of the functionality of the car works from the Alpine unit and screen (A/C, Sound, Car info etc.) that driving around without a working unit really takes away from the interior driving experience.

Seems as though you are talking about two things here-the head unit in the dash and the navigation drive in the trunk. I bet GASKICKER's issues reside in the drive and I know for sure the 2009+ drive will not work with the 2005-2008 HU. The wiring harness changed for 2009 on the drive side. I have no idea how the head unit differs.

Good point on the wire harness. Would there be a work-around? That would be a great "factory" OEM upgrade for the 2005 when replacing the unit.

In my experience with the 'glowing dark screen' or 'blacked out screen' it's all the drive unit in the trunk. It needs to be replaced or refurb'd by Alpine.

Rarely have we read where the screen needs to be replaced as well as the head unit. It seems the "brains" of the center dash reside in the drive unit.

I don't know enough about the differences between 2008 & 2009 to know what all is involved for a swap. My guess is it's more trouble than it's worth.

I was having the same problem with my 2005 RL navi unit. It would come on, cut off, blank screen, freeze. I finally removed it and sent it to Alpine. Honda and Acura OEM units must be shipped to:

Alpine Electronics
2012 Abalone Ave
Unit D
Torrance, CA 90501.

1-(800) 832-4101

Make sure to include a description of the problem and include your return address and phone number. They will call when they receive it. When they call you can give them your credit card number. There is a $358.00 flat fee. It takes about 2 weeks from delivery to return.

Re-installed the unit yesterday and all is back to normal.

Good Luck!

Help!
 

Having the same problem, everything stopped working at once (door lock, keyless remote, navigation display, gas tank) I had put a new display screen in, no go. Went and returned it. So then I went and got a new navi unit, screen still blank! Now I'm starting to think there's some type of shortage somewhere. Anyone knows? All I can do is play music, look at the time, and have heat or a/c on, but can't change the fan speed!

Check fuse 7 in the driver's kick panel fuse box.

Already checked. Fuse is good.

2005 ACURA RL Navigation Screen Problem
 

I have an acura RL 2005 and the navigation screen lights up when you turn the car on but its not working. Does not show any picture or writings just a solid color black/gray. I replaced it with a new screen and still didnt fix the problem so the screen is most likely not the problem. please help. Thanks

Have you tried removing the DVD navi disk in the trunk? Check to make sure all the cables are connected?

Some more ideas:
http://www.justanswer.com/acura/6r78...ed-alpine.html

Probably need to replace the dvd unit or have alpine fix it. I had the same problem and had alpine repair mine.....works perfectly now.

Dehtear, I moved your thread into this one. Hopefully it can help you find your fix.

If anyone still having this issue, i removed my whole factory stereo and navigation from the car i could sell parts if needed. everything was in working condition. i know my DVD is a old one but it all works.

unless there is an aftermarket component (navtool), just buy a used DVD drive.

same problem of black screen.
 

Hello friends
I have a 2005 Acura MDX with the same problem of black screen.
The DVD navigation rom was stolen, why might not turn on the screen?

I think when you dont have DVD navigation rom unit should turn,, it is correct

as I know the model I need to buy the dvd rom navigation ??

Thank you

Wut?

I think we may have a translation issue.

My car just started doing this. So bizarre that it's happening to this many people this spring. Mine worked perfectly for the first 199805 miles. Sometimes I think the car is just holding out to 200k at which point it's going to blow up. I've got a headlight flicker, the clock cutting in and out, needs new bank 1 cats, and now my nav screen is taking a dump. :tomato:

I just started to have this problem a week ago myself in my 2005 MDX. I was driving home and the nav screen showed that it was loading updates with a progress bar going across the screen. After the bar went all the way across, the screen went blank and has never come back.

No Acuras logo, no menus, no rear view camera, nothing. I can see the backlight behind the screen come on at night so it would appear the problem is not the screen itself - rather that there is no data being sent to it.

I've tried disconnecting the main battery to reset but that did not help (the radio works and I had to put in the code after disconnecting battery - clock is now wrong and I cannot set without the nav screen working).

Checked fuses and all fine.

I've also ejected the DVD under the passenger seat and reloaded. i do not hear it spinning but may be too faint to hear.

Any help?

My 05 TSX did the same thing, black screen on the Navi but the radio/ac work just fine so I knew it was not the screen. I checked all fuses and DVD player, everything looks normal. Sometimes, the Navi would just start working normally with no issues. 4 days after this issue started, my alternator crapped out. I'm thinking that there is a link between the alternator and Navi not working. Car is at the shop right now so I will not know if it started working normally until I get the car back.

hi dude, did u fix the problem in your navy system ,because i have the same problem with my car?