Hello,

I am three weeks into owning my '04 TL Automatic/Navi. Love it except last night I went to answer a phone call using the HandsFree Link and my SonyEriccson phone. The call didn't get picked up properly and I ended up just putting the phone to my ear the old-fashioned way. The HandsFree Link indicator said "in Use" and the radio was silent.

Then I noticed that the Phone control buttons wouldn't work and I could not get the "In Use" message to clear. I shut the car off and went inside. When I woke up I turned the car on and it still said "In Use" and the radio won't work. The phone was not in the car (nowhere near the car).

So now the BlueTooth system is stuck in the "In Use" mode, none of the buttons on the steering wheel work, and the radio won't work because it thinks the phone is on! Turning the car on and off doesn't seem to "reboot" the system.

Anyone know what I can do?

-Josh

 

Try This

 

I've never had my HFL lock up.

Must be because I didn't pay $2000+ for that Occasional Reboot Required option that you all think is so cool!

:devil:

Mike
05 APB/Q 5AT No Reboots

 

Hello and welcome to the forum.

Obviously I would suggest you call your dealers service department and ask to speak with a mechanic who is familiar with the new TL. They will have a common fix if one exists.

If it were me, I would probably disconnect the fuse for the radio/HFL to see if that fixed it after being replaced. Next would be the battery being disconnected for a short period of time and see if that re-boots the system. Of course that will also probably mean that you will have to reset everything in the way of memory, but it might save you a service visit if they can't guide you over the phone.

Good luck with it and let us know how you resolve it so we can pass on the info if it happens to others in the future.

 

Z factor makes a good point like any good computer the best recourse, aside from taking it in, is to pull the plug to reboot the sytsem. Unfortunately, everything in its memmory may get wiped out. Good luck! Hopefully you will be nicely surprised to find when you turn on the car back on that everything is back to normal. I have noticed that when I start my car it takes about a minute for all the goodies to rtart to work.

 

Thanks for the advice (except the hammer). I went to the service department and encountered someone who was very enthusiastic about making me an appointment but otherwise knew nothing about the car. I was going to try the fuse pull technique but I wanted to avoid all the resetting that would have to occur. I think I'll give that a try.

Thanks.

-Josh

 

I still haven't gotten my HFL to work, but found out that you
can reset the system(I think) by holding both the buttons
together for a while. I get a female(default?) message saying "HFL is now working properly". Of course it doesn't.
My probelem is that if I press the talk button, no beep
follows it as expected. If any of you have found a solution
I would aprreciate a response (I tried with the key in both
'on' and 'accessory' positions).

Thanks.
-Sabuson

 

Which two buttons. There is the left and right arrows on the dash with the select/reset button above, and the two selsctors on the steering wheel. I'm assuming you mean the steering wheel?

-Josh

 

I believe if you get into the nav diagnostics you can reset the entire system. I have did this on my TSX once when I had a problem. You can run diagnostics on the nav, stereo and other gadgets. It will give you any error messages as well.

One other thought. you may want to leave it broken until the dealer looks at it. If you manage to reset it and it works fine after that, they wont do anything to repair it. You will also have it docmented .

Let us know what happens.

 

How do you do this?

-Josh

 

I meant the two on the steering wheel (don't have navi)
Actually just holding the back(lower)button alone for a few
seconds accomplishes the thing. You should hear two
announcements of "HFL is OK".

I finally got it to work today on my way to work!
Here is the procedure (some of it is obviously unnecessary)

1. Turn on the car.
2. Hold 'back' button until the display shows
"HandsFree diagnostic mode".
3. Now you hands can go free. You should hear "HandsFree
Link is now OK" announce ment twice (seperated by a few
seconds).
4. Trying the talk button is futile at this point as it doesn't
do anything(no beeps). This is what what threw me off
since I kept resetting everytime I tried. Wait a looong
time. Actually I drove all the way to work(about 15 miles/
30 min.). It probably is rebooting with apparently no
indication. Turning off the car(i.e. giving up) may just
not complete the process. YMMV.
5. Now try the talk button. Be a little firm and quick (like
clicking the mouse button). I still haven't fidured out
the right length as it sometimes recognize my press-
and-release procedure.
6. If you get any response you are on you way. By the way
all through my trip to work I kept changing the "select"
and "info" buttons in the vain hope of finding something
in there. All I found under HandsFree Link(TM) was
"No information available".

On a related note I had to try a few times to pair my SE/610.
Apparently the phone searches only briefly and gives up too
soon. So I kept the menu ready for the last click, and then
went back to the car's 4digit password entry procedure.

Good Luck!
-sabuson

 

Same thing happened to me just the other day. I was lucky enough that the "In Use" sign went off after I left it over night. I could not use my radio, CD, or tape at all even after I powered the car and the phone off it still would not release. Haven't had the chance to go to the dealer yet and haven't used the bluetooth since. Let me know what u find out...

 

Problem Solved! (for now)

I popped the hood and disconnected the negative terminal to the battery for about 5 seconds. When I reconected it everything worked great. I lost my radio presets but I did not have to re-enter the security codes and all of my phonebook entries and nav entries were intact! Lets hope this isn't a monthly event!

 

I had a smiliar problem, however all these replys about holding down the buttons didn't do it for me....

I made a call... then I had no response... It locked out the radio and no beeps.. Finally I let the radio go back when I hit the handsfree button.. no beeps....

I pulled over turned the car off turned it back on.. when I hit the handsfre button the display (upper) said Phone but the radio stayed on and I couldnt get it off of phone.

Then I restarted again amd the buttons just didnt work. They did nothing.

I got mad... parked at home went inside... About a half hour later I went back to the car... Then it said BOOTING UP when I went to the Handsfreelink MID screen! Yay....

It just took a bit of time to "recycle" with the car off... no buttons to press.. nothing else.. just a little time.

It rebooted... my phone book was in my phone was not available... I went to my T608 and went to bluetooth menu and hit connect and it was back to normal.. It was still paired, and stays paired.. I didnt have to repair it or do anything else.. everything seems fine now!

Just give it some time and it should come back to life...

This is a complex car between the bluetooth and the navi and the radio and all that tied together so antyhing I suppose could have "crashed" it...

And now that I think of it, I think I may know WHY it took some time to go back to BOOTING UP. As you know, the handsfree can work about 10 mins evem after the car is off... so maybe it just needed to get through that time before it fully disengaged, and then it rebooted? Maybe...

Mike

Mike

 

Last Thursday I was driving while using the Navi guidance system. I attempted to make a hands free call and it kept saying you can't use voice activation on two devices or something like that at the same time. Obviously this was wrong as I had made many calls previously the same day. As earlier stated the steering wheel controls would do nothing and the radio kept thinking I was on the phone, so silent. I parked turned the engine off. When I returned I started the car and everything was fine, rebooted I suspected. I had scheduled my first oil change and service of new car stuff the next day coincidentally. I explained the problem to the advisor. As one might expect, it did not replicate the problem for the tech. They logged it and told me everything appeared fine. Off I go. No further problems until Tuesday. I am on tour with a client about a two hour drive away when I attempt to make a call. Yes by now you guessed it, the system locked up again like it had the week before. Only worst this time. In use, is now showing, with or without the key in the ignition, or the phone is on or off. I had called from my handset my service advisor. The earliest I could schedule an appt. was the following week. I didn't realize that the message stayed on the screen when I made the appt. so far in the future. Once I realized it, and that I would have no music to keep my clients in a good mood while on long drives etc., I called back to try for something sooner. I was able to take it in yesterday. Suits from Corporate were there at the dealership and looked at my car. They first thought that the controller had gone bad. They swapped out the controller of his car to my car to test whether it would fix or not. It didn't. All this time I had told them that I would describe the symptom to be as if the system is stuck in HFL mode waiting for a command. Wouldn't you know I was right. After two hours of testing they figured it is the talk button stuck in the open position. A part has been ordered. I have no idea when it will come in, but at least I have my music back.
Sorry about the long post. For those that have the same problem, have them order a new talk button switch and assembly. I am hopeful this will fix the problem.
Good luck everyone!

 

Wow...

I am hoping my problem was isolated and not something that appens all the time....

Because leaving the car off and waiting for 10 mins or so made the HFL reboot....

Mike

 

Yes Mike I too had hoped that it would reboot as it had a few days prior. Instead it just stayed in that mode. I was afraid of it running down my battery, so I called and begged to bring it in earlier than the original scheduled time. It showed the in use all the time, with or without the car on, phone on etc. A real bummer.

 

I was having similar problem, my FHL screen just keep saying "BOOTING UP" all day today, the talk button and cancel button are not functional. I've tried everything, finally, i got home tonight, i disconnected the negative terminal for about 5 seconds, then reconnect, HFL works now. I didn't lose any settings at all, not even the radio preset.

wonder is there any other better way to do a HFL reboot, instead of disconnecting the batter..

 

Perhaps we'll see an easier reset in an upcoming software update.