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I have 2004 TSX and had the same exact problem. I performed the steps on page 1, but removed the screw to reveal the laser. My only warning note is that if you take out the tiny screw revealing the laser that you remember how to put it back together. But after cleaning the laser, everything works perfectly!
All in all, the job took about 30 minutes on my desk. figuring out how to remove the trunk panel to get access to the drive was actually the most time consuming. the job took a little over an hour. I could honestly probably do it again in under 30 minutes. the job is pretty simple but requires a delicate hand and a patient eye once you actually get to the important step. It was honestly worth my time versus paying 358 to ship out my unit to alpine for them to charge me for some guying cleaning the lens. If you have any questions, feel free to ask me. Im not on the forums that often, so drop me a PM if im failing to reply to the thread. Also, if the images no longer show up, feel free to bug me and ill rehost them somewhere.
Also, just as an added note. this should work for alot of the cars having this problem but is not always 100% the issue. Sometimes certain power electronics may die. It could be a variety of things. this is just a virtually free solution, that could correct your issue.
Hope this helps someone out.
Sutitan, a BIG thanks for your great how-to and step-by-step. Just as everyone with similar equipment described, my Navi went from occasional slow-load, to frequent slow-load, to all out Disc Read errors over the course of half a year, with complete inoperability over the past several weeks. I printed out your how-do, waited for the right day (which happened to be a cool sunny day this weekend), and followed your instructions to a T. Just as you described, once I'd keyed in the Navi code, and the software downloaded, the screen and system loaded as if it was Day One. I've started up at least a dozen times this weekend with the same level of success. Oddly enough, the startup sequence seems even quicker than it ever had before (but probably due to my lowered expectations all these weeks).
Bah, I got the new drive off ebay for a steal of $125 for an ebay junk yard. I have a lot more functionality, though when I got the box that was labeled with fragile, it looks like it took a hell of a drop. The DVD door was open and the bar was got moved so it blocked the drive door. I start using the NAV system, then after a few minutes I get a different error: "DVD reading error, please consult your dealer". The CD won't eject, until I restart the vehicle. I think a drop might have damaged the drive assembly. Also the drive has a 1 year older DVD in it. I was thinking of testing the my newer DVD, though wasn't sure if that would cause a problem or not.
I don't know what to do, should I try the assembly from my drive to see if that works or should I put a claim against UPS for the damage unit? The pictures from ebay showed the drive door closed and it was removed from the car. They would have had to plug it in to open the door or it would have taken one heck of a drop to open it and to move that bar. Emailed seller over a week ago, they never got back to me.
Just a follow up to this thread. After doing some playing around with swapping drive assemblies in the two identical NAV systems I had, it looks like my original assembly is shot. The original assembly failed to work properly in the replacement NAV system. It looks like the issue with the replacement drive: "DVD reading error, please consult your dealer", might have been due to a damage disc, that could have been damage while shipping. Luckily I had a newer DVD and when I tested it out, I have yet to see the error message reappear after about 100 miles and about 8 different trips. I haven't messed with my old drive and I might keep it around for parts. I think there also might be something else wrong with the device, as the I lost some other functionality with the original one, that I gained back with the replacement drive.
It would be nice if these maps weren't overpriced $100 for an update??? Even if I got the maps for free, I would most likely still use Google Maps. At least my resale value of the car, has been restored.
As not to be totally defeated, I took it to an car/audio electronics repair shop in VA. The guy said he's seen several of these types of issues in not only our brand car but others. He charged me $200 to fix the spring I broke & give the unit/lens a good cleaning and $25 to actually 'open' it. Now with said... Hooked it back up, fired that puppy up and still got static all day. I left my car with him last night to 'troubleshoot' the issue. He said he removed all of the parts of the system in the trunk and cleaned all the connections very well and while he was on the phone with me this afternoon she was talking to me.
It's been two years since I've heard that sexy voice!! LLS!!
So if in doubt clean the other parts to the unit that are back there as well. Also he said that over the years (as stated in a few previous posts) the mechanisms in these units go back as the weather changes from hot/cold as some of the parts expand/contract. All in all $225 was better than paying $354, but free would have been great!
Hi Can you please provide me shop details in Virginia? I am also in Virginia and would like to visit the shop.
Going thru this procedure right now. Yeah you might have to reprogram some of your stuff, but if it works, well worth it. Just changed my timing belt and they disconnected battery and had to put codes back in, so cant be that big an issue. Cleaning my DVD right now and plan to put back in next weekend. Just hope it works, otherwise its heading to Alpine, my DVD is just so clean inside just can believe this will work but have my fingers crossed. Will let everyone know
I followed this thread for a while. I have a Mercedes ML350. Certain early 2000s Mercedes have Apline stereos with nav drives and use the same drive mechanism as the 04-06 TLs. My nav drive would give "please insert dvd" or "please insert cd", sometimes going blank for a while. After a while, if not blank, it would read "please check cd" or "please check dvd". A couple of times it has actually worked for a few seconds. I notice the fan never goes on mine - don't know if it is temp triggered or always supposed to be on as I've only looked at it in the winter. Everything was clean, but I cleaned the laser and nothing has changed.
Anyways, recently I pulled a drive mechanism from a wrecked 2004 TL from the junk yard. Wasn't able to confirm if it worked, but it still had the disc in it. I switched mechanisms and am getting the exact same faults. I'm guessing my nav drive has a bad chip on the logic board, but I don't really know. So I thought I would pass on the TL nav drive mechanism if anyone is interested. As I've already put a lot of time, effort and money into this, I really don't want it back if it doesn't work out. That said, I don't know if it works or not. It does accept a disc. If anyone is interested in trying it out, $35 shipped priority mail, as is, for parts or repair, no returns. If you want it with a two week guarantee, $100 shipped, and you are responsible for the return shipping and paypal fees if you decide to return it. I notice these are hard to find if the alibaba ones aren't working and you're taking the same gamble that I have thus far. They are even harder to find in Mercedes. I'm sort of interested in knowing for sure that it isn't the drive that is at fault. If you have similar errors as the ones I am describing, then don't bother. Private message if interested.
Well I sent off to Alpine today. Cleaning did not work for me. Very little dirt came off, very clean inside. Just hope Alpine does the trick. Still $358, Had UPS store pack it up for me. Has anybody sent to Alpine and still not work when they got it back???
Here are some pictures I forgot to attach when cleaning the laser
After taking the drive out, you can use the half q-tip method and clean the laser where this arrow is
Now if you are gusty, unscrew the area which is circled. BUYER BEWARE NOTE: be sure to remember what it looks like when you remove it, because it is super tricky to put it back. I would recommend not to do it, but since I already did it, here is a pic
This is what you need to clean with a q-tip and some alcohol. I also blew some compressed air afterwards.
I shipped off via UPS to Alpine 2 weeks ago. Shipped out on Friday, Alpine received the following Wednesday morning. Reading on their website that OEM products could take 7 to 10 business days to repair, not counting shipping days, I waited, thinking I might get a e-mail letting me know they received or some kind of acknowledgement. Nothing, so finally called last Wednesday to make sure they got and get an update. Women on the phone was pleasant and fantastic to talk with, she got my name, e-mail and after checking, she told me, UPS delivered to my front door the day before, Tuesday. When I got home, there it was. I always enter my house thru the garage, did not even dawn on me to check the front door, since I had not heard from them. Fantastic turnaround time by Alpine!
Finally got a chance to install back in my RL today. Everything back to normal. Navigation is no big deal to me, but all the other controls were, Great feeling to have them all back. Thanks to everyone for all their help from my failed attempt to clean the laser to the info about Alpine.
This is one fantastic Website. My next project, work on my flickering upper display. Already see everyone's response for that one. I will send another blog letting everyone know what Alpine did.
Hi everyone. I have an 08 TL with navi. I used a dvd cleaner disk to no avail. I followed the steps from the first page. I cleaned the lens with some alcohol, though there was barely any dirt. I put it back together and plugged it in, entered the code and got the same message I was getting at the onset (disk formatting error, see dealer blah blah blah). Before I break down and send it to Alpine (which is now close to 500 dollars versus the 158 is started out as), is there anything else I should try? I have a disc from 2012 that I upgraded to in 2012 that I've been using since that time. It's not scratched and it doens't have any circular scratch around the edge. There is a little smudge, but I doubt seriously if that's the problem.
Hi Sutitan, It is now March 14, 2017, some 4 years since the last reply. I've got a 2005 Acura TL, and yup, you guessed it, today I got "DVD Disc reading error. I will attempt to make your repair. Just dirt on the lens, eh? There is another guy's You Tube out there showing how to take the "stuff" in your trunk apart to even get this DVD reader out. As they say---a picture is worth a thousand words. Funny thing, last week, when I pushed the "menu" and cancel" control buttons---by the actual GPS screen, nothing would happen. Then suddenly, it went away.Now this. Wonder if they're related. I was born in the days of the dinosaurs, so I'm a little slow. I'll let y'all know what happens.
Hi Sutitan, It is now March 14, 2017, some 4 years since the last reply. I've got a 2005 Acura TL, and yup, you guessed it, today I got "DVD Disc reading error. I will attempt to make your repair. Just dirt on the lens, eh? There is another guy's You Tube out there showing how to take the "stuff" in your trunk apart to even get this DVD reader out. As they say---a picture is worth a thousand words. Funny thing, last week, when I pushed the "menu" and cancel" control buttons---by the actual GPS screen, nothing would happen. Then suddenly, it went away.Now this. Wonder if they're related. I was born in the days of the dinosaurs, so I'm a little slow. I'll let y'all know what happens.
Don
OOPS,---- I said it had been some 4 years since the last quote on this. "That" was after page one. Didn't realize there was some 11 pages total. My bad
Hi Sutitan, It is now March 14, 2017, some 4 years since the last reply. I've got a 2005 Acura TL, and yup, you guessed it, today I got "DVD Disc reading error. I will attempt to make your repair. Just dirt on the lens, eh? There is another guy's You Tube out there showing how to take the "stuff" in your trunk apart to even get this DVD reader out. As they say---a picture is worth a thousand words. Funny thing, last week, when I pushed the "menu" and cancel" control buttons---by the actual GPS screen, nothing would happen. Then suddenly, it went away.Now this. Wonder if they're related. I was born in the days of the dinosaurs, so I'm a little slow. I'll let y'all know what happens.
Don
OK, by the time I got to page 6, my eyes were glazing over. So, I'm just jumping ahead to my own quote here on page 11. While I was reading all this, I went out by my 2005 Acura TL and decided to "listen" to see if I could even here my DVD whir up. (Just turn the car keys on, no motor). Well, it would whir up, quit, whir up, quit, etc etc. So now I'm so sure about a dirty lens anymore. Anyone else notice this?? Also---why does one have to disconnect the car battery? Isn't just turning off the ignition keys enough?
Ok, so after my navigation being out for a year, I finally decided to give this a try. I didn't want to go the route of cleaning to have it not work after reinstall. So I purchased the whole drive from AliExpress. Shipping said 2-3 weeks but it came in 10 days. And wrapped in bubble wrap like a crystal glass! Very impressed with the fast shipping and 4 layers of bubble wrap. It ran me about $130 and it was the part number listed in this thread. Can't remember at the moment. The removal of the unit was straight forward and took about 15 minutes. The removal of the drive wasn't bad and that took all of 15 minutes. In my excitement, I didn't take any photos of removal and install. The drive is held in by 4 screws and is easy to take out. I reused my old 2010 disk. After reinstalling the unit back in it still said disk error, but I forgot to put in the navi DVD. Anyways, after installing the disk it started to boot, then a gray screen with red lettering saying the download could take 10 minutes. Well at this point I was happy as this has been out for about a year. within 10 minutes it booted up and prompted me for my Navi code. I entered it and now I have Navigation again :-) I did want to mention though, I did not lose any of my information in the Navi. All my saved addresses and settings were still there and the Navi code stayed the same. It has only been about 2 days but it has been working flawlessly so far. Just need a new navigation DVD. I would recommend this for anyone who's navigation doesn't work and even for those who keep getting the error messages. Hope this is helpful to someone out there.
Nice thread!
I have 2005 TL and the navi started to slow down over time and it stopped working.
So, tried cleaning the lense but it was already clean and didnt work. Actually, the DVD stopped spinning and it started to show the "check your disc", because when I unplugged the battery, it erased the software and now i couldn't reload the software thats on the dvd.
Got it in 2 weeks, VERY nice packaging. Swapped the part out just now (real easy, only be gentle with the ribbon cable, don't forget to slide the clamp thingy to loosen it before pulling it out). Plugged it and inserted the DVD and it WORKS!!
So happy that I didn't go the opportunistic Alpine repair shop. $369? NO WAY!
Thx everyone for uploading useful info, i just wanted to contribute.
Hey guys. So i'm having the same disc error problem as everyone else here.
I bought and installed the AliExpress part, reconnected everything to the car, but the new drive won't take the CD in. The Eject button doesn't glow orange and pressing it does nothing also. So it's as though something is not connected somewhere.. After this, i swapped in the original drive back in and it worked. The CD slid in, everything was spinning, the button was glowing. After that i tried the new part one more time and it still didn't work. Anyone run into this same issue or have any tips on where to look/what to try to get it going?
Just did this today on my 05 TL. Took 1hr 30 minutes just kinda figuring stuff out, and I had to re-do the DVD drive...Accidently put it back together wrong...I took off the tiny screw to reach the laser a big better.
My unit was stamped 2005...was a TINY bit different than yours in the picture
Also, does the Navicode go with the head unit or the DVD unit? I am considering a few used options for the DVD unit and wanted to make sure that I get the code if needed.
I bought the replacement loading mechanism from Alli but no luck. The system loads the dvd and ejects it but does not spin or move at all. As such I am stuck with the dreaded green "check disk error" Am I out of luck?
Last night I came across this post after hours of surfing the net for videos on how to solve the check your disk error message on my 2006 Acura TL. First thing this morning I gave it a try and it worked like a miracle!
Thanks for saving me a lot of money!
Ok, so after my navigation being out for a year, I finally decided to give this a try. I didn't want to go the route of cleaning to have it not work after reinstall. So I purchased the whole drive from AliExpress. Shipping said 2-3 weeks but it came in 10 days. And wrapped in bubble wrap like a crystal glass! Very impressed with the fast shipping and 4 layers of bubble wrap. It ran me about $130 and it was the part number listed in this thread. Can't remember at the moment. The removal of the unit was straight forward and took about 15 minutes. The removal of the drive wasn't bad and that took all of 15 minutes. In my excitement, I didn't take any photos of removal and install. The drive is held in by 4 screws and is easy to take out. I reused my old 2010 disk. After reinstalling the unit back in it still said disk error, but I forgot to put in the navi DVD. Anyways, after installing the disk it started to boot, then a gray screen with red lettering saying the download could take 10 minutes. Well at this point I was happy as this has been out for about a year. within 10 minutes it booted up and prompted me for my Navi code. I entered it and now I have Navigation again :-) I did want to mention though, I did not lose any of my information in the Navi. All my saved addresses and settings were still there and the Navi code stayed the same. It has only been about 2 days but it has been working flawlessly so far. Just need a new navigation DVD. I would recommend this for anyone who's navigation doesn't work and even for those who keep getting the error messages. Hope this is helpful to someone out there.
Hi there, would you happen to have a link to a reader for the 2008 acura tl on alie express? I think the 07-08 read a different disc than the 04-06. If you could get me link that would be greatly appreciated.
I know this is an ancient thread, im an 06er that has been one of them lurkers for a while. I intend to tackle this navigation drama (screen reads check disk) over the holidays by ordering the Aliexpress unit. I've read this thread a billion times but see no real specifics on the ribbon that needs to be carefully placed on the new unit. ANYONE have any insight into how you removed the ribbon on the old unit ? Does it pull out with a small flat head?
Great info on here. I think i can do this, i consider myself a petrol nerd and have installed gas pumps and radiators on my old E36 M3 before i ran scared due to parts costs. haha
I recently bought an '04 TL with that was stuck on the nav screen startup. I tried cleaning the laser lens but to no avail. I was about to ship my unit to Alpine when I discovered a solution.
The Big Orange Hammer. That's right. I decided to smack the crap out of the unit several times with a dead blow hammer while it sat in its normal position in the trunk.
Whadya know, it worked. And it's been working fine for a few days now.
I knew it wasn't my disk!!! because its been working on and off for awhile and now completely doesn't work anymore.. Thanks for this DIY tip very useful!!
I recently bought an '04 TL with that was stuck on the nav screen startup. I tried cleaning the laser lens but to no avail. I was about to ship my unit to Alpine when I discovered a solution.
The Big Orange Hammer. That's right. I decided to smack the crap out of the unit several times with a dead blow hammer while it sat in its normal position in the trunk.
Whadya know, it worked. And it's been working fine for a few days now.
Ahaha no way that worked!!! ill try to hit it a few times with my hand see if that will work!
It loads 3/4 of the way and then error screen pops up i never took my disk out when i bought it new and found minor scratches on it.. would this just be my disk?
It loads 3/4 of the way and then error screen pops up i never took my disk out when i bought it new and found minor scratches on it.. would this just be my disk?
David i just did this to mines, as mention before be very careful if u take the small screw and top that covers the laser. One thing i will say i did was look at my dvd disc and notice what seemed to look like scratches on the disc, but it was a bunch of dried stuff and dirt on it. I took the disc to my sink, washed my hands then dropped a tad of dish detergent in my hands, got them soaped up and ran the disc under water and rubbed the soap on the disc slowly gently in a circle with no pressure fo the disc and then rinse the disc off under the water. This removes and dirt, grease or grit on it so the disc is cleaned. I had a can or compressed air and blew some water off. If you dont have one take a paper towel and lay on the disc to soak up the water then remove. My disc looked brand new with non of the stuff that was on it that made it seem like it was scratches. You can also google how to clean a dvd disc if you feel my info is rediculous, but trust me this worked for me and all is perfectly.
David i just did this to mines, as mention before be very careful if u take the small screw and top that covers the laser. One thing i will say i did was look at my dvd disc and notice what seemed to look like scratches on the disc, but it was a bunch of dried stuff and dirt on it. I took the disc to my sink, washed my hands then dropped a tad of dish detergent in my hands, got them soaped up and ran the disc under water and rubbed the soap on the disc slowly gently in a circle with no pressure fo the disc and then rinse the disc off under the water. This removes and dirt, grease or grit on it so the disc is cleaned. I had a can or compressed air and blew some water off. If you dont have one take a paper towel and lay on the disc to soak up the water then remove. My disc looked brand new with non of the stuff that was on it that made it seem like it was scratches. You can also google how to clean a dvd disc if you feel my info is rediculous, but trust me this worked for me and all is perfectly.
Yeah with that little screw i was cautious! and your compressed air makes sense... not to make the disk have scuffs or streaks even lent but i will defiantly try this later today!!
Yeah with that little screw i was cautious! and your compressed air makes sense... not to make the disk have scuffs or streaks even lent but i will defiantly try this later today!!
Thank!
like i mention before make sure to check the disc out some of those marks look like scratches but its like dry dirt or grease, hope my explanation works out for you.
I recently bought an '04 TL with that was stuck on the nav screen startup. I tried cleaning the laser lens but to no avail. I was about to ship my unit to Alpine when I discovered a solution.
The Big Orange Hammer. That's right. I decided to smack the crap out of the unit several times with a dead blow hammer while it sat in its normal position in the trunk.
Whadya know, it worked. And it's been working fine for a few days now.
kirkosaurus: When you hit the unit several times with the hammer while in its normal position inside the car trunk, was the car turned on or was the car off? If the car was not on, was the key in the ignition? Did you do this when the unit was getting electricity or when no electricity was going to it?
11-10-2016, 12:23 AM
Mystery Ribbon swap on ALiexpress unit
