Wtf.. Weird Sirius Problem?

DarkSergeant

Member
:
2009 Mazdaspeed3
I'm going to call Sirius and Mazda tomorrow, but was just wondering if anyone else was experiencing the same, or had in the past.

Basically, last night I had a 'Sirius Update' that took forever, maybe 10 minutes, and after that my Presets no longer worked on my head unit. I can manually tune to a station, but if I try to use a preset, it says "Invalid Station." Also, the receiver goes back to Channel 194 (or whatever the 'basic' channel is) whenever I turn it off and back on (the car, or the radio, or if I were to change input modes to CD or whatever).

Outside of that, everything is fine -- I have access to all stations if I manually tune to them, and regular FM presets are working (so I assume it isn't the head unit). It's just obviously kind of irritating (and weird) to not have presets.

I've had XM for about 3 years and never had this problem (and the XM on the wife's Cobalt is working normally...). The Sirius has been working fine on this one since it was installed (Mazda receiver by Mazda dealer) maybe 2 or 3 weeks ago.

I guess I just don't understand what the hell the service itself could have to do with the presets, since it'd seem to me it'd just be the radio saying "Go to the Channel 24"... and at the same time why radio presets or manually selecting a station would work okay, but not Sirius presets. But, at the same time, that update makes me think it is Sirius and not head-unit related.

Any help is APPRECIATED!
 
So, here's the solution, found out another forum, now broken-down Barney style and preserved for posterity here as an act of self-kindness:
1) Turn the car off.
2) Open the hood.
3) Open the under-hood fuse box.
4) Remove the 'ROOM' fuse, it's number 31 and is the most forward and passenger-side fuse. It's a 15 Amp.
5) Wait about 15 minutes.
6) Plug the fuse back in.
7) Start the car and switch to Sirius.
8) Your radio should say UPDATING.. after it's finished, you can reset all of your settings, presets, etc.

Why this works: This fuse controls the interior lights, and apparently the radio's memory. It'll reset all of your settings, clock, etc., but will also force Sirius to re-update itself.

What happened: The problem occurs when there is interference during an update, like if you were to drive through a tunnel or other dead-zone, or switch sources, while the radio is updating. Forcing another update clears the error.

Whatever you do, DON'T call Sirius, at least IMO. They were complete douches (enough that they'll get a letter tomorrow) and the 'tech' actually advised me to call Sanyo, who made the unit for Mazda... after arguing with me as to whether or not my setup was 'aftermarket' (Hint: It's ******* not.) and then saying that it must be some problem with the car/receiver/head unit. I can tell you now that would've been a long and drawn out wasted conversation. I'm sure THEY would've told me to go to the dealer, so they could unplug a damn fuse. Thank God for the Google Machine.

Anyhow.. if you hit the problem, now you have the solution.
 
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5) Wait about 15 minutes - service rep failed to tell me this when it happened to me. glad you were able to avoid a dealer visit.
 
Thanks DarkSergeant. I was getting ready to call the dealer about this problem and found your post. Saved me a frustrating trip to the service department.
 
Thanks DarkSergeant,
it's great to have people like you to share this kind of info to help others. Your instructions worked like a charm. (bowdown)
My car: 2010 Mazda3 Hatchback Sport 2.5L w/Sat radio
 
I just had the same problem yesterday on my new CX-7. Pulled the fuse for about 15 mins....worked like a charm. Thanks for the post!!!!(rockon)
 
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