Totally dissapointed with my carputer!

Maheriano · 07-02-2006, 03:36 PM

I installed my carputer over the weekend and I feel like it was a huge waste of money. I'm hoping someone here can help me fix some of the issues.

1. When I turn on the car, nothing happens. I have to jumpstart the computer to get it to come on. And when I turn off the car, the speakers shut off but the computer and screen stay on. And when I force it to hibernate, it works but the fan keeps spinning. I guess that's normal, but when I turn off the car and come back to it later, the fan is off and I have to cold boot it again. I should mention that I bought a stereo harness for my car, plugged it into the stock harness, and wired all the battery/switched/ground/speakers into that. For some reason these idiots made the switched red and constant yellow but that's a different story. Could it be that switched wire is not working properly? - [FIXED]

2. The viewing angle on the screen is horrible! When I sit in the driver's seat, I can't see anything. All the dark colours invert to light colours and I can't even tell which video I'm playing. And I have to lean over to the middle of the car to see the GPS. Plus, sunlight doesn't just make it unreadable, I can't even tell if the screen is on or off, it's ridiculous. Fixed this by turning up the brightness on the screen. - [FIXED]

3. When the amp comes on after the 5 second delay, it makes a loud popping noise in the speakers and then hisses until Windows boots up. Then it sounds normal. I had a ground loop but fixed that with an isolator. - [FIXED]

4. I still have iGuidance loading outside my skin. Sometimes it'll load but just be layered over top of the skin as its own application. But most of the time the GPS area of the skin will just be gray and it'll pop up for a second with the OK/Cancel box and when that dissapears, I'm just left with the gray. I have to keep fiddling back and forth between the different screens and eventually it'll load properly, menubarless and big buttons and all. - [TEMPORARY FIX]

5. When I first boot RoadRunner and hit volume up or down, it automatically brings the volume to 0. I then have to hit up a whole bunch of times to get it back where I want it but if I hit down in the first few seconds, it brings it right back to 0 again. - [FIXED]

6. When the woman is telling me to turn in iGuidance, she's way too loud. I want her to be the same volume as the music prior to the music being turned down. I'm pretty sure this is in the General.ini file so I'll find it. - [FIXED]

Please help me guys, don't make me regret my biggest project!

EDIT - 1, 2 and 6 have been fixed. And here is a link to the near finished project - http://mp3car.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=81109

Durzel · 07-02-2006, 03:49 PM

Not a lot that can be done about the sun hitting the display I'm afraid.

I've only just recently seen some pictures of the Xenarc (I think they're all universally bad to be honest) and I was hoping it would be equivalent to an Alpine or Pioneer touchscreen, but it's terrible. Your only solution really is a transflective upgrade/screen - which, unfortunately, is quite expensive at the moment.

Sounds like you have the M1-ATX misconfigured if its not automatically powering on the system.

You have to expect teething problems to begin with to be honest. Expecting it to just drop in like any aftermarket system is a fallacy really.

GreenBeast · 07-02-2006, 03:57 PM

these are all things that can be sorted out

1. like durzel said you're psu is probably not configured/wired properly if its not turning you pc on.

2. most screens aren't that great, especially in the sun, can you improve the viewing angle/screen position?

3. look into having the amp comes on only when windows is loaded

5. how about not using roadrunner? there are plenty of frontends out there. i use Mobile Impact and love it

DJiK · 07-02-2006, 04:12 PM

For #6:
Open iGuidance.
There's a yellow speaker icon in the top-left corner of the window.
Click on that.
Then bring the volume slider down to about 50% and press 'Test'.
Fiddle with the slider.

Maheriano · 07-02-2006, 04:14 PM

With the screen, the sun isn't a huge bother. It's mostly the viewing angle, because I can't even use my screen in the nighttime. And I don't want to tilt it towards me because when I have passengers, their duties are to hold the wheel while I eat, answer my phone/email and work the music. They're the DJ so they have to be able to see it as well.

How do I change it so the amp comes on after Windows is loaded? I suppose that'll be less of a problem once I get the hibernation working properly.

And lastly, here is how I have the M1 hooked up. The three thicker wires, constant/switched/ground are hooked up like so, and they all go to their corresponding wires in the harness behind the screen. The constant and ground have to working (I guess) since I can jumpstart it with the key on. I haven't tried with the key off though.
red = +
white = SW
black = -
And I cut the black wire on the middle J2 jumper so it wouldn't blow the PSU. I read in another thread this was a common problem with the M1.

-zip- · 07-02-2006, 04:27 PM

Congrats on the install, the problems you have can be over come stick with it. Only your question #2 strikes as odd. It takes a lot of time to get it just right, the install is just the beginning.

You can search, most of the answers you are looking for have already been addressed.

v8 scimitar · 07-02-2006, 05:23 PM

#1 I agree you either dont have it wired right or the jumpers arent set right
#5 map the volume control to master volume and not all lines like it is set right now (This is in RRconfig) its probably loosing its setting on boot because your PC is basically crashing out when the power supply cuts it dead.
Also sounds like you are going into standby and not hybernate. In hybernate nothing is left powered on the PC as it writes everything to disk and shuts down then on boot picks the system state back up off the disk. When the PC is off you can completely disconect it from all power and it will still resume normally from hybernate. In standby the system goes into a low power mode but the system state is still kept in the ram so it uses power and flatens the battery hence when you come back to the car the PC is dead because the M1 has done its job and cut power when it saw the battery voltage drop. Many mobos still keep the fans running in this state which is stupid but there you go thats what the manufacturers do. This is usually quite often the case with the PSU fan so if your running a case fan off the M1 it wont go off in standby.

yrean · 07-02-2006, 05:44 PM

it might not be your ps. check under your control panel. power options. advanced. and there will be a box that says when power button is pressed. make sure it says hibernate instead of do nothing.

not sure about having the amp wait to turn on. I have an M2 and theres a pin to connect the remote for the amp. it waits a few seconds before the amp kicks on.

and for having it power up at start up. theres 2 plugs wired in series. in one you plug in your power switch. in the other you plug in a 2 pin connector that goes to your motherboard. that way the PS will turn on the pc, or the switch will if you have to use one.

Maheriano · 07-02-2006, 06:15 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by yrean

and for having it power up at start up. theres 2 plugs wired in series. in one you plug in your power switch. in the other you plug in a 2 pin connector that goes to your motherboard. that way the PS will turn on the pc, or the switch will if you have to use one.

I'm not understanding this. I have the M1 as pictured above. It's got the red/white/black wires in the correct positions on the PSU and wired correctly to the vehicle's wiring harness. I don't know what else it could be, it's a simple wiring setup. The ATX cable is 2 way right? It plugs to the PSU and then to the motherboard, could it be backwards? I didn't think it mattered. But what do you mean by the 2 plugs wired in series? What I just mentioned is all I have, there's nothing connected to the power/ground pins on the board. Just the three wires from the vehicle harness to the PSU and then the ATX from the PSU to the mainboard.

RedGTiVR6 · 07-02-2006, 07:12 PM

I'm sorry, but to simply install this and expect it to work 100% immediately means that you went into this not fully understanding what you were getting into. All of the things that you mentioned are normal, especially for a first install.

Take a few deep breaths, take your time, and think it all out. One problem at a time.

Once you get them sorted out, you will wonder how you ever lived with a normal HU in the first place.

I promise!

DarquePervert · 07-02-2006, 07:21 PM

You should have a 2-wire cable going from the M1ATX to the power button headers of your motherboard, which initiates the soft power-on.
You didn't mention that specifically with your details about wiring, so I figured I'd ask....

Maheriano · 07-02-2006, 07:34 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by DarquePervert

You should have a 2-wire cable going from the M1ATX to the power button headers of your motherboard, which initiates the soft power-on.
You didn't mention that specifically with your details about wiring, so I figured I'd ask....

UWAHHHHHHH? I'll have to rummage through the packaging I got with the system but I never seen that. Not sure if the picture above is showing up for anyone else but that's exactly how I have mine connected except I cut that one black wire on the J2. There's some sort of wire to go to the power/ground pins? Where on the M1 does it connect? We may be a whole lot closer, thanks, Perv!

Wiredwrx · 07-02-2006, 07:45 PM

First of all, you mentioned that you used the wiring from a harness for your stereo, that is a NO NO.

You need to run a dedicated wire to your battery for constant power, and then a seperate wire from a switched power source (which could be from the radio harness if you like).

Make sure that you have constant power on the constant wire, and switched on the switched wire. CHECK THE MANUAL FOR THE PROPER COLOR, since just assuming that red is constant, and yellow is switched MAY be incorrect. If you switch them around accidentally the unit might work, but it won't work correctly, and could cause such things as improper shutdown and startup. And assuming that the wires are connected correctly because" you can jump start it" is plain wrong. Oh ya, what do you mean by "Jump Start it"

Thanks for the picture of your PS, but it doesn't show a darn thing about what wires go where. And yes, that was sarcastic.

ALso, the unit should have several jumpers that set how the unit operates. Such things as how long till the shutdown and startup commands are sent to the MB after power on and power off of the switched wire, how long till hard off (that means that the M1 turns off all power to the MB, since in order to shutdown properly after you shut off the car, the M1 needs to power the MB for some time) and things like that.

Check all the wiring, make sure the wire from M1 to the MB power switch header is connected to the right pins, and check the jumper settings.

Good luck,
Michael

Wiredwrx · 07-02-2006, 07:48 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by Maheriano

UWAHHHHHHH? I'll have to rummage through the packaging I got with the system but I never seen that. Not sure if the picture above is showing up for anyone else but that's exactly how I have mine connected except I cut that one black wire on the J2. There's some sort of wire to go to the power/ground pins? Where on the M1 does it connect? We may be a whole lot closer, thanks, Perv!

Ummm, in your picture, you have TWO 2 conductor cables leaving the PS. Where are they going to if at least one of them is NOT going to the MB.

Michael

Maheriano · 07-02-2006, 07:58 PM