2003 Matrix Delco DVD Navigation system malfunction-Please HELP!

[MATRIX2003]

My Matrix's Delco DVD Navigation system's Hard buttons are malfunctioning at times. The Power button, Music CD, Navigation "Destination", Setup and DVD "Eject" buttons do not respond at times in any mode even after pressing them several times for e.g (1) I will not be able to select the particular FM radio channel assigned to the hard button even when its in FM mode. (2) The DVD will not eject or the Destination menu screen will not appear.(3) The Power button does not respond, it will not power "OFF"Only the radio is working properly with some buttons to select pre-assigned stations.I have pulled the unit out without disconnecting the wires with the battery "OFF" nothing visiably wrong with the unit. Sometimes everything works properly for once like its reset, after that one moment its back to its defective operation. It used to function perfectly for over 5 years since I bought the car, its malfunctioning since a year when I removed the dash board panels of speedometer and DVD unit areas to clean the ventilation ducts.Any help to reset it to normality would be appreciated?

[joatmon]

Welcome to genvibeI haven't ever played with one of the factory NAV units. On the surface it sounds like the thing is kaput. However there are a couple of things you could try before giving up on it.Since it started acting up when you were doing vent cleaning, maybe one of the connectors on the back is off a little bit. Take the radio completely out of the car, disconnecting all the cables from it, wait a minute or ten, then connect it back up, making sure the connectors are seated all the way. Probably won't help, but it's a free thing to try. Will also completely remove power, perhaps act as a reset if the thing is just confused.The other thing to try tis to take it out of the car, and open the unit up. (the top and bottom covers probably just pry off. Having never had one of those open I can't say what it will look like inside, but I have taken apart the single CD units, and perhaps the construction is similar. In the ones I have opened up, there are wires connecting the various parts to the main board, these wires have connectors that slip onto pins, and can be removed to separate the various subassemblies. Look for them, make sure they are all seated properly, perhaps even take them off and put them back on. Here's a picture from another thread showing the inside of a tape/CD unit, shows the kind of wire bundles and connectors to look for (ignore the unplug label in the pic, the inside of the nav unit will almost certainly look different)The reason I suggest checking those is that I once bought an 03 Matrix OEM tape/CD unit off ebay to put in my son's matrix, and when I received it and hooked it up, it was acting really weird, display acting up, many controls had no effect, not the condition advertised. I contacted the seller, who just sent me another, and never asked for the first one back. I took apart the bad one, found that the wire bundle connecting the front panel to the main board was not properly seated, and just pushing it back on the pins all the way fixed it. (so I put that unit in my truck) If those things don't help, then I don't know what else to suggest to fix it. It doesn't seem worth it to try to have it professionally repaired. A number of people have complained about the lack of NAV DVD updates, so the factory nav unit is losing some of its charm. If you need to replace it, you might look for a used one on ebay, or perhaps one of the really nice looking aftermarket in dash DVD units. but those could be more money than you want to spend, ( any is usually more money than I want to spend )It sounds like it's been relatively unusable for year now, so I assume you haven't needed it much. There are other factory radios that would just plug'n'play in there, would be more common and lower cost to find one of them than a replacement OEM nav unit, and a seemingly infinite selection of aftermarket non-nav headunits to choose from if you want to go that route.

[MATRIX2003]

Thanks! I tried what you recommended but now nothing appears on the screen before the clock and navigation map were appearing. I reconnected everything and the screen is blank. Only the radio functions. Any idea what may have gone wrong? Thank you.

[joatmon]

well, that wasn't supposed to happen sorry about thatif you just opened the unit up and reseated the various wire connectors inside, perrhaps one of them got put back on offset, leaving a pin with no conenctor and a hole int he conenctor with no pin. I don't know if it's possible to put a conenctor on backwards.If it's really messed up looks like http://forums.genvibe.com/zerothread?id=39762 might be the easiest way to go

[MATRIX2003]

HiThanks for the reply. A connector was lose now the display is working. The unit is not powering "OFF" it stays on. And, I want to eject a Philips DVD Cleaning disc which I put in to clean the system thinking that may solve the problem. The cleaning DVD is stuck inside and it will not eject as the button is not responding. How may I remove the cleaning disc, I really appreciate your help.Thanks.

[ColonelPanic]

WHen I had a CD get stuck in the single disc unit and the radio was locked up, ended up getting it to eject by disconnecting/reconnecting the battery cable..

[MATRIX2003]

Disconnected the battery but it didn't fix the problem. So, after several days after giving up, it came to life, the cleaning DVD ejected and all the functions worked for 2 or 3 times. Later it got stuck back to the same problems as before. Interestingly the new Cleaning DVD had one long scratch mark on it which I wiped off. Its back to its non-functional problems again. What do you think could be the problem? I was suspecting the DVD/CD unit may be something is bent in it and replacing it may solve the issue? Any idea?

[kostby]

It sounds like one or more intermittent connections.The chips themselves are probably fine. Pretty much, if integrated circuits work the first few times (short of an electrical surge) they'll work for decades. It's the connections to circuit boards, mechanical connectors, drive motors, and switches that eventually flake out.Cars are obviously not the best environment: vibration, extreme heat, extreme cold and lots of humidity, and sometimes two or three at the same time means that once it turns flaky, you are probably not going to get it to work reliably for long periods of time. If you have a stable 12-volt DC power supply indoors, some speakers you can hook up temporarily, and LOTS of time and patience, you MIGHT be able to bring it inside, take it apart, and isolate the flaky parts. Or not. Once diagnosed, then you still have the issue of repairing it. In my experience, it's pretty hard for a hobbyist like me to re-solder modern circuit-board components without doing more damage.Good luck!