Investigating weird Grom VLine / head unit issue (2 Viewers)

[darceydo]

A couple months ago I had a thread where my head unit was acting up. In short, the LC would start up and the head unit would be black. Backup camera would not work, dest would not work etc. While this was happening I contacted Grom and told them about the issue. Grom got back to me and said this is an issue they had seen with a certain firmware version. They since sent me a new firmware version, I loaded it on the unit and that problem went away.

The issue I have now is that it seems to have introduced a new problem. What happens is I turn the LC over (on or full ignition start) and there is a 50/50 chance that the Vline unit "works" if the Vline unit does not "work" then the head unit will display "Audio Off" and when I click on "disc" it will display "no DVD magazine found". It is also worth noting that during this time my phone WILL connect to carplay but nothing will actually happen since the vehicle is not reconizing the unit. To fix I will cycle the ignition once, twice or how ever many times it takes until eventually the vehicle turns over and the Vline screen appears.

Grom has basically gave up on me and said that the issue is on my side. I sent them over some logs from my end and they said the logs show I have something called "Camera Contoroller" that is interferring with the Vline unit. This is not something I installed and the truck only has 1 PO but I see 0 signs of anything aftermarket, anywhere.

Can I get some help here guys? Is it something on my end? Any idea what this "Camera Contoroller" is?

 

[darceydo]

Bump, any thoughts? I have the tow package so thought that is somehow related?

 

[TequilaMechanic]

I had some issues with my grom, yours sound worse. If you haven’t already: First try the other usb port. Next, unplug 20 pin connector for 10 minute drive and then plug back in.

 

[P Hill Up]

from your description, it sounds like the blacm screen problem went away with the firmware update? If so, have you tried to revert to a prior firmware after the recent issue?

Surprised Grom isn’t being helpful. I had the black screen issue recently and it wasn’t fixed with the firmware update so they sent me a new unit. Said i had a bad video card. Customer service rep i had was very responsive.

On your black screen issue, was it black when you switched to vline UI (hit Cd changer button 2x) and when you switched into reverse? If so, did the toyota UI still work as normal even though it was a black screen (volume change and/or cd track counter at top)? That was key issue they wanted to know on mine. I assume it’s bc if the factory UI didn’t show it could indicate a problem w/ the head unit??

Sorry not more help.

 

[smoltz]

How often does this happen to you? What firmware version do you have?

I had an issue where I was intermittently getting a black screen or the unit wasn't "waking up" when I turned the car on. I say "waking up" because I noticed that if I plugged in my phone (Apple into USB1) it wouldn't even be providing power. I was running 90.4B. They gave me a firmware update (I believe to 90.58) and now its working better.

I have yet to experience the black screen issue since the updated. However, occasionally (maybe 1/10 starts) I do get the issue where I cannot get to the Grom interface. I haven't reported it because it's infrequent and if I turn key off and back on it seems to resolve it, however, if enough of us are experiencing the same/similar issue and report it maybe they'll be able to make some progress on it.

 

[darceydo]

from your description, it sounds like the blacm screen problem went away with the firmware update? If so, have you tried to revert to a prior firmware after the recent issue?

Surprised Grom isn’t being helpful. I had the black screen issue recently and it wasn’t fixed with the firmware update so they sent me a new unit. Said i had a bad video card. Customer service rep i had was very responsive.

On your black screen issue, was it black when you switched to vline UI (hit Cd changer button 2x) and when you switched into reverse? If so, did the toyota UI still work as normal even though it was a black screen (volume change and/or cd track counter at top)? That was key issue they wanted to know on mine. I assume it’s bc if the factory UI didn’t show it could indicate a problem w/ the head unit??

Sorry not more help.

Right black screen issue went away with the firmware fix they sent. But when they sent the firmware fix it introduced this new issue where the unit just isn’t found sometimes after starting. Everything else Toyota UI all works (opposite of the black screen issue where none of the Toyota UI worked).

 

[darceydo]

How often does this happen to you? What firmware version do you have?

I had an issue where I was intermittently getting a black screen or the unit wasn't "waking up" when I turned the car on. I say "waking up" because I noticed that if I plugged in my phone (Apple into USB1) it wouldn't even be providing power. I was running 90.4B. They gave me a firmware update (I believe to 90.58) and now its working better.

I have yet to experience the black screen issue since the updated. However, occasionally (maybe 1/10 starts) I do get the issue where I cannot get to the Grom interface. I haven't reported it because it's infrequent and if I turn key off and back on it seems to resolve it, however, if enough of us are experiencing the same/similar issue and report it maybe they'll be able to make some progress on it.

They have me on 90.63. This sounds similar but instead of it being 10% of the time the unit does not wake up mine is more like 50/50

 

[ScotyDosentKnow]

I dont have much in the way of help to offer but the Grom I put in my GX460 flat out sucked. All kinds of issues popped up (which they were super helpful about) but they knew these were issues that the system had when they sold it to me and it says NOTHING about it in the description of the unit. Wifes phone never connecting, dropping my phone and having to restart the truck to connect again, black screen issues, firmware updates etc.

They final straw that broke the camels back was you would drive for like 30 minutes and the volume would drop to a level where you could barely hear it. No matter how many times you turn the volume back up it immediately would go to like level 10. They sent me a new harness with a rheostat knob thing on it and told me to spin the knob gradually until I got the most time out of it before the volume dropped but then told me that would only work for an hour tops and then would have to re start the vehicle to get another hour of my chosen volume. Sent it the **** back. I will likely never buy anything else from them with the other products that are on the market.

I know this doesn't help you at all, just saying that you may never stop chasing issues with this thing.

 

[tidus]

They have me on 90.63. This sounds similar but instead of it being 10% of the time the unit does not wake up mine is more like 50/50

If you are still having problems what works for me when the software update goes out is just restarting the car battery and it comes back and I do that until I get a new update.

 

[darceydo]

If you are still having problems what works for me when the software update goes out is just restarting the car battery and it comes back and I do that until I get a new update.

They gave me a custom version that “fixed” it. Seems like they are just checking if the car throws the code for “no DVD magazine found” and if so they just full reboot the grom unit.

Did not address the root issue but I don’t have to disconnect the battery anymore or turn the car off and on again so I have no complaints now.

 

[tidus]

They gave me a custom version that “fixed” it. Seems like they are just checking if the car throws the code for “no DVD magazine found” and if so they just full reboot the grom unit.

Did not address the root issue but I don’t have to disconnect the battery anymore or turn the car off and on again so I have no complaints now.

What was the custom version? because I have the same problem where it just disconnects