I added some music to the HDD on my 2011 CTS premium. Worked initially. Started the car 2 days later and the radio/nav screen isn’t working. The backup camera doesn’t show up, but the screen will raise as if it’s getting signal. Does anyone know how to do a hard reset of the radio? Can I reset the HDD back to factory settings. I was told I need a new screen, but not sure if that will fix the issue. Also I have no power in the USB port any longer. I’ve tried removing a couple of fuses and I disconnected the negative battery cable for 25 minutes. The screen has had a vertical line in it occasionally. The screen sometimes has no light/power and then the radio will cut off for a second. When the radio starts again the screen has the backlighting lit. PLEASE HELP!!!
Radio hard reset HDD issues
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2023 CT5-V RWD / 2020 XT6 Sport / 2024 Lyriq AWD (reserved)
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Hi. Welcome to the forum. A few questions: is this car a recent acquisition or have you owned from new? Who told you that you needed a new screen? Is this the first time you've added music to the HDD? Can you confirm that you cannot get any sound whatsoever from the system?
My father recently purchased this vehicle. It had some music on the HDD already. I believe they were CDs that were copied to the HDD. I can still listen to the radio. FM XM and AM work. A gentleman has a shop that he works on cars in the evening. He works at the local Chevrolet Cadillac dealership during the day. He hooked a laptop up to the car and it told him to check a few different connections to make a determination about the screen. The connections are in the back of the radio area. He said he would have to take everything apart to do further troubleshooting. He said with the older vehicles that a corrupted file could destroy the radio or HDD. I presume the HDD is the brains of the radio....? I had read a post about updating the radio I by a cd. The update CD from Cadillac is around $200. I’m not sure if that post was even for this year Cadillac though.
2023 CT5-V RWD / 2020 XT6 Sport / 2024 Lyriq AWD (reserved)
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So, the CD player works as well? What about Aux?
I am trying to eliminate problem areas but it does sound like you might need a new screen or, at least, work on the connectors. It's not that difficult a DIY job to remove the radio silver box, screen, etc. If it's a broken wire or loose connector, it'd be an easy job. Since you suggest that the USB has lost power, I would start by eliminating the chances of a broken or loose connector.
I am trying to eliminate problem areas but it does sound like you might need a new screen or, at least, work on the connectors. It's not that difficult a DIY job to remove the radio silver box, screen, etc. If it's a broken wire or loose connector, it'd be an easy job. Since you suggest that the USB has lost power, I would start by eliminating the chances of a broken or loose connector.
I’ll have to find some cds and see if they’ll work. I don’t honk it’s a loose wire, but worth checking out. I’ll let you know when I find out if the CD player and aux work. Thanks for all your help so far.
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2023 CT5-V RWD / 2020 XT6 Sport / 2024 Lyriq AWD (reserved)
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I am far from an expert here but I have taken the silverbox out of both an SRX and this CTS in the past for different issues. The SRX was a CUE model that required a new touchscreen AND had some issues that I understood once I got in there and discovered that one of the connectors had about 8 wires and one of those wires had just snapped off at the connector. It happens. That may or may not be the problem here but it does seem odd that there's power to the screen lift actuator but none to the screen or the USB.
Here's a video that helped me when I went in to explore my CTS' silverbox:
Here's a video that helped me when I went in to explore my CTS' silverbox:
it's gone now.
I would start by getting to the silverbox and disconnecting all of the connectors and reconnecting them. But inspect inside the connectors before you plug them back in.
The radio is easy to get to. You pull up a couple plastic trim pieces, unbolt some 7mm bolts and your done. If you have a sunroof make sure you do the sunroof drain modification as this could be a significant reason for your issues.
The screen raising should not happen unless you push the button on the radio. Try pushing the screen up/down button to see if the screen goes up and down while in park. It should only pop up when going into reverse. Much of what you are describing sounds like a loose wire somewhere related to the radio or screen. Must take those out of the equation. If it turns out to be your NAV system is bad you may want to consider replacing with after market. The Tesla radio seems to be a popular one but may or may not be a direct replacement for your nav unit. Other radios will require some additional pieces to make work.
I paid about $400 for a new silverbox with upgraded software and ready to install. Reminds me that I need to take my disassembled unit and see if I can update it and make it ready to install too... lol
The radio is easy to get to. You pull up a couple plastic trim pieces, unbolt some 7mm bolts and your done. If you have a sunroof make sure you do the sunroof drain modification as this could be a significant reason for your issues.
The screen raising should not happen unless you push the button on the radio. Try pushing the screen up/down button to see if the screen goes up and down while in park. It should only pop up when going into reverse. Much of what you are describing sounds like a loose wire somewhere related to the radio or screen. Must take those out of the equation. If it turns out to be your NAV system is bad you may want to consider replacing with after market. The Tesla radio seems to be a popular one but may or may not be a direct replacement for your nav unit. Other radios will require some additional pieces to make work.
I paid about $400 for a new silverbox with upgraded software and ready to install. Reminds me that I need to take my disassembled unit and see if I can update it and make it ready to install too... lol
Please note... That even if you have a hard drive failure the system SHOULD boot up and show something on the screen.
Much of the software IS on the hard drive but there is firmware in the radio that allows it to read the hard drive. If you are not seeing anything on the screen then I would suggest that the screen is the cheapest and likely candidate. But probably a 30% chance that is it. It sucks if you don't have known good parts to swap in. You should be able to get the screen from any junkyard. The Silverbox requires specialized resetting that is currently only done by a couple companies. They charged me $100 for the reset of the radio and checking it out. $35 to update the map software.
Much of the software IS on the hard drive but there is firmware in the radio that allows it to read the hard drive. If you are not seeing anything on the screen then I would suggest that the screen is the cheapest and likely candidate. But probably a 30% chance that is it. It sucks if you don't have known good parts to swap in. You should be able to get the screen from any junkyard. The Silverbox requires specialized resetting that is currently only done by a couple companies. They charged me $100 for the reset of the radio and checking it out. $35 to update the map software.
Sorry it’s been a while since posting. I’ve been busy. The CD player doesn’t work, but the auxiliary input does work. If the screen change out doesn’t work can you point me in the right direction in looking for a company to do a reset of the silver box? The screen does go up and down with the push of the button on the radio face.
Thanks again for all the input.
Thanks again for all the input.
Last time I looked the silverbox is $250. You can try sending yours to them and see if they can repair it but that is likely a waste of cash. They charged me I believe $100 to reset the box so it could be used in any car and another $30 to install latest update on it. (From memory so might be $20-30 off).
They are on Ebay and under "Resetting Cadillac Radio" or something like that. May even be mentioned by name in the "Install Nav into a Non-Nav car." Thread on here. I can try to look back in my Ebay history and see if I can find them again.
They are on Ebay and under "Resetting Cadillac Radio" or something like that. May even be mentioned by name in the "Install Nav into a Non-Nav car." Thread on here. I can try to look back in my Ebay history and see if I can find them again.
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