BinaryJay

Sure you can, if you want to go through the trouble. I am going to trust that they can fix this with a firmware update... the last firmware claims it's supposed to fix exactly this problem, but it doesn't. Perhaps they never tested it with vehicles that are push button start.

Cutting the power at the harness level might reset the firmware version every time, as well, as removing it from the harness is the procedure to fix a bricked unit with corrupt firmware.

worker

I don't believe U'll reset the firmware. But U will reset it's memory and stuff.

And I don't believe it's just the push button, it seems the unit can't handle the intermittent power lost during ignition period. It seem they can't program the chip to turn fully on after X second.

Anyway, a power off button will fix that easily... or I'm sure U can build/buy a delay circuit.

BinaryJay

As far as I'm concerned, whatever it might take whether they need to provide a new part to daisy chain into the harness towards the unit (to fool around with the power, something like you said simply to turn off and restart the unit after ignition) or something else, they really ought to supply it as obviously it's required to make the thing work as advertised. It was no secret what car I intended to use it with as they ask this information when you order it. I know it's not impossible since vais is able to work in the same vehicles without this issue at all (not to mention toyotas own parts that plug into the same harness).

The unit has a 1 year warranty. If they cannot rectify the problem before that warranty is up, I fully intend to return it as defective and ask for my money back and just take the hit and get the equivalent vais unit which nobody seems to have this trouble with.

I can understand hacking something if the manufacturer doesn't officially support your vehicle, but this thing was sold to me as something that should work. I have not received any word from support after they told me to use version 25 firmware telling me that it should solve my problem - regardless of the fact that they shipped the thing with that firmware and obviously it doesn't do the trick. Understandably everybody is probably on vacation over there so I'm not expecting to hear from them at least until Monday but I still believe that they are obligated to provide a clean solution to make their product work.

worker

what other devices r u looking at to replace this?

Thanks for your in dept replies.

rominl

iTrader: (4)

BinaryJay, that sounds like a bummer. seems like they aren't able to retain the setting thus the need for a small reset every time you start the car. i hope they have a fix out soon!

twister

I should have posted my update here long time ago since I had this GROM unit for a few weeks before returning it back. Here is a low down.

- ONLY '06 GS300 models that use old firmware will be able to display song text. The new firmware on '07 and up has a conflict with GROM unit and will not display song text. I had a number of discussions with their tech support, and they have no idea how to fix it. VAIS makes Lexus-specific box that designed to work with Lexus firmware. GROM makes a generic box that works with a dozen of car manufacturers, just uses a different harness for different cars and slightly different firmware.

- Half of the time it didn't recognize their own supplied USB stick and I had to turn car on and off for it to work.

The bottom line, if you have '06 3GS model you might want to look into this because its 1/2 price of VML, as long as you are willing to live with USB stick not being recognized half of the time or you want to install a switch to power cycle it instead of turning car on/off. For '07 and up models it makes no sense because it’s like listening to your mp3 player through tape adapter (or auxiliary connector in new models). You will not be able to see song text which was the most important feature for me. I ended up returning the GROM module back, and just purchased last week VML which is currently on sales for $275 (including free shipping), due to arrive tomorrow. Yes, it will cost 2x as much but I know 100% that I will have full control with text song display and no issues with recognizing the usb stick.

BinaryJay

As an update, I tried yet another USB stick the other night... a 16gb Sony Microvault, and the few times I started the car with that stick it worked correctly. It's odd that the stick they provided has trouble but this one doesn't?

I don't know if it was just coincidence or what, it's too early to tell if it's just a matter of finding a usb device that works right or not. I do know that I had zero luck in getting the supplied usb stick to work when starting the car without muting the stereo on and off first. I never actually had to restart the car to get it to work.

twister

Give it more tries. I remember seeing similar with another usb stick brand where it worked for the whole day, and than the next day I start having random recognition problems again. Keep in mind, you only get 30 days to return back the unit (to get RMA#), after that you're at their mercy of "firmware fix".

BinaryJay

So far so good with this USB stick. It's been starting every time with the car... though I'm afraid to disconnect it or change any of the content on it for fear things will get messy again.

I've been monitoring the GROM firmware page, I've discovered that although it's not posted on the web site yet the following link works:

http://www.gromaudio.com/downloads/f...sb2_toy_26.hex

It appears that they have uploaded version 26 of the firmware (25 is the last posted one). Since there is still no word about what this actually does, and for now it seems to be working for me I am hesitant to try updating. Anybody out there willing to give it a shot?

BinaryJay

So, still no official update on the GROM firmware page but I have now noticed that they have put up both Version 27 and Version 28 (just find by increasing the version number of the download link, version 25 was the last one updated on the page).


http://www.gromaudio.com/downloads/f...sb2_toy_27.hex

http://www.gromaudio.com/downloads/f...sb2_toy_28.hex

Without any update on the web site, I have no idea what these builds include or whether or not they would fix any of the intermittent issues.

Who is brave enough to try it? They reported before that mid-january they would be adding things like FLAC and scrolling text support for long song names etc. They have been weeks in not responding to my emails about having the startup problems but I've left them alone since I found my Sony MicroVault 16GB stick seems to work OK (there was one occasion when I had to restart the car as the device disappeared still).

worker

It' feels like Grom is giving up on making this device work with old Lexus nav. I guess I'll stick with making DVD-A. I don't like it much cause the process reduces the file to only Stereo (two front speakers).

twister

That is exactly a reason why I returned that grom module and got VML. Holly crap, just like after I installed satellite I never went back to listening to regular radio (of course, Howard is God! ), the same with VML - I do not listen to CD/CDR/changer anymore. Put all my music on USB stick in different directories and control everything from touch screen and steering wheel. Doesn't matter how cold or hot in the car, doesn't matter how many songs, doesn't matter what kind of brand of USB stick I use - it just works instantaneously!!! It took me awhile to find a good place to put that box since it’s a bigger size due to being able to hold internal hdd, but I managed to slap it on the back of audio/screen unit. Worth every penny!

BinaryJay

GROM finally got back to me. They sent me a new version of the TOY firmware (Version 29). I just got a chance to go upgrade and try it out.

Now this is far from conclusive as I only tried a couple of startups, but I'm happy to report that so far it's working perfectly now even with the troublesome sticks I had before that would never start with the car. I also tried hot swapping multiple different usb sticks with different content and the GROM unit was able to switch between them without a hitch and start playing from them almost instantly.

If this keeps up, I'm a happy camper - the GROM unit would finally be an unequivocal bargain over the VAIS unit for me. This new firmware isn't officially up on their firmware page yet, but you can use this link.

http://www.gromaudio.com/downloads/f...sb2_toy_29.hex

Since I've tried it and had nothing but good results, I suggest any of you with the GROM USB2 in your lexus to give it a go.

rominl

iTrader: (4)

that's great news and update!

worker

that sounds great. :w00t:

Is this the one U got? http://www.gromaudio.com/store/usb_a...-usb2-toy.html

I wish it can play avi or divx too. It would be much much sweeter.