View previous topic :: View next topic |
Author |
Message |
BinaryJay Getting tough
Joined: 11 Dec 2009 Posts: 55
|
Posted: Mon Mar 01, 2010 8:20 am Post subject: Summary of my TOY-V31 problems. |
|
|
These are the occasional glitches that I still endure on my Lexus 3rd generation GS. This car has the "smartkey" keyless system, with push button start, so I am not cranking the car manually.
1) Upon ignition, sometimes the head unit starts "muted" displaying "Audio Off" when I shut the car down it was ON.
2) Upon ignition, sometimes the head unit starts in CD changer mode, when I had shut it off it was playing GROM. CD2 (Grom unit) is not visible when changing modes. Must shut off ignition, and turn back on for GROM to reappear.
3) Upon ignition, CD2 is recognized, but no track playing and cannot get it to play. Must remove USB stick, reinsert USB stick, mute/turn off stereo and then turn stereo back on. GROM then announces "USB" and then plays. I think if I turn the stereo off and on again, without removing and reinserting USB stick, it just announces "USB" but still won't play.
I have tried three different USB sticks of varying capacities and brands and have not found one that works correctly all the time yet. |
|
Back to top |
|
 |
Vishnu Newbie
Joined: 23 Aug 2009 Posts: 17 Location: Russia
|
Posted: Mon Mar 01, 2010 7:00 pm Post subject: |
|
|
What is temperature of air? According to my observations, at temperatures below -15C, there may be problems. http://indashpc.org/vbullettin/viewtopic.php?t=1315
My method:
1. Before turning off the engine push AM/FM mode button.
2. Remove USB-stick.
3. Push button start.
4. Insert USB-stick.
5. Push Disk mode button. _________________ Toyota Prius NHW-20 S-multy TV+NAVY Japan 2005 |
|
Back to top |
|
 |
BinaryJay Getting tough
Joined: 11 Dec 2009 Posts: 55
|
Posted: Tue Mar 02, 2010 7:09 am Post subject: |
|
|
My car is garaged underground, so it's always at least +7C when I start the car.
Having to do all of that "prep" work before shutting the car off and after starting it up is way too much trouble.
The sticks I use are:
- 4GB Sandisk Cruzer Titanium
- 16GB Sony MicroVault
- Supplied GROM 2GB sick (probably worst of them all I gave up on it a long time ago, you would think they could send me one that works with the unit they sold)
Recently purchased but haven't had time to test, 4GB Kingston DataTraveller. |
|
Back to top |
|
 |
Robin Banks
Joined: 02 Mar 2010 Posts: 2
|
Posted: Tue Mar 02, 2010 8:28 am Post subject: Does it work with MK3 lexus GS ? |
|
|
I purchased one of these USB2-i units , just awaiting delivery and then i came across this website, reading some of the posts, this product seem to still be in development phase and the consumer seems to be the tester.
I am in two minds of whether to fit this product or just return it , I seem to read the same issues over and over again, with no apparent fix from the firmware updates.
Can the moderators advise if the product will work with my car , I know you've listed as supposed to, but does it?
thanks |
|
Back to top |
|
 |
BinaryJay Getting tough
Joined: 11 Dec 2009 Posts: 55
|
Posted: Thu Mar 04, 2010 12:55 pm Post subject: |
|
|
Yes, I feel like a beta tester that paid for the job.
The issues seem to slowly be getting marginally better with the updates but I'm still a long way off from being a happy customer. Whenever it decides not to work, it's embarrassing since it's installed in a luxury car without any other flaws. |
|
Back to top |
|
 |
Robin Banks
Joined: 02 Mar 2010 Posts: 2
|
Posted: Fri Mar 05, 2010 1:21 am Post subject: |
|
|
We'll the unit arrived, fixed it all in, loaded up the latest firmware , and for me anyway, the unit stays on when you turn off the engine, but then i remembered you have to open the drivers door to cut the power supply totally, once you open the drivers door the power light on the USB turns off.
It does remember the last track and position played, even if you pull the USB out.
On the way to work today it did repeat the odd tune within the same folder when skipping forwards. I'm hoping that this will be ironed out with a future Firmware update.
I'm goingto stick with it for the next 7 days, see how it performs if issues start cropping up then i'll pop it out, but for now it doesnt seem a bad piece of kit at all. |
|
Back to top |
|
 |
Vishnu Newbie
Joined: 23 Aug 2009 Posts: 17 Location: Russia
|
Posted: Sat Mar 06, 2010 5:53 am Post subject: |
|
|
This device has good commercial potential. But now it clearly is in beta testing. Since the seller does not correct does not warn about this. This device is positioned for expensive cars. But the self does not match the quality level of these cars. Even in the absence of competitors.
However, with better than without it.  _________________ Toyota Prius NHW-20 S-multy TV+NAVY Japan 2005 |
|
Back to top |
|
 |
BinaryJay Getting tough
Joined: 11 Dec 2009 Posts: 55
|
Posted: Sun Mar 07, 2010 8:19 am Post subject: |
|
|
There ARE competitors. Especially for Toyota/Lexus. I hesitate to mention their name out of respect for GROM on their own forum, but there is a large name alternative that does ONLY toyota/lexus implementations of vairous usb/ipod/aux interfaces that my research suggests has had zero issues.
Their equivalent unit does cost more, which is why I decided to give GROM a try but now I'm starting to feel like I shouldn't have tried to be cheap. =(
I still have some hope that they can solve these problems, ESPECIALLY the one that forces me to either go without my MP3 music or shut down the car and start it again (bad for the engine, bad for the battery) since the CD2 unit just simply doesn't show up on my head unit at all.
They really should rent or borrow the car models that have issues and spend a week ironing out what the issues are, or they should remove them from the compatibility list and refund half of my purchase price since I really only have something that works about half the time. |
|
Back to top |
|
 |
jbors Site Admin

Joined: 12 Nov 2004 Posts: 1675
|
Posted: Sun Mar 07, 2010 11:39 am Post subject: |
|
|
So the only issue so far is the absence of the device from time to time ?
Let me know so we can do the stress testing. |
|
Back to top |
|
 |
BinaryJay Getting tough
Joined: 11 Dec 2009 Posts: 55
|
Posted: Sun Mar 07, 2010 2:52 pm Post subject: |
|
|
jbors wrote: | So the only issue so far is the absence of the device from time to time ?
Let me know so we can do the stress testing. |
Please read my first post. The absence of the device is the biggest problem, but more common is the issue where the device shows up but won't play any music until I disconnect the USB, connect the USB again, then turn the stereo off ("mute" on my car, it displays the message "audio off") and then turn the stereo back on again.
If I only turn the stereo off/on, or only disconnect/reconnect the usb it doesn't fix the problem. I need to do both things when this happens and then usually it works again.
When the device doesn't show up, nothing short of turning the ignition off and back on again will make the device show up.
This is with my 2006 Lexus GS, base stereo, without navigation (but they all share the same graphical display screen for the stereo). |
|
Back to top |
|
 |
BinaryJay Getting tough
Joined: 11 Dec 2009 Posts: 55
|
Posted: Thu Apr 15, 2010 5:03 am Post subject: |
|
|
It's been a couple of months since the last update. Is this problem even being worked on any more? I am still suffering the same issues as posted above with random cases that the grom is not recognized after car startup etc.
I am still being asked by friends and others online via various forums if I recommend the GROM to them and I still cannot say yes. I would love to be able to relay some information that the hardware problems have been solved but so far I am still beta testing... |
|
Back to top |
|
 |
winampdevil Newbie
Joined: 17 Nov 2009 Posts: 14
|
Posted: Thu Apr 29, 2010 4:19 am Post subject: |
|
|
BinaryJay wrote: | I am still beta testing... |
You're not alone....
I'm also still waiting for a new firmware release.
The v31 basically works in my european toyota, but the text-function works only sometimes (1 of 50), at the other cases my stereo crashes.
I know, Grom doesn't have a stereo like my W58332 for testing purposes, but they have my emailadress, so they could sent me beta-releases |
|
Back to top |
|
 |
jbors Site Admin

Joined: 12 Nov 2004 Posts: 1675
|
Posted: Thu Apr 29, 2010 8:24 am Post subject: |
|
|
We aware of the issue. Some stereos just crash when trying to display text. It is stereo firmware issue, I hope we can do something with it, but no guarantee yet |
|
Back to top |
|
 |
BinaryJay Getting tough
Joined: 11 Dec 2009 Posts: 55
|
Posted: Fri Apr 30, 2010 5:08 am Post subject: |
|
|
jbors wrote: | We aware of the issue. Some stereos just crash when trying to display text. It is stereo firmware issue, I hope we can do something with it, but no guarantee yet |
In my case, my car doesn't even display text at startup... I have to go into the audio menu and press a button on the screen to display song text information.
By default, it shows trip information and even if I go to the audio menu, it doesn't show text until I tell it to... crashes regardless (sometimes, other times it's fine... and with the latest firmwares it happens more rarely than before so something you guys were doing DID help, but didn't quite fix it completely). It can't possibly be the fault of the stereo, it displays text every time from other sources like cd-text from the disc changer without crashing.
Plus, competitive units from another big company doing toyota mp3/ipod integration is reported by others to never have problems with my car model on the lexus forums. |
|
Back to top |
|
 |
BinaryJay Getting tough
Joined: 11 Dec 2009 Posts: 55
|
Posted: Fri May 14, 2010 5:13 am Post subject: |
|
|
What does TOY33 fix vs TOY31? I noticed the file is much smaller than the previous firmware versions. |
|
Back to top |
|
 |
|