Locked Clarion Headunit - Unlock?

[bigkevracer]

I've got a Clarion VZ400A headunit, and the other day I had the battery disconnected. When I reconnected it, the headunit prompted me to enter the anti-theft PIN. First couple didn't work - even though I was sure I had it right, and next thing I know I'm locked out.

Clarion tell me I have to send it to them, and it'll cost me $118 plus the cost of shipping it to them. No one local in Adelaide can do it apparently. My local repairer is following up and will let me know if they find anything.

Does anyone know if there's an alternative? The deck was only ~$400 anyway, not sure I want to spend over 1/4 of that just to reset it. Surely there is something I can do myself?

Any experience, thoughts, suggestions, etc would be great. Thanks!

[Chris Rogers]

send it to clarion. when you get it back turn the feature OFF. they have a tool to unlock it.

[Carbon 34]

damn we used to just pick up the phone and call clarion,, blaupunkt to unlock the deck with dealer id and sn# handy . did they change the setup , havent touched one of either in many years.

can I say ryan your mod shopping list of items in your profile is a theft waiting to happen, I would advise agaist the exact details of what the car has in public fourms . my advice to you , take it or leave it

Edited February 1, 2012 by Carbon 34

[bigkevracer]

Good point Troy, was thinking about reducing it anyway. Other side is it helps new guys work out what to shop for, but they ask anyway...

I did pick up the phone and call Clarion to try and sort this. They've been helpful identifying the shortcomings of their headunits, however in this case it was simply 'Remove the headunit and mail it to us'.

I've got the local repairer working on it and is going to call me back, but they told me they didn't have the jig to fix it so they're looking for an alternative (they haven't looked at it yet - it's still in the car).

I'm inclined to remove it, and either repair it and sell it, or sell it for someone else to fix, since I wasn't 100% on it. Just hadn't made my mind up about replacing it yet.

[bigkevracer]

Was speaking to a few places today, looks like I'll give Clarion warranty another shot.

I was certain I had the code right, and apparently there have been reports of Clarion decks 'forgetting' the security code. I'll chase it up with them and see if they'll do anything.

I remember back when I was in high school, we had a laptop computer program. Macs running the latest and greatest MacOS 7.5.3 system. A few of the geeks ran password protection, and quickly found if you had a space in your password, the password would become corrupted and your computer would have to be formatted to get it unlocked and working again.

Seems like times haven't changed too much...

[bigkevracer]

Not sure if this will help anyone else, but I found out some things on Friday.

Ends up I did have the code wrong, my bad.

However it also ends up that Clarion weren't entirely honest, and if you disconnect and reconnect the power enough times (3-4?) it reverts from the locked screen to give you the keypad. You then get three cracks to guess the code before you lock it again, so have to goes, turn the car off, back on, another two goes, etc until you get it right.

Sounds like a pain, and probably easier not to use that feature. I've now recorded my code in Evernote so I can put it in later if needed, and hopefully this helps someone else.

YOU DO NOT NEED TO SEND IT BACK TO CLARION! They replace an IC in the deck if you need the password reset. If you just need it unbricked to have another crack, you can do it yourself, without sending it back to Clarion.