Did I buy a defective Kenwood X997?

[KChiefin29]

Hey guys,

I've had me system installed for the past 4 months and it has been working great. Anyways the past month I noticed my headunit acting up - it would freeze or get all crazy on me (sounds like its on fast forward) - A few days ago, my headunit was completely frozen with the display on. The music was still playing but I could not change volume nor did any of the buttons work. Within 10 minutes, the screen goes black. The next day - I noticed my car was dead.

I have a feeling the headunit is bad as all the connections seem solid (soldered and shrink wrapped).

Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

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[sbelew 10+ year member]

I've had 2 of these series of units, an x994 and an x995. The x994 had a noise problem right out of the box. Luckily I had bought it from Crutchfield and they replaced it with the x995 with no hassles at all. It worked fine for a while, then started having problems similar to what you are experiencing. This time I called Kenwood and was told to have the vehicle battery checked, which I did. It was several years old anyway, so I had a new battery installed and it solved the problem. Recently though, the unit has developed a noise problem, same as the x994 did. I pulled it out and put my old Pioneer el cheapo HU in and the noise is gone. I did manage to find a place out in Seattle that repairs them (Second Time Audio) and gives a 60 or 90 day warranty. Was quoted $90 over the phone but I haven't decided if I want to get it repaired or replace it with something else. Its a shame really, they are nice units.

 

[Side Show 10+ year member]

try get warrenty first, also try press and hold the tiny reset button on the face plate (and reset all your settings)

 

[smacd00]

Try the firmware updates for the USB and the headunit first. I had the same issues and it is a lot better now