Problems w/ SDARS (Sirius)

[Barry45RPM]

Anyone having problems with their SAT radio since this morning 8/31/11? Mine only plays the last station I listened to, (a subscrition channel, not the free "Preview Channel") display shows "Searching For Signal" on Comand display, NO SAT on DIC or else displays "Not Subscribed Call Sirius..." with the receiver EIN displayed on the comand screen. Unable to change channels by any method. Spoke to Sirius Tech Support and after repeated tries to send a "Start Signal" to my receiver I was connected to Sirius's Software people said they are having a known issue with some Mercedes SDARS units starting last night and the software folks "are working on it"... to keep checking the SAT reception for the next day or two. They assured me the problem was on their end not my hardware. Anyone?

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[dtrentr]

Listened to it for 320 miles today, no problems.

[KL2DC]

No problems here either...everything is spec normal. I'm located in the DC metro area btw.

[Hellzno]

Originally Posted by Barry45RPM

Anyone having problems with their SAT radio since this morning 8/31/11?

Mine only plays the last station I listened to, displays Searching For Signal on display, NO SAT on DIC or else displays "Not Subscribed Call Sirius..." with the receiver EIN on comand.

Spoke to Sirius Tech Support after repeated tries to send a "Start Signal" to my receiver & Sirius's Software people said they are having a known issue with some Mercedes SDARS units starting last night and the software folks "are working on it"... to keep checking the SAT reception for the next day or two.

They assured me the problem was on their end not my hardware.

Anyone?

mine is doing the exact same thing since yesterday. last station plays and says no subscrition call sirius...also i cannot change channel. I am so pissed. I called sirius 5 times and they say they have reset everything and sent signals.

do you have person you talked to.....cause the people i talked to blamed it on my car.

[Snooch]

I had the same problem yesterday (Wednesday) evening but driving in to work this morning everything was fine.

[JeffyPooh]

SiriusXM is running a free preview starting 30 August. Just a coincidence that some people are having authorization problems starting at the same time?

Mine seems to be working fine.

[Barry45RPM]

Originally Posted by Hellzno

mine is doing the exact same thing since yesterday. last station plays and says no subscrition call sirius...also i cannot change channel. I am so pissed. I called sirius 5 times and they say they have reset everything and sent signals.

do you have person you talked to.....cause the people i talked to blamed it on my car.

I don't have her name but she was in their "Software Department". she said it is a known problem with some Mercedes vehicles, that is their fault, and it started yesterday and that they are working on a cure, and I should give it a day or two...

I'm sure when they find the problem/cure, it will require a software flash at the dealer to tell the SAT unit how to utilize the newly formatted digital info being sent from the satellite.

[zdkdeeier493]

Ah! I'm not alone! Just ran a search for this.

It started on mine about 2 days ago, right after the channel update. Dashboard says "NO SUBSCR" and COMMAND display says "Not Released," call Sirius, etc. etc. Station is tuned to the last station I was listening to (IOW a paid channel, not weather broadcast) so accounts are all still active (I assume).

I have a 2004 E55 with Sirius retrofitted, but its the factory unit with factory install. I was thinking this had something to do with it.

Called Sirius yesterday and today, tried resending signals to no avail. They also told me that there was "nothing more they could do" and I would have to take the car to the dealership to get it looked at. Please, if anybody gets theirs back online, post info.

[garyk1000]

I have the same freakin' problem. Started this morning and has been going on all day. I sent two reactivation signals to the car - na da. Haven't called Sirius yet - but I do have a dealer appointment for Sat. Hopefully it'll fix itself by then.

Just had the SDAR unit replaced last month too. . . .

[Hellzno]

we need a contact person at sirius so we can all call and talk to the same person.

[garyk1000]

I just called Sirius this morning and talked to Michael (remember they are in India, so everyone is Michael). He said there is a technical bulletin out from their software department that the SIRIUS update is causing issues with some models of Mercedes. He indicated that in the last two days they've had LOTS of calls from unhappy Mercedes owners. He checked the technical advisories to see if there had been any update on the status of the problem. Nothing to date.

We tried the usual reset routine (turn of the car, open the door, wait 10 seconds, the turn on everything) which didn't work. He suggested that I take it to the dealer and check if Mercedes has a software update. I told him I had the unit replaced last month for a total failure of the SDAR so it should be current. He credited me $15 and suggested that there wasn't much more he could do until SIRIUS fixed the problem or Mercedes came up with a software patch. Of course he had no idea when that would happen.

Soooooo, I'm taking it to the dealer tomorrow. Since the unit is under warranty it will be interesting to see what the outcome of this is.

[Sportstick]

Originally Posted by garyk1000

I just called Sirius this morning and talked to Michael (remember they are in India, so everyone is Michael). He said there is a technical bulletin out from their software department that the SIRIUS update is causing issues with some models of Mercedes. He indicated that in the last two days they've had LOTS of calls from unhappy Mercedes owners. He checked the technical advisories to see if there had been any update on the status of the problem. Nothing to date.

We tried the usual reset routine (turn of the car, open the door, wait 10 seconds, the turn on everything) which didn't work. He suggested that I take it to the dealer and check if Mercedes has a software update. I told him I had the unit replaced last month for a total failure of the SDAR so it should be current. He credited me $15 and suggested that there wasn't much more he could do until SIRIUS fixed the problem or Mercedes came up with a software patch. Of course he had no idea when that would happen.

Soooooo, I'm taking it to the dealer tomorrow. Since the unit is under warranty it will be interesting to see what the outcome of this is. I'm noticing that a lot of these problems seem to happen to the SDAR units made by DELCO - which mine is. Result of having a Chrysler Mercedes. . . .

Everything you wrote made perfect sense...until the last sentence. There is no connection between E Class supplier sourcing and the Daimler takeover of Chrysler. With the MB Tuscaloosa, Alabama plant, MB is clearly developing their own US sourcing strategies, and DELCO was actually a subsidiary of General Motors, not Chrysler.

[Joshelley]

I have the same problem of a deactivated Sirius radio. I called Sirius today, a third call.TiTo at they said it was a " global" problem that affects factory installed Mercedes radios. Because it is a global problem, they assured me that they would fix my issue in 2 hours instead of 5-7 days. I am supposed to call them back in 2 hours to go through the reactivation process. I am definitely not impressed with their service and communication with this issue. It has taken me 3 days to get to this point.

[garyk1000]

If that works, then I'll try to reactivate from the website.

[Barry45RPM]

I called MBUSA just now & was first told by a clerk that MB is unaware of any Sirius problem. She reccomended I go to my Dealer Service Department. I explained that I was there yesterday and the Service Department is totally unaware of the problem. I told her that according to Sirius MBUSA was aware of the problem and I wanted to escalate my call to a higher level to be sure something was being done about it besides:"We're working on it" by Sirius, and: We know nothing about any Sirius problem by the MB Service Department. I told her I was very unhappy with no solution and a brush off.

I was put on hold again & when the MBUSA clerk came back to my call she explained that MBUSA is aware of the problem and this is what the problem is:

In order to give the Free Preview weekend that Sirius is offering this week, they are pushing through 160 free channels. There are some older SDARS receivers in our E Classes (like mine) that are not capable of receiving 160 channels, only 140 channels, and as a result our receivers are "locking up".

She asked for my VIN (probably as she was instructed to) and my EIN displayed on the SAT screen, and explained that I would not be getting a phone call back from them on this matter, but they would come up with a solution.

I'd advise those of you affected by this problem to call MBUSA and escalate your complaint past the phone operator/clerk because the MB Dealer Service departments are completely unaware of this problem or how to fix it. My guess is that not too many old fart MB owners are using Sirius, so there are no complaints.

[m103-w124]

I had my Sirius module replaced , under warranty yesterday (MB thought that was the fix), the new one with diff ESN works but not assigned to my account no. So I called up Sirius and they charged me $75.00 transfer fee and after doing all the changes and channel updates, I am back to square one . I like Elvis Presley, but I am stuck with this one channel for now. I finally called up Sirius tech support and they said that it will be resolved in 24 hrs. He gave me a credit for some lost service. Sirius customer care sucks. So "Siriusly", there's nothing wrong with my original module which my dealer accidentally left in my car

[Joshelley]

I called Sirius back after 2 hours as they suggested and still was unable to reactivate. They still had no explanation for the issue. I then called MBUSA as Barry recommended and they gave me the same explanation about the 140 vs 160 channels on older radios. At least they had an explanation!!! Thank you Barry. MBUSA said I should call back in a week if I haven't heard from someone sooner. The Sirius 160 channel promotion lasts until September 12. When it ends will everything work as it should?...

[jaycarsman@att.]

My 2008 E350 Command screen matches perfectly your description for the latest Sirius radio problem. Three days ago, Sirius was working fine. Today it is dead. I've spent hours on the phone, several activations on the Sirius website, and it still is dead. MB replaced my Sirius module, in the trunk, six month ago when it died with slightly different symptoms than today. At this point, I find myself losing interest in Sirius!

[JeffyPooh]

As suspected - not a coincidence it started at the same time as the free preview.

Maybe SiriusXM could temporarily 'transfer' those affect to SiriusXM Canada. I'm fairly certain that we Canadians don't get 140 channels from Sirius.

[JeffyPooh]

PS: if they can't handle the technical challenges of a free preview, how are they going to handle the transition to SiriusXM 2.0, a change that includes shutting down the Sirius 1.0 broadcast in 2015?

Sorry for the thread hijack: How many versions of Sirius receivers does Mercedes have to deal with?

[Sportstick]

Originally Posted by JeffyPooh

As suspected - not a coincidence it started at the same time as the free preview.

Maybe SiriusXM could temporarily 'transfer' those affect to SiriusXM Canada. I'm fairly certain that we Canadians don't get 140 channels from Sirius.

There must be some other variables involved. Our 2008 E350 has been in Canada and the U.S. for the last few days, and has performed perfectly throughout. Our C Class also is working normally. Both have lifetime subscriptions. The only thing noted a few days ago was a "Channel Updating" event at ignition, but all immediately returned to normal.

[JeffyPooh]

"Our 2008 E350 has been in Canada and the U.S. for the last few days, and has performed perfectly throughout."

The grographical location doesn't matter. 'SiriusXM Canada' authorizes fewer channels (from the exact same satellite system). So if the problem is too many channels, then a quick fix would be to temporarily hand those folks over to 'SiriusXM Canada'. It might save them scrambling to concoct a new 139 channel bocquet.

I agree that there are other factors at work. It's probably a combination if things that leads to the problem - but I'm guessing, based on the info from Barry, that one necessary condition is a US based subscription (with more than 140 channels).

If so, then a quick virtual / account "relocation" to SiriusXM Canada might be the quickest solution.

Maybe...

[Sportstick]

Originally Posted by JeffyPooh

"Our 2008 E350 has been in Canada and the U.S. for the last few days, and has performed perfectly throughout."

The grographical location doesn't matter. 'SiriusXM Canada' authorizes fewer channels (from the exact same satellite system). So if the problem is too many channels, then a quick fix would be to temporarily hand those folks over to 'SiriusXM Canada'. It might save them scrambling to concoct a new 139 channel bocquet.

I agree that there are other factors at work. It's probably a combination if things that leads to the problem - but I'm guessing, based on the info from Barry, that one necessary condition is a US based subscription (with more than 140 channels).

If so, then a quick virtual / account "relocation" to SiriusXM Canada might be the quickest solution.

Maybe...

Your solution may be possible, but just a note on geographic location. Sirius's satellites do maintain their orbit over the southern part of North America, per their information. The signal strength is stronger in the southern regions of the U.S., although adequate by design, further to the north. So, to the degree that signal strength may or may not be an issue, I was offering the good Canadian location performance of our US based E (and C) Class vehicles to help rule that out.

[Barry45RPM]

Originally Posted by JeffyPooh

PS: ... How many versions of Sirius receivers does Mercedes have to deal with?

As of summer 2010 MY cars they were on version 3 of the E class's SDARS unit. Don't know what design revision they're up to now. (My car has a Version 2 which was installed when my factory unit crapped out way back in '07.)

[JeffyPooh]

Thanks Barry. I hope that there's an upgrade path to the integrated receiver (if required) to 'SiriusXM 2.0' signal after they stop broadcasting the Sirius 1.0 signal in 2015.