mastermason11

Just installed my Mikbox on my 02 CLK55 and according to the manual, if the command display says "No Phone", there is something wrong. My car came pre-wired with phone so all I did was to add the Mikbox... Anybody had this issue before ? Please help.....

pshek

...been there, done that. Even though US cars are pre-wired, you still need to configure the D2B fiber optic ring and get the phone coded with Star DAS computer. Steve (MbenzNL) properly connected the fiber ring components and coded it for me since I didn't know how.

MBenzNL

If your dash already displays the phone message - you do not need any coding at all - what you do need to do is add teh phone fiber to the active fiberring...just plugging the mikbox in without swapping out some fiberleads won't help you much...I am sure that your mikbox came with the instruction on how to do that.

greetingz,

hadam

mastermason11; Did you check your PSE is in D2B fiber loop? Please make sure that your PSE in trunk has fiber connection to it. Without it the system will not recongnize your phone.

Go to Paul's web site, it has tons of information.

mastermason11

Thanks for the response. Yes, it has fiber connectors on the trunk as my car was pre-wired. However, the fiberloop settings was not in the mikbox manual. do I still need to do this ? I thought it was just a simple plug and play ??? Also, what is Paul's site address ?

Thanks,
J.

Mik

Since you already had a PSE, the fiber should be connected, unless someone messed with it in the meantime. On your COMAND go to radio mode, then hold down MUTE+1+3 for ten seconds, then go to "Versions" then go to "D2B". What does it say in the line that starts with "Handy" ?

mastermason11

All of the items listed on that option says "No". Is this a big problem ?

Ted Baldwin

........I'm a bit confused because it looks like your problem has an obvious solution. Even if your car is "pre-wired" for a phone, If you've never actually had a phone installed in the car, you need to tell the car it has a phone by activation via star program. I understand that you have been told that this not neccessary by individuals who know a lot more about this than I do. But I have been out in the wilderness many times on my own without help and I can tell you this has been my experience. You need to use the star program to tell the car it has a phone. When you do this, you will be able to see all ehat is installed in the D2b loop. I just installed a mikbox with V551 on my 200 E55 that never had a phone. The car was "pre-wired" for a phone. Yes the intallation was plug and play, but I had to activate the phone via star program.

...........Assuming everything I said above is incorrect. You still have a problem. The solotion is still to use the star program to find out if your car is seeing your phone in the D2B loop. Error message NO PHONe means the car is not seeing your phone at all. Error message No phone connected, means the car is seeing your phone components but not the handset. Good luck.

Ted

Skylaw

Your initial post said "prewired with phone" - I don't know if you meant "prewired - no phone completion kit installed" or "prewired, with a phone completion kit installed." Prewired usually means that only the wiring harnesses are present, but not the completion kit (PSE, linear compensator, cradle, brackets, and antenna switch in some cars).

I am presuming that since MIK's reply to you mentioned that you had a PSE, you had offline communication with him to that effect. However, if your car never had a phone before you installed the MikBox, and was simply "prewired" - it would not have a PSE. As Ted said, the "No Phone" indication says the system does not recognize the PSE (which it wouldn't, if you don't have one) and the "No Phone Connected" means that you have a PSE but no phone in the cradle (or that there is a bad connection between the phone and the PSE).

The MikBox doesn't replace a PSE; it supplements it. Your car uses a TimePort PSE, which comes in several types (straight TimePort, or Autosense).

Taking the steps that MIK recommended should tell you if you have a PSE installed. The "No" indication means either that you do not have one, or that your car hasn't been coded for it. My guess is that you do not have one. If that is the case, you will need additional equipment, which you can find listed in the phone bulletins on Paul's site.

My writeup at http://forums.mbnz.org/publications/pub.asp?id=317 is for a completely different car, but contains links and information you may find helpful - including a link to Paul's site.

mastermason11

Skylaw,

Thanks for the response. Yes, my car IS wired with a phone. I bought it used 2 weeks ago and it came with the phone cradle, etc... but never really tried it since it did not came with the phone itself. I also opened the left trunk liner and there was a PSE, Compensator, Voice module, the whole 9. I don't know if the reason it's giving me a "No Phone" is that the Mikbox that I have is not compatible with the PSE I have or the car is not programmed.

Weird thing is that the Voice recognition doesn't work even before I addded the mikbox. Eveything on my COMAND works, Tele-aid also works....... Weird....


Any thoughts on this ?

Skylaw

Good - having the equipment in place means a lot less expensive solution for you. I would first do the simple thing - check fuses.

However, the "No" indication you received after using MIK's steps indicates that your D2B bus isn't recognizing the equipment; Ted has recommended the best approach. The fact that your VCM didn't work before the installation of the MikBox indicates either a possible coding problem or a problem with the module itself.

MIK can tell you if the box you have is compatible; if you ordered it from him, it should be. Send him a message through his site. The information you need regarding the MikBox is on its label. If you can verify the part number on the PSE, it may also help (to verify that it was the PSE that was supposed to be in your car).

If fuses, MikBox compatibility, connections, and coding don't do it, you could have a failure in the PSE or VCM.

Mik

MasterMason,

If you VCM didn't work BEFORE the Mikbox installation and all devices show up as "No", you have definitly a PHYSICAL fiber ring problem, it doesn't matter how the car was or is programmed with SDS.

There are several things that can be wrong:

-bad D2B component
-fuse burnt
-bad wiring

check your email.

MBenzNL

stardiagnose won't help him with his problem...he probably has an open fiberring and stardiagnose will tell him just as much about that as his comand in service mode did

check the fiberring - it most probably has an open end...the chance that you have a blown fuse is very small.

greetingz,

Ted Baldwin

.............the problem with aftermarket parts is that you are forgetting that the guy is out on his own and does not have your expertise. As wonderful as these gadgets are, it is simply not practical that the consumer will not require MB dealer expertise especially since the vendor is no longer present. The gadgets that give the most peace of mind are those that one's local dealer can help diagnose and resolve associated issues. The guy should remove the Mikbox, take his car to his local dealer and have the dealer diagnose the problem with his D2B loop and fix it, and intall VCM and phone. Then he can simply by plug and play install his Mikbox and cradle. If he is lucky, his dealer might install the mikbox for him. Dearlerless MB gadgets are wonderful in theory. I am sure there are other ways to solve his problem by vendor to consumer remote control, but you have no idea how frustrating that is for the consumer.

Ted

Skylaw

Very good point, Ted. Dealership service departments and independent shops exist for a reason. Not every problem should (or can be) be solved without them.

mastermason11

Hi Guys... The problem is now solved with the help of MIK. He walked me thru on how to directly connect the MB COMAND to the PSE and it worked. The culprit was the CDC changer fiber ring. Since I bought the car used, maybe the cheap a$$ dealership took out the CD Changer installed and cause my fiber ring to be open. So what I did was to re-configure the fiber ring setup removing the CD Changer connectors completely. IT WORKS LIKE A CHARM.....

Thanks to MIK for the superb customer service. I hope all the stores in the USA are like him.. More power to you MIK....

Ted Baldwin

................I am glad you have solved the problem. what are you going to do about your Cd changer? do you have an IPOD installed? Very nice that MIK was able to call you on the phone and walk you through the problem. To make it easier to solve problems like this, I believe MIK now has an expanding list of installers in ones" local area, much like Kleemann has Kleemann dealers throughout the USA. Very nice thinkin.

LINK TO LOCAL MIKBOX INSTALLERS

Ted.

DRKC240

After reading this thread about 20 times and searching some others, I too was able to get my phone with Mikbox and VCM up and running!!! Before the phone install, I traded out the old head unit for a Euro Comand. I saw the extra fibers in the dash bt didn't think much of it unit I installed the VCM and phone completer kit. I kept getting that infamous message "NO Phone" and the VCM didn't work. Thanks to all the postings above I realized it was a fiber issue. I pulled out the Comand, re-did the fibers as described in the phone buletin (thanks Paul D) and everything works great! No coding required - and all the functions show up on the Comand and in the cluster. The VCM is a very cool toy. Thanks to all for the assistance!!