mtnman82

Actually, the install went fairly smoothly. Got everything out and the new stuff in. It's really crowded behind the comand unit, so made sure things were laying as nice as possible. Got the GPS antenna up under the dash. Radio powered up AOK. CD changer works. It definitely sounds better than the cassette unit. Now the problem...

I get '00 SAT' - i.e. no satellites. I tried driving around, wound up pulling the unit out again to get the extra cable for the GPS antenna free and laying the antenna on the dash. Tried both side up (not sure if it's directional), even tried setting it on the roof. No luck.

I'm bummed. Is there something I'm missing? Anybody have an extra GPS antenna they want to part with?

Viper98912

Which antenna did you buy?

mtnman82

This is the one I bought, from MBDoctor.com. It appears to be the correct one, but the cable is way longer than needed.

Viper98912

If it doesn't work, return it. BTW, I know that the 05-07 Comand uses a blue fakra connector, not the gray.

mtnman82

Thanks Viper. The pre-'05 units use the grey fakra connector (and the '05+ the blue, as you say). I was hoping there was a way to test the antenna. The comand is a brand new factory refurbished unit, and the GPS antenna a new unit, so I'm envisioning having to go back and forth between the two vendors as they point fingers at each other... Oh what fun.

Viper98912

Yea sorry man, if it's a refurb then it may be the unit itself as well.

samaritrey

If my extra antenna was not in my car i would send it to your for shipping (broke my nav units nav function ) Gl with it

mtnman82

Thanks guys. Just got off the phone w/MB Doctor (talk about great customer service - he asked me to call on a Sat evening). He says 100%, not even 99%, it's the comand unit. He also offered to exchange antenna's for the cost of shipping, but said he's never seen a bad one. Now to hear back from the nav vendor...

Viper98912

Yea, antennas are simple enough that it really shouldn't be bad unless the wire internally is broken. GL

mtnman82

These antennas are powered, which suggests an amplifier in there. Slightly complicates things. I just have to sit on it until Monday I guess. Frustrating when things don't go right straight away.

samaritrey

Yeah when i got my navigation unit and all the parts it was a friends birthday and i had school. So after school i drove to his house and in his driveway installed my nav with him in the passenger seat yelling at me about breaking my car lol

mtnman82

Thought I'd post an update... I got ahold of the Nav vendor this week and went thru a bunch of diagnostic stuff (do you comand guys know about pressing mute+1+3 to get to the diagnostic menu?). All to no avail. In the end, they couldn't tell if it was the unit or the antenna. Sooooo, I've sent them the comand and the antenna and they're going to check things out there at the factory. Guess I have a long wait - won't get there until next week and I probably won't get it back until the week after. Yea fun...

nickgailloux

fyi after the first install, it can take a while before the satellites start to show up. I've personally experienced a wait of about 1-2 hours of drive time before they show up. Not sure how long you waited.

I am using an aftermarket eBay antenna and it works great.

mtnman82

Hmmm, I think I only messed with it for about 30~45 minutes each time. Even when they were troubleshooting twith me on the phone, only had me wait for ~15 minutes before calling it quits. I wonder if it was something this simple...

They had me clear all the error codes before we waited the 15 minutes and then we saw no more errors. After driving it around the rest of the day (couple 15 minute drives) it did show an error code, but not sure what it was for. Yeah, I'll be bummed even more if it was just a matter of letting it do it's thing for a couple hours. Thanks for the info!