Battery went dead, had battery changed at local garage, they kept 12 volts in the system to not loose any info. Great job on battery change, but now my audio Radio displays message "Device Unavailable". Took vehicle to a garage that services MB. My Command Unit does not ask to enter Code # when turned on this model 164 Benz. The local service garage hooked up his computer to evaluate the system and nothing came up positive as to what the problem may be. Sent email to MB Germany with Vin # message came back that the Radio was not registered with the car. They had to remove the radio to obtain the serial # to provide to MB in Germany. They provided a code for the garage to put in but did not accept. MB asked to send them a Log of the error and software to review. So far no reply back. i hope this is not a dead end street and my radio "Command" will need to be replaced. HELP NEEDED TO GET THIS BACK WORKING. THANKING YOU ALL IN ADVANCE FOR ANY ASSIST YOU CAN PROVIDE

 

Found the problem the radio error. Checked all cable connection once again searching to see if any cables were disconnected including the fiber cables. When investigating the back seat behind the drivers seat, lifted the rear seat cushion and found the control module running with no power to the car and ignition off, key out. unplugged one cable to the box one at a time until the control module stopped running. waited several minutes, plugged the cable back on and turned on the ignition the radio worked fine. Seems to me that the module was causing this all along. the electrical ring was not working due to this problem. Hope this helps someone with this information if they encounter the same radio error.

 

nice job of trouble shooting the problem!

 

I am not clear on where that module was. The seat bottoms lift up, correct? Underneath the seats is a grey, flocked molded cardboard. Was it under that?

 

I HAVE A 2009 ML-350 THE REAR SEAT BEHIND THE DRIVERS SEAT WHEN YOU PULL ON THE NYLON LOOP HANDLE TO LIFT THE SEAT UP LIKE IF YOU WHERE GOING TO FOLD DOWN ALL THE REAR SEATS TO GIVE ROOM FOR ITEMS IN THR BACK. WHEN THE REAR SEAT IS UP THERE IS PART OF THE FLOOR RUG THERE AND A GRAY/BLACK CARDBOARD TYPE RUG, LIFT THAT AS WELL. RIGHT THERE YOU WILL SEE THE CONTROL MODULE BOX ABOUT 6'' X 10'' WITH CABLE PLUGS ATTACHED ON THE SIDES OF THE BOX. MY CONTROL BOX WAS RUNNING WITH ENGINE OFF AND NO KEY IN THE IGNITION. THE FIRST PLUG ON THE SIDE, CLOSEST TO THE BACK DOOR WAS THE ONE THAT I UNPLUGGED AND THE BOX STOPPED RUNNING. WAITED A FEW MINUTES, PLUGED CABLE BACK ON, THE BOX DID NOT START UP AGAIN. TURNED ON THE IGNITION AND THE RADIO WORKED. THIS RESET THE ELECTRONIC RING. THE RING THEY SPEAK ABOUT IS THE FIBER OPTICS AND CABLES THAT RUN IN A CIRCLE FOR YOUR RADIO, SOUND SYSTEM TELA-AID PHONE ETC. IF THE RING IS BROKEN OR LOCKED UP THIS IS WHAT HAPPENED TO MY VEHICLE. HOPE THIS HELPS YOU.

 

Holy Cow! It worked!

I had the same type of problem with my 09 ML63 today. I had it detailed, and the battery went low enough to have to get jumped. The ride home was quiet - no sat radio, or radio (except for the purr of that beautiful AMG engine). "Device Unavailable" was the message on command. I started researching the problem, and after some time I found your thread.

Needless to say, I went down to the garage and pulled up the back seat, then the black wool-like cover to expose a few boxes. On my model there's a box on top labeled "continental", perhaps for the auto adjusting air suspension - but the one below it had a plug coming out of the side with fiber optic looking wires. There was no noise, but I decided to unplug/wait/replug anyway....and it worked!

Thank you - Thank you - Thank you! You just saved me a day at the dealer.

 

Thanks for the information it worked Found the Satellite Radio commander. In the driver side, under the back seat. I unplugged the three cables attached waited a minute plugged it back turned on the radio and it worked. Thanks again

 

This fix worked immediately. The plug is towards the driver side of the cars rear row door on the lower of the two boxes. It is a little hard to unplug. A mild kick with s screw driver is needed.

 

Any ideas if this will work on an 07 S-550? I am having a similar problem and had the starter battery replaced last week.

 

Interestingly enough I had a similar issue yesterday after picking up my ML from the dealer. They replaced transfer case, but tech notes showed it hooked up to battery charger. When I went on my way home, Sirius wouldnt change channels, powered it off and it was stuck on same channel, no other buttons worked. I switched to nav then audio and then it started working again.

 

Ah! Thank you so much for posting this! This is why I love the internet and google. I have a 2009 GL 320 bluetec that I drained the battery on while charging my phone camping. Should've googled before my 30 minute search in the manual. Took me about ten minutes once I read this, only because I didn't wait long enough once I unplugged the first time. I unplugged the three cables to the satellite/fm radio, waited a few minutes, plugged back in, restarted car and all was well again. Saved me a trip to the dealership and $$$ I'm sure! Bless you! Nice troubleshooting, by the way!

 

my radio in a 2009 ML350 is stuck on one FM station, cant change the station, no AM band no WB, happened after battery drain, battery replacement... dealer said comand unit must be replaced for $4000, independent comand repair place said comand unit is fine.... I am lost.... where do I look for these connectors? I thought the fiberoptic only connects to amplifier and speakers? This is confusing to me...

 

I also found this problem after replacing battery. Mine is 09 ml350. I try to unplug but it doesn't work. Maybe I unplug a wrong one? Can anybody upload some pictures? Thanks!!!!!!

 

Thank God for people like you and thank you for taking the time to post valuable information that brought my radio back to life. You are a life saver!! I followed your instruction and to my surprise, my radio and sound were back. I was sooooooooooo happy and so grateful for all your help. You saved me money, time but most of all, your post put an end to theheartache I felt the past 2days. WOW! You are a genius. May you always be blessed. I can never thank you enough. I own an Ml350 2009

 

I've also had this DEVICE UNAVAILABLE problem (2009 ML350), after 'jumping' my battery. On both occasions it required a $115 reset by dealership. So i have a request from this forum group and a recommendation.

The request--Can any of you who have succeeded in "manually resetting" COMAND by pulling wires/cables into the digital box under the rear seat (left side) identify which wire/cable in the attached photo, if any, are the 'correct' wires/cables to unplug/replug to reset or reboot the COMAND module?

Assuming this photo got attached, i now have a recommendation for those of you who have not got a handle on this. That is, the generic MB World Forum also has a thread about this issue (it happens in many MB models). Apparently MB has made attempts to fix this problem, by some combination of hardware and software/Firmware updates. Go here to take a look at this lengthy thread:

https://mbworld.org/forums/e-class-w...#ixzz3NsJmTggC

Here are two of the more informative posts--

hi all, i may have a solution here! 08-26-2012, 09:57 AM
so long story short.
about three weeks ago, I had given up with everything, and the "no sound" issue continued to occur. placing a call to my dealer, led to having my car driven to MB headquarters, i think, in Montvale, nj. there my car was for over a week, until i got a call from the dealership, that the "dealer tech support" guys in montvale experienced my issue, thank god, as i thought they would think I’m crazy. they concluded, that the new MB COMAND software is not compatible with the older satellite radio module that was installed in my car. they then gave my dealer a new part number, for a much newer sat module, and it was ordered overnight, and replaced. it has now been almost 2 weeks, and i have not experienced the issue since, not even in the worst heat, as some thought it was heat related. so fixing the sat module with a newer part number did the trick. please remember that i did have my sat module replaced once, but not with the newer version. i guess i should have posted the part number in my post as well, but i dont have the paper work on me handy, its in the glove compartment! i can post back if it will help everyone though.
-----------------------------
Originally Posted by MBtech1098--
This issue was slightly more complex then a hardware/software issue. When a dealer performs a telematics software update, every component on the MOST ring gets updated. It was determined that the older SDAR unit was not compatible with the newer SDAR software that is installed on the newer SDAR unit. This is why installing a new SDAR tuner resolves the issue. Please note that they have come out with a software fix for this now so SDAR tuner replacement is no longer needed. Basically there is a special update that just came out last week that after all telematics components are updated with the normal software, the SDAR is then flashed again with a special software. This is a quick fix and has proven to resolve the issue. If you already have the later SDAR unit then you will not experience this issue. This exact issue only applies to NTG 4.0 telematics systems.
-----------------------------
Your particular dealership may or may not be completely on top of this so you'll want to read up before talking with your service rep, etc. It's clearly a (set of) defects(s) in a very complex group of electronic devices.

jgudge

 

I had the same issue and dealership wanted to change my battery and put in a new radio (total estimated cost US$3,000)! I was doing research on the issue and found this post. I did exactly what you said and it worked! You saved me $3,000!!!!!

 

Thank you soooo much for your advise. My battery on the 2009 ml 350 went dead. After that was addressed the radio, CD etc. did not work. message was" Device not available" your solution work great!!


NOW maybe you could help with another problem my ignition key works sometimes and sometimes not. You have to keep putting it in upside down and right side up till something happens. What's the solution to this problem.

 

I hardly browse this forum , the last time I came to mbworld was probably 4-5 yrs ago.

fast fwd to 2 days ago. My '11 GL450's radio went 'device unavailable' on me. iPod stopped working also

Nav, Bt, cd changer continues to work.

My warranty ran out in April when this problem came up. I called the dealer , they wanted $192 diagnostic fees up front ouch

Read several threads regarding this and finally I found this very thread. I gave it a shot, took out the child seat, flipped the seat over and tried this trick.

First unplugged the blue fiber optic looking wire, waited a few mins , plugged back in. No luck.

Second attempt unplugged all 3 wires , waited a few mins and the radio is back.

I called my wife with the speaker phone and when she answered I had the radio on full blast w/o saying a single word. It took her about 4 hellos to finally get it.

Thx for the op who posted this. You saved me $$$$

 

Thank you so much for those who posted info for this fix. I cannot express the amount of gratitude I have for this thread & this forum for saving my *** this morning. I am a relatively new technician(3 years in the field) and I did a regular service on a 2009 ML350. I had to also change a brake light bulb carrier & used a pry bar to hold down the brake pedal to check if the repair was successful. Well I got sidetracked and left it on overnight, as the customer wasn't going to pick it up until the next day. It Killed the battery...jump start...then device unavailable!!! I try everything, got the Autologic hooked up,, checking fuses, etc...then I find this thread! Worked like a charm....THANK YOU SO MUCH!!! I will be back AND HOPE TO CONTRIBUTE SOON.

 

Battery died on me today while waiting for my wife to exchange something at the mall. Truck is a 2009 GL 450. Car was not running and kids were watching the tv's and I was listening to the radio and lost track of time. About 30 minutes later the car didn't have enough power to start. Got it jump started and then the radio, sat radio, volume , iPod all could not be recognized or not available. Thank goodness you wrote this post. I unplugged the power cable and the 3 fibre optic cables from the module labeled " Sirius XM HD Radio" for 10 minutes and plugged them back in just as you have all said. Started the car and just like magic it all worked again. Thank you so much.

 

Yep thats the trick...I've used it numerous times for the same type of issues for my own customers. You must reset the fiber optic loop, and that is the easiest way.

 

=================
On my 2009 ML350 first the battery went low and the car wouldn't start. I have a new battery replaced by the dealer about a year ago. I gave a full charge using an external charger and the car started but the radio did not work. The radio said "Device Unavailable..". I called the MB customer service and the lady connected me to a dealer who wanted me to bring the car in.
In the meantime, I searched the web and found this forum entry. Copied the instructions. As instructed, I removed the cable closest to the back door and waited for a minute. Then put it back. Started the car and the radio started to work. Thanks to gkuzyk and everyone else who has posted the instructions.
The MB customer service and dealer could have told me this, but they wanted me to bring the car in. The dealers service had already reserved a loaner car for me to bring my car in. I was in for a huge bill, thanks to everyone on this forum, now the radio works and I saved a huge bill from the dealer.

 

My wife's 2009 ML350 had the same problem after battery drained, forgot to turn off the lights. Then recharged the battery by disconnect the battery negative pole. Every thing else worked except radio. I just pulled out the fuse for the radio system, after 30 second to clear the memory, put the fuse back. Got radio back. Fuse number 25, in the back trunk, passenger side.

 

hello, somebody know where is this module on c300, 2008???
thanks

 

My CD player keeps telling me device unavailable, where can I located this module on a C300 2010?