Hello, community!
I've emailed customer support at Phatbox about my problem, but based on other posts here, it doesn't sound like I should expect a response any time soon.
I'm asking you guys because I'll bet you know more about the Phatbox system than the people currently at the company.
I have a VW Phatbox in my Beetle w/Monsoon stereo. The system is totally unhacked/stock (I didn't know this board/community even existed!) It's worked well for me for a couple of years, with occasional hiccups that sound similar to issues others have had here. A quick reboot (unplug and re-plug) has always solved the problem.
However, last week, I had a more serious problem. I was driving, listening to the radio, and I hit the "CD" button to switch to the Phatbox. The radio went silent (like the Phatbox was thinking), and, a few seconds later, "check cartridge" appeared on the display, and the stereo returned to playing the radio. I hit the "CD" button again, and it said "no changer". That's what it's said ever since then.
When I arrived at my destination, I went to the trunk and disconnected/reconnected the Phatbox. No change...display still shows "no changer". I noticed that there were no LEDs.
--I disconnected the Phatbox and left it overnight, then tried again the next morning...no change.
--I tried reinstalling the CD changer in the trunk, which worked OK, telling me the problem isn't in the head unit or the car's wiring.
--I took apart the Phatbox, and everything looked fine inside -- IDE cable is well-connected (and glued into place) on both ends, no other obvious problems. I'd been hoping to find a fuse inside.
--I set the Phatbox back inside the trunk without the aluminum housing -- just the circuit board/cartridge slot. I plugged the DMS into the Phatbox and reconnected the cable. In the quiet of my driveway, I could hear the hard drive spinning up for ~10 seconds, then shutting down. It did this several times. Still no LEDs at any time.
--the DMS works fine in the dock.
So...I think my troubleshooting has pretty definitively narrowed it to either the Phatbox itself or the cable. The DMS tests OK, and when I reinstall the old CD changer, it works, meaning the head unit and the car wiring are both OK.
The fact that the hard drive spins up tells me that the Phatbox is getting power. Even if all the wires in the cable are shot except for the power and ground, shouldn't the Phatbox boot up? Doesn't this pretty definitively point to the unit itself? And if it does point to the unit itself, there isn't much else I can do except get a new Phatbox, is there?
Thanks for any advice you can provide.
--Shane in Seattle
