Ideas for my ALP stuck in parking mode...

[AirMoore]

I would like to get some ideas from you guys...


As I posted in my recent "introduction" post... my civic blew it's head gasket so I haven't been able to really use the car, and didn't use the countermeasures for ~5-6months.

Last I knew, the ALP worked, but had a head possibly going bad (error 2)

I have tried firing it up since getting my car back going and have had these issues:

1) The ALP will not go out of parking mode no matter what I do. After all else failed I even tried completely resetting the entire unit and updating everything to the newest updates (and the app too). Still stays green (it never turns blue, regardless of the settings I load onto it via USB). I have no clue why it would lose it's old settings, the power was off to it for weeks at a time, but it's my understanding this shouldn't have done anything. I should have been able to fire the thing up like I never left it.

2) The "Error 2" message I talked about now comes up every time I fire up the ALP, one of the heads I thought was on it's way out ~6-8 months ago (when ALP implemented the deeper self-check) is now gone for sure. How do I find out the exact head that is causing this? Do I reset the unit and only use one head at a time?

Does the ALP now stay in parking mode if it notices an error with one of the heads?


PS: When I try to get the "system info" my tablet searches for awhile... and then the tablet tells me the "ALP is disconnected" and I can't pull any info from the ALP. If I turn off the ALP via kill-switch it will again say "ALP Disconnected."


Also, using the regular control module that comes with the unit, the same stuff happens (regarding staying in parking mode), so it doesn't seem to be the BT interface causing the issue.


I'm in no rush, I won't have much time to really apply many fixes right now, but it would be great to get as many ideas as possible so I could run through them when I eventually get some time. That is to say instead of trying one fix, coming back and reporting it does(n't) work, having 4 or 5 options right off the bat would be nice.

[BestRadarDetectors]

Start by pulling a Statistics file and see if any head is showing offline. If it is unplug it from the CPU and see if everything goes back to normal.

Sent from my SM-G928T using Tapatalk

[radargeek]

Do you have privacy mode enabled? If you do, you need the key file on a USB to get it to work in defense mode.

[AirMoore]

Thank you both for the input I've made some "progress" as I did some 350 miles the past 2 days:

The unit which was stuck in parking mode became "unstuck" by running into a radar source. Seriously. What follows is a quick blurb:

I started the unit up... it gave it's usual "Error 2" and was stuck in parking mode for quite a few minutes (~10)... so I reset it yet again and reapplied the settings.

(I) Same "Error 2" but I said screw it an drove with it
(II) 2 minutes later I drove into a "k-band false" it not only alerted, but pushed the ALP into Defense mode
(III) 2 Minutes after that, I got a false Poliscan alert
(IV) 1 Minutes later, K-band
(V) 1 Minute after that, I got another false Poliscan alert


So now here is where I am at with it:
-It DOES go into "defense mode" in one of two conditions:
1) The unit encounters a radar source (this will 'push' it into defense mode in some cases almost on the spot)
2) It will on occasion switch over (Parking>Defense) by itself sometime between 1min 30seconds - 5 or 6 minutes

Now, however, the unit very rarely gives "Error 2" or "Warning: Sensor Check Failed" (when before it would almost always give errors).

It generally gives numerous false poliscan alerts IF it goes into defense mode. Though, as I stated before it almost always goes into defense mode


Is there any way to find what head is causing the "Error 2" and "Warning: Sensor check failed" notifications?

Here is my stats file:

[AirMoore]

Here is the history:

You can see the sequence of events I described above (I-V) - Bottom of the first screenshot (Also, I just noticed... it never recorded the error for the November date, just October, which is odd considering there should be a huge list of "errors" between that October date, and the K band. So thats something else that's amiss).

As well as the most recent errors and Poliscan alerts - Top of the second screenshot

[radargeek]

That is odd that it's staying in park mode until a radar alert. Maybe some odd bug that crops up due to your faulty head? Try disconnecting one head at a time and see if the problem goes away. If it does when you unplug one head, the problem is probably that head.

Something else odd I noticed: in your statistics, your unit shows some of the overseas guns like Reigl, Laveg etc. as enabled. I don't see those when I go into ALP setup (North America), and my statistics show those as disabled.

Maybe you're running with an old setup file from a prior firmware version? Try generating a new one at http://www.alpriorityupdate.com/Setup and loading it.

[BestRadarDetectors]

You have a bad head or a bad sensor cable causing false alerts and interference. Disconnect one head at a time to see which one clears it and then try swapping the sensor to the wire from the opposite sensor to determine if its the sensor or the cable.

[AirMoore]

I thought that was odd too... as I don't remember anything besides stalker/poliscan being set for options.

As you can see in the first screenshot from my computer (top 2 lines):


The firmware is updated to 5.1.4 (my understanding is this is the newest)
And it is the "North American" database for region




I have completely reset the unit, updated it the latest and greatest firmware, uninstalled the old app, and reinstalled the newest app.

Really weird stuff going on with this unit.

Guess I'll try the old unplugging one head at a time and seeing if it fixes anything.

Do I need to force it to memorize the heads and reload the settings file every time? Or can I just unplug one at a time, have it yell at me, and then it should work anyways?



EDIT: Thank you both again.

Ok, I will try doing this when I get time, however, I do have to ask:

Can I just unplug say "Port 1" and leave "Port 2" in... let it yell at me that there isn't a sensor in 1, and run the unit with "Port 2" only?

Or do I have to take out head two, reset the unit the memorize a head in only port 1, reinstall the settings, then reboot and repeat for the second head?


PS: This is WAY UP on my wishlist for what we will see with the ALP in the feature...

Have it not only run self-diagnostics, but actually report back what they are... (e.g. - "Warning sensor check failed - port 2"). It would make life so much easier, and also a diagnostic on the radar antenna too (if that is possible) as my Sti-R+ went bad... a "service required" for the radar antenna would have been nice there.

Speaking of which... I wouldn't be surprised if it is a cable somewhere after having to check the wires countless times due to my Sti-R+ failing, I bet a sensor cable got chaffed in the process of running wires countless times. The issues only started happening after I kept having Sti-R+ issues IIRC, that would make perfect sense.

[BestRadarDetectors]

I thought that was odd too... as I don't remember anything besides stalker/poliscan being set for options.

As you can see in the first screenshot from my computer (top 2 lines):


The firmware is updated to 5.1.4 (my understanding is this is the newest)
And it is the "North American" database for region




I have completely reset the unit, updated it the latest and greatest firmware, uninstalled the old app, and reinstalled the newest app.

Really weird stuff going on with this unit.

Guess I'll try the old unplugging one head at a time and seeing if it fixes anything.

Do I need to force it to memorize the heads and reload the settings file every time? Or can I just unplug one at a time, have it yell at me, and then it should work anyways?

You might get a sensor error but that wont matter.. Set your LID settings to Unlimited when doing the test so that it will switch almost immediately into defense as soon as you correct the issue. If you do not have unlimited it will only go back into defense mode 60 seconds after the correction.

[AirMoore]

You might get a sensor error but that wont matter.. Set your LID settings to Unlimited when doing the test so that it will switch almost immediately into defense as soon as you correct the issue. If you do not have unlimited it will only go back into defense mode 60 seconds after the correction.

Sounds good, I'll upload new settings (unlimited jamming)... and unplug one head at a time and run each to report back what I find.

(Edit: I won't skip the first warm-up, I forgot that is when it runs the checks I needed)

Thanks again. I really think I'm going to end up narrowing it down to a cable; I must have gone through my wiring close to 5 times trying to troubleshoot the radar antenna issues, which (likely not coincidentally) is when all this started.