So I have a Kenwood DNX7100 that I just installed, everything seems to work properly with the exception of the I-pod detection.

I have tried 2 Nanos on it, one was the first version of the Nano and the other was the most recently released. Both I-pods do not show up as detected Ipod devices but they do show up under the "USB" device. It seems that it takes either a few minutes or a lot of random button presses until the songs are acually able to be browsed, and then when I can finally browse them I noticed I seemed to be missing some, but not all, of my purchased Itunes music.

Ideally this thing would just detect the I-pod as what it is, to me it seems like it is seeing the Ipod as if it is just a USB device, since I can't get it to detect properly I am assuming I am losing some features with it not detecting properly.

My only theory at this point is that either the Ipods I have are not compatable of maybe the drivers in the DNX7100 need to be updated. Can anyone offer suggestions as to what might be wrong?

Edit: I am looking at updating firmware, just my luck F'ing Kenwood wants a serial number entered into the website!!! I can't imagine tearing my dash apart for a serial number, please tell me there is a way around this

 

So I just called kenwood and they gave me a dummy S/N to access the firmware. The rep told me that there's always issues with Ipod playback, mainly due to frequent updates by Apple, this is my theory though as he did not offer a reason.

Time to install the firmware...

 

Just wanted to update this, I got the firmware updated but still not getting th real Ipod recognition, it's still seeing it as a USB device. I'm basically at the point where it's like "oh well" I guess I will just live with it.

 

I wouldn't give up. Can't help too much on this, but I would keep trying. Make sure they get you something that makes it work. Especially if you wanted the iPod to work. Thanks for info though.

 

Mine now works fine, but it took updating the Kenwood firmware AND the Nano software before it synced properly.

I have the 3rd gen Nano... forget what the current software version is.

HTH.

 

I'll try updating the Ipod, I hate Apple's updates though as they seem to always screw up my playlists etc... I'll give it a shot though...

 

I updated the Ipod and the firmware and even Itunes... still nothing as far as "Ipod recognition". It does still see it as a USB device and lists the artists and albums, just no artwork or purchased/protected songs

 

Did you confirm that the 7100 firmware update was successful?

My experience, and the experience of others, is that if everything is up-to-date, both the HU and and the Nano, it should work pretty seamlessly.

 

Yeah, firmware update was sucessful... I am assuming this should be just "plug and play" but are there extra steps?

I went through the instructions, my fear is that somehow the one feature I really want is broken, I mean everything works fine so what are the odds that the Ipod cable is messed up or the wires in the radio? Seems unlikely but at this point I am out of new ideas.

btw- I have the yellow Ipod cable to the video and the black to the audio, obviously USB to USB, I'm really completely out of ideas here...

 

I just spoke with Kenwood... after running through a few tests they asked me if the cable said "kenwood" on it. My cable does not say anything on it, according to them it's an aftermarket cable and I need to get a Kenwood one, the part number from the Ebay seller on my reciept was the kenwood part number though. Off to Best Buy...

 

Yay!

I bought the Kenwood cable from Best Buy and it works flawlessly!

Kinda sucks the seller gave me a non-compatible cable but we'll be working that issue out separately. Thank the lord that I don't need to return the radio, that would have been a pain.

I'm really happy with it now though, so much better with my playlists and purchased music, really great to have it working properly.

I also burned some music videos to a DVD, used idesktop(dot)tv and then xconvert to DVD, good stuff...

So crazy that a non-Kenwood cable caused these headaches, glad I got it working though. Overall, the unit was $630 as a factory refurb, there's a tiny scratch on the screen, hell I might have put it there, overall though for the price I saved installing myself and buying a refurb I think I did pretty good. Now that I did it once, it's pretty easy to pull the dash apart, I must say though, the first time was scary and it's a tight fit back there...

Hopefully this thread can help other people in the future with the same issue.

 

Good news!

With the refurb price, you've got alot of a/v and NAV functionality for a very reasonable price.

 

I'm glad you encouraged me to not stop trying to fix the Ipod issue, I was ready to give up. I think the way I had it working before I'd rate it a 6.5/10, now with my Ipod working this thing is a 10/10, well worth the effort!

Everyone here was so damn helpful too, thanks a bunch, especially TreeFiddyZee, I don't think I could have installed this without him advising me.

Now I just want to drive but around just for the sake of driving!