No power to display for GPS, radio

320

Asked by Johnny Jan 15, 2016 at 02:38 PM about the 2013 Chevrolet Equinox LTZ AWD

Question type: Maintenance & Repair

I went to work and after working started up the car
and radio did not turn on and screen was blank. It
has been a couple of days now and still has not
came on. Is there anything I can do? Checked
fuses and they are fine. Dealership said $1,300  to
replace radio. Not covered under warranty.

61 Answers

34,665

I would disconnect the battery for e couple minutes to see if it would reset itself, if not, check for voltage at the plug by the radio, If voltage is present, then you have a bigger problem

31 people found this helpful.
320

I disconnected the battery and waited 5 minutes and tried it and still nothing. Where is this plug by the radio? Do I have to remove the radio or dash?

32 people found this helpful.
34,665

Yes, I would double check the fuses first but if you already did, here's a video that might help get access to the stereo power plug. https://youtu.be/ApVyLEXNrgg Hope it helps

106 people found this helpful.
920

Wife brought home her 2012 Chevy Equinox tonight. No radio or cell phone connection. Radio info screen stayed lite up when the car was off. When I started the car, screen still on. No heater fan either. I fixed the entire problem by pressing the phone icon on the rear view mirror. Heard that pretty female voice say, " Call ended, goodbye." Everything back to normal.

92 people found this helpful.
740

I know it's a little bit late to give you the solution (to the poster), but this will be useful for whoever experiences this problem mainly for equinox, and other radios with MYLINK feature. I have a chevy equinox 2013 LT2, anyways, out of nowhere my radio stopped working, which means that the display screen will turn off and not work as well, so you won’t be able to see anything, you can just control climate controls without seeing the display. and that about it, you will lose power to the USB , I took it to dealership, the diagnosis cost was 100$ to tell me that my radio is not working when they tried to plug it to their scanner, which means you need a radio replacement, they asked for 800$ for new radio, and $500 for labour. Grand total of $1300 Canadian dollar. So if this happens to you, never accept to fix it at the dealer, my advice is to right away go buy trim tools, for preying against plastic so you can open it yourself, to diagnose the radio, don’t take it to dealership and waste money, with the trim tools start taking off the sides of the middle console then next take off the very top piece, it’s above the screen, where that piece has a speaker holes connected to it, just force it upwards and disconnect plastic cables by twisting it and pulling . Take off the control plastic unit, the one with all the buttons and stuff, and unplug the wire connecter. The screen will remain there so you don’t need to unscrew anything there, next forcefully pull out the very bottom it’s like an open glove box where the charging port is and once that’s out (remember to turn on ignition and shift the gear out of the way to D (drive) so you can get it out) once out then bring the gear back to P (park) unplug 2 wires for the charger unit. Start unscrewing all the 7mm socket screws where there close to the radio unit itself. I’m sure you’ll figure it out, next you need to pull the radio down and shake it out of there to get it out, once out you can check to make sure all wires are plugged right, u can check one by one to see if the screen turns on, of course you’ll have to switch ignition to power the radio to see if it works after u tried reconnecting cables. if radio still doesn’t work, and nothing on display screen, then get the radio part number on the radio, and take a picture of the back side with the plugs to make sure that the radio you will order has the same exact plug holes, and order the radio on eBay, you will find it for $60 US, plus fees... Once you receive the radio, just replace the cables to the new radio, put the screws back on, and start putting back all the things you took off. Note that the cables might be in the way behind the radio so use one hand to tuck in all the wires underneath the radio as they’re still plugged and one hand to maneuver the radio to go in to match holes for screws to go in. Another note...as soon as you plug in the new radio, turn ignition and check if radio works, you’ll see the screen will say locked, which means you have to take it to the dealer to unlock/program the radio, assemble everything back, and its ready to get programmed. The dealership charged me $183 to unlock/program. your new radio now works great and all functions will show such as Bluetooth, XM, AM, FM, and other things, you’ll have to go to settings to choose what functions you want to show on the home page. If back up camera is installed on car it will work even if the eBay seller doesn’t mention anything about it, just make sure you match all holes on the new used radio with your current radio that way everything will work. They will ship an info sheet too about the radio you’re buying, the dealership will need it. After all you will save at least 1050$, it’s a simple fix. Don’t be scared to try it, because I know nothing about cars and I got it done in 10 minutes, that’s why I’m sharing all this. If you have any questions ask maybe I can help. Good luck!!

74 people found this helpful.
700

I followed Bill5056 advice and it worked. No voice, but when I pushed the radio button after pushing the call button on the mirror, the radio began to work again... Weird..

46 people found this helpful.
320

I pulled out fuse 15 which is the display fuse started the car left it run for 10 seconds shut it off put the fuse back and it worked

32 people found this helpful.
110

1 Factory Radio is who I called. Great people to deal with and very helpfull. (855)723-4699

11 people found this helpful.
170

I too followed Bill5056's advice and like magic, it works again! Thanks Bill!!! and Guru98SGL!

17 people found this helpful.
150

Just did what GuruDMHNN said.... pulled the fuse (15), let the car run about five minutes. I turned the motor off and replaced that fuse. Next crank everything started working properly. Maybe signs of bad things to come.... but for now, thanks GuruDMHNN!!!!!

15 people found this helpful.
320

I have equinox 2013 and everything stopped working yesterday. Can't turn radio off, can't change volume or stations, can't adjust heater/ventilation. My mechanic said we have to connect radio to machine to verify input-output. If there is a problem, change circuit board...can get a second hand one. I read all the forums and a lot of people were saying, remove fuse 15, disconnect battery for 2-3 minutes. Reconnect, instal fuse and start the car. I'll be damn, IT WORKED !!!!!!

32 people found this helpful.
700

Press the phone icon on your OnStar rear view mirror. That fixed it for me

15 people found this helpful.
700

Hit the phone button on your OnStar located on rearview mirror... That fixed it for me

9 people found this helpful.
140

2015 Eqinox no sound coming from the radio any suggestion on how to fix it

14 people found this helpful.
80

I have a 2015 LTZ and I started seeing the display taking its sweet time to turn on and every once in a while it would freeze. We took it on a 3,500 mile road trip and on our last day of driving, my wife turned it off right before we parked and it never came back on. I was a GM mechanic before I moved onto heavy equipment, but I moved on before they had the My Link system. I have removed the radio, HVAC controls and display. I had power and ground at both the radio and the display. I have OnStar through the speakers and the CD player cycles a CD when the switch is tripped. I'm leaning towards the radio. I will follow up when I get it and install it.

8 people found this helpful.
160

My 2016 Chevrolet Equinox had a similar problem. Out of nowhere, my radio suddenly quit working. My radio was on, but would not respond nor had sound and stayed on even after I turned the car off. I tried pulling the fuse and everything but nothing worked. But I took someone’s advice and pressed the blue onstar button on the rear view, hung up, and magically everything started working normally again. It’s funny how that’s all it took.

16 people found this helpful.
80

You guys are so right I unhooked the battery pull out the 15 amp fuse about 2 mins hooked back up the battery and put back the fuse started it up and the radio worked just like it should forget the dealer they don’t know a dam thing

8 people found this helpful.
70

Thank you....the onstar trick worked like a charm on my 2016 equinox when my climate control stopped working!!!!

7 people found this helpful.
380

I have a 2016 equinox and the radio is locked, the problem started when the battery lost power, someone gave me a jump but now the radio is not working on the scream said locked any digestion. Of what I need to do.

38 people found this helpful.
170

My wife has a 2014 Equinox. She brought it home from the body shop. She managed to get a couple of those yellow concrete pillars. Got both passenger doors nothing to do with this. Got home and told me that the camera and radio didn't work. Also the turn signal clicking noise was gone (they worked) and the annoying seat belt ding was gone (so sad). I tried just pulling 15 fuse starting and replacing. No good. Pulled fuse-disconnected negative from battery-waited about 5 minutes-reconnected battery-reinstalled fuse-started vehicle and SOB IT WORKED!!! Thank you for the information. Oh seat belt ding is back too!! (so sad)

17 people found this helpful.
50

I have a 2012 LTZ and I disconnected the positive wire on the battery for 10 minutes and it started working again!

5 people found this helpful.
30

Thanks bill5056! The on star button worked when the climate controls disappeared on my 2016 equinox.

3 people found this helpful.
110

2017 Equinox: Radio plays, no display. After reading all the previous remedies I disconnected positive battery cable, had pulled fuse #15, let sit for 10 minutes, reconnected battery cable, installed fuse #15, all works. Must just be a reset. Thanks to all.

11 people found this helpful.
50

My 2017 had the same issue this morning...no radio, no in dash navigation and no Bluetooth. Dreading a trip to the dealer I figured I would look on line and see if anyone else had an issue. I figured let me try to onstar phone button trick fix and it worked! My next try was going to be to remove the fuse but fingers crossed this was all that was need.

5 people found this helpful.
110

I have a 2015 Chevy Equinox LT, Someone jumped my battery wrong now I lost sound to the radio, no onstar connection, ABS Traction control, check engine and e-brake lights are on my dash. My car shut off while stopped at a light 3 times. HELP they fried my electrically system, the dealership wants $170 just to look at it and was quoted at least $1500 to do the repairs, I can't order the parts myself because the modules need to be programmed.

11 people found this helpful.
160

I read through all the threads and decided to try the most simple first. I started my car waiting for it to idle and then simply pushed the call button on my mirror. Presto bingo it works fine!!!

16 people found this helpful.
70

Ok so this is really messed up and makes me wish that maybe I didn't purchase this vehicle. Have owned my 2015 Equinox for almost 2 months and my radio went out yesterday. Did the whole Onstar thing and it also worked for me!! Makes me feel though that this whole electronic stuff is on this vehicle is a little sketch!!

7 people found this helpful.
50

I recently experienced the same thing on my 2015 equinox. The fuse area is on the side panel of the passenger side. Quickly pull out the fuse count to 10 put the fuse back in and it started working. This happens every two months or so. Because the screen will not shut off it will drain the battery. The other option has let the power go down and jump your vehicle the next day to read To reset.

4 people found this helpful.
50

I have a 2016 equinox, that I bought from car max 19 months ago. The touch screen is black, and everything associated with it is not working. I tried all the fixes except changing the radio and nothing worked. I took it to my local Chevy dealer and lo and behold I still have 7 weeks and 3,000 miles left on my 36-month, 36,000-mile bumper to bumper warranty. So, they are going to fix it for free. So, if you have this or any problem check with your local dealer, maybe you’ll get lucky, like I did.

5 people found this helpful.
30

Just take the battery terminal out and let it sit for at least 10mins. Put it back on, if it doesn't work, something is wrong with ur radio.

3 people found this helpful.
90

I never lost power to the heating AC controls, just the radio and display. Did the fuse and battery and OnStar button to no avail. It has come on twice since it went out originally about a week ago. Once when I was backing up and the rear display and radio came on blasting. It came on the next time I started it about 2 hours later, but not the next morning and hasn't since. Sounds more like something is loose. Ideas?

8 people found this helpful.
50

I have been able to follow the instructions of Lebsam, though I skipped the diagnosis from the dealership after trying all of the other remedies listed here and elsewhere on the internet. Got my "new" used radio from Ebay for $70 and my dealership said they will only charge me $75 to unlock it! I also found this video to be helpful, it deviates slightly toward the end but is easy enough to figure out with my dad's car experience! https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=pOIWxVVGY2c

5 people found this helpful.
20

Storm8259, have you found a solution. I have the same problem. I took it to a mechanic and they said I needed to get a new unit for my display. $726 total but they said it’s a known issue with this model. I’m concerned that it will just do the same thing once replaced.

2 people found this helpful.
90

It recently just came back on and hasn't gone off again yet. Basically almost right after I posted the question.

1 people found this helpful.
50

I hit the OnStar button with the phone icon. Since then I’ve had no further issues with it. I had read in several post that this took care of the situation. Prior to that I would take the fuse out of the radio slot count to 10 put it back in and it reset itself

1 people found this helpful.
20

Im having same problem on my 2016 Terrain. Radio screen progressivly took longer to come on over the course of 2 weeks. Then wouldnt come on. Feels like 1 of two things. 1: a dying capacitor. Or 2: corruption from syncronized Bluetooth accessory (phone, address book, call history, etc). I am going to pull the head unit and inspect for blown capacitors.

1 people found this helpful.
110

I have a 2015 Chevy equinox. This literally happened to me together. I was on a phone call through Bluetooth capabilities of the vehicle. Not sure what happened, but screen went haywire, Max’s a real loud trilling noise, screen froze, couldn’t turn volume up or down. Stopped along side the road, shut vehicle down, finally the noise and screen shut off. Turned car back on, screen was dark, no lights or noise, just dark. HVAC controls still work. Immediately googled to see how screwed I was because I know these screen ain’t cheap. Found this forum and read through literally everything. Tried the call button on the mirror, didn’t work (although it might have if I did it while it was making the loud noise at me). Tried on star button, nope. Got to a parking lot as it was somewhat safer than the side of the road and pulled the fuse, fuse panel in on the passenger side, down by where the passengers left foot would be, back side of fuse panel cover, indicates a list and number grid system, I pulled the fuse for #15 (display) waited like 30 seconds, put fuse back in, started car back up, held my breath, and I’ll be damned, my screen came back on, I breathed a huge sigh of relief, then went into the liquor store since I was in the parking lot anyhow. Yay! Thanks for the helpful tips, and you’re welcome for my update!

11 people found this helpful.
90

Guru1X93Z, have you found a solution? I've had same issues as most everyone here - No radio, no display, no GPS, no backup camera display. HVAC works. I've tried pulling the fuse (first tried the display fuse and then I tried the radio fuse), tried unhooking the battery cable - none of these have worked for me. Please help!

9 people found this helpful.
70

Guru1X93Z and Guru1HXQR heve either of you found a solution. My radio is doing the same thing now.Did all the troubleshooting listed here and went to the dealer also. The dealer said the radio is dead. That seems crazy on a 2017 equinox with the pioneer radio, that it would die so quickly.

7 people found this helpful.
20

See this link for how i replaced my radio with a used radio. https://www.terrainforum.net/32-audio-video-nav/28105- 2017-equinox-trouble-radio-infotainment- unit.html#/topics/28105?page=3

1 people found this helpful.
10

So my radio and inside lights went out last week so my mechanic checked my fuses 2x then said I should try buying a used radio unit which I did then plugged the new one in and still nothing!! So I came here and saw that one guy talking about #15 fuse so I told my mechanic to check it and when he did he notice there was no fuse there!!! And the fuse for the inside lights was missing!! So I bought 2 fuses and we put them in and bam everything is working my car is 2015 equinox 50,000 miles when this happened no one did work on my car since I bought it from the Chevy dealer last year I really think the dealership is in on this

1 people found this helpful.
40

Just happened to me 20 minutes ago. Found this site. Bent over to check fuses. Couldn't see any numbers. Just randomly found quite a few weren't even pushed in fully. So... I pushed on all the fuses on my 2018 equinox's dude block and... POOF! Radio came back on. I don't think pulling a fuse out n trying again is the problem. I think the union blow holes on the assembly line just didn't have it in them to properly insert the fuses into the fuse block. And why should they? Poor bastards are only making $40-$45 an Hr to do this mundane task...

4 people found this helpful.

We unhooked our battery like Sophie above and was super excited that I could now control radio and heater and the lights came back so I could see what I was doing. Thanks all

This did not work for me, I had to take my 2016 Equinox in for service and they charged the extended warranty $700 + $300 for labor for a refurbished radio as they said it is no longer produced so I could not get a new one.

30

2015 Equinox and radio display panel and back up camera failed. Took to two different dealerships. Told GM radio and cable have a defect but don't know what's causing it. Part is currently not be manufactured and no ETA. Chevy customer service could not help because they can't escalate part request because nothing available. I have lived without a back up camera and radio display panel for two months. No back up camera is scary because of all the blind spots. Second dealership try to reboot and put in a panel from a car on their lot. Both attempts failed. Any suggestions?

3 people found this helpful.
10

I have a 2012 Equinox. The radio buttons and heat and air buttons all stopped working. They had power but no ability to control them from the dash. Only with the buttons on the wheel. I had it professionally fixed the first time with a large bill. This time after reading some of the suggestions on here, we disconnected the battery for 5 mins. And that fixed the problem!

1 people found this helpful.
20

Update.... after 5 months, it randomly came back on and is working perfectly so far. Hoping it continues because a new unit was pricey.

90

Update: after not working for two months, my radio & display began working again! It takes 1 - 3 minutes for it to come on after starting my Equinox - but I'll take that over no radio at all...

40

My husband switched the cables backwards when jump starting his sisters car and now my radio is locked and I don’t know how to fix it.

4 people found this helpful.
20

Had an issue, no GPS, no Onstar, my navigation had me 300 kms away north somewhere. Tried the fuse 15 out for 10 minutes ( no less)) plugged it back in,. Onstar came on asking me about my call, the GPS off light on the navigation screen turned off and 2 minutes later I was at my home address on the screen. Just saved about $700.00 at the dealer for my 2012Terrain. Thank you.

2 people found this helpful.
10

I pulled the radio fuse it wasn’t blown I ran the car for about 5 minutes shut car off took keys out of ignition put fuse back in started car back up everything works again GPS ,radio, backup camera everything is good . Thank you all and the good lord as well. Being a Murphy I’m greatful. Hope this helps someone good luck.

1 people found this helpful.
20

Had same problem with my radio in my 2017 Equinox. Went out to eat and when we came back and to leave our radio did not work at all. So started to look on the internet to see if anyone else was having the same trouble. Took advice about the OnStar button and went out to try it and it worked. Will call the dealer to see what might have cause it.

2 people found this helpful.
80

I have a 2016 Equinox. Radio and screen quit working for a while, then start working again. Back and forth with some changes in what works and what doesn't. Sometime the radio works, but I can't control the volume, or sometimes the fan speed. WTH? Do I replace the radio?

1 people found this helpful.

A couple days ago the radio in my 2018 Equinox quit, but backup cam display still worked. I read all of this thread and had my mechanic friend unhook my battery and pull the radio fuse. After about15-20 minutes hooked everything back up and YAYYY it worked. radio came right on!!

10

Thank you so much, Bill5056! Worked like a charm! I was seriously about to freak out! Lol :)

1 people found this helpful.

I had the issue of "LOCKED" on my wife's 2015 Equinox after jump starting it last night. No issue with wrong connections or anything, I think it was just that when trying to start it it pulled what juice was left in the battery from all other areas which locked it as if the cables were disconnected or something. I got it home and this morning I threw on the charger and pulled the radio fuse. then i started it for a moment and shut it off then put the fuse back in and turned on the key... radio unlocked, then I started it and radio still worked so good to go. The dealership wanted $130 and a week before they could get it in and also they said that there would be other electronic issues going on. I have searched and found that it seems no one has had any other electronic issues that I can find so far. I told my wife to call them back and cancel the appointment and then call the sales department and explain why we would no longer be buying cars from them. $130 for something that took less than 45 seconds to correct and have to wait a week to get it done!

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