99 boxster - radio is working/on but no volume & controls don't affect it

[JoeFromPA]

Here's a weird one. My boxster had been sitting for awhile - didn't intend it too, but life got in the way. So when I went to put the trickle charger on and the car was just about dead. I could hear the window trying to go down when I opened the door, but no luck.

So I trickle charged it and just drove it 35 miles, so I'm sure it's just fine now.

Anyway, after driving for a few miles I notice the radio is on - it's reading the station and the singer just fine. But none of the controls do anything and there is no volume.

Seems like a weird problem - it's getting power, but all the controls have no effect; however, it's receiving and processing signal just fine.

Even more oddly, it didn't require a radio code to be entered...

My guess is this is some weird effect of having the battery mostly drain - the radio is in a protected mode until I enter the code.

So my current plan is to take the negative cable off the battery for a minute, put it back on, and then re-enter the code.

Anyone else ever hear of this or have any tips?

[landrovered]

Check that the faceplate contacts are clean and are making proper contact. I would take it off and then put it back on again. On my old one, it would do stuff like that until I pushed against it and then the controls would work. I replaced the cover which was cracked and now I have no problems.

[milliemax]

I had the same problem ----Battery going bad did it. Slow charge your battery for about 24 hours and then load test it to see ? Be careful with the charger in side the garage. A home burned to the ground in our neighborhood because of a charger left on inside.

[JoeFromPA]

Faceplate connections it was! Works like a charm now after going over them. Just happened to occur around the same time as a drained battery. Thanks!