C5 Navidrive cuts off

[Zdriver938]

My c5 navidrive stops service as it heats up : it stops telephone then CD player then reduces the volume to half and in all of these the reason displayed is to reduce unit temperature and if I carry on driving the following message is displayed: unit will shut down to prevent any damage. If anyone had this problem please let me know
The dealer I contacted said they are aware of the problem but they can't fix it.

[GiveMeABreak]

Hi and welcome.

Do you have the NG4 (Navidrive 3D) or the RT4 system?
The pictures for each are in the Audio & Telematics Main page here and will be the second or the third picture.
viewforum.php?f=44

If you have the NG4 (Navidrive 3D) the system is likely going into backup mode because of the temperature inside the unit. The official causes are listed as:

• Internal temperature sensor faulty or RAM memory of the motherboard of the NG4 inadequate
• Fan absent, disconnected or jammed, or short circuit to earth of the fan control

Although the system has an internal fan, it can still get relatively hot with the cars heating equipment also working in the winter. As a result the volume will decrease to reduce power used by the amplifier and so reduce heat output.

The only thing you can do to try and reduce the heat build up are:

• Eject any DVD / CD you have in the unit (keeping these in the slot results in the reader operating - whether you are using it or not. I never use mine unless watching a movie whilst waiting in the car on occasions - but always remove it when not in use. It generates extra heat spinning the disc whether it is operating or not.
• As far as music goes - try using the SD card to copy your MP3 files onto from your PC - Before I replaced the Hard Disk with a CF card in mine to preserve the original hard drive, I NEVER used the jukebox function or stored any music on the hard drive. I believe this causes extra disk activity reading in music files as well as all the other operations it runs from the drive. Anything to reduce disc activity will help keep the temp. down.
• Try not having the car too warm (I know it's winter) - but once the car warms up try and keep it at a comfortable level (18-21) setting on the climate control - as it puts extra work on the internal NG4 fan and additionally it will just be circulating hot air from the cabin in addition to that generated by the unit.
• Make sure you have a good, healthy and recent car battery. If the battery is end of life, it will cause the car to go into economy mode much quicker (even after a minute). When the car is switched off, the NG4 continues to run even when you have left the car - to allow the fan to cool the unit if required. If economy mode is kicking in, it will likely shut the power to the fan off and this can cause damage or overheating to the electronics over time.

It's not ideal, but there are a lot of electronics inside there and cooling is always going to be a problem. The important thing is to try and reduce the unnecessary work the unit has to do and keep the temperature down where you can.