'safe' radio

I have a second hand golf 96 with build in car radio without manual.
After having changed the car battery the radio ended up in safe mode.
Now I have problems to enter the radio code.
I know I have to press and hold 'mode' and 'scan' and code 1000 appeared. My code has among other digits a 0 and a 9 but the buttons on the radio are numbered 1 to 6 only.
After several unsuccessful attemps I now can't even get it into code mode. How to proceed please?

Disconnect the battery for 5 min then re-connect it and try again. You need to use the first 4 numbers (press each one untill the number in the secred code is correct) after the code is correct you need to press and hold the "seek foward" button. If the battery doesnt fix it you will need to disconnect the radio and reconnect it.

I have a similar issue with a 97 Golf. Have the code from the dealer, but after hitting scan and mode to get the 1000, the first digit only shows as a blank or a 1. The first digit to my code is a 0 so I left it blank and did the last three digits and hit seek foward. Nothing. The digits stay on there and I can change them if I need to. But the stereo never works and goes back to 'safe' if I shut the car off. Is there something about the 97 thats different?( the manual we were given is from a 98 GTI, totally different) Thanks!

Are you pressing the same two buttons after entering the code as you did to get the 1000 display? You may have to hold them for a couple of seconds. Otherwise the code may be wrong. Did they use the radio's serial number to get the code or both the car's VIN & radio serial number?

I have a second hand golf 96 with build in car radio without manual.
After having changed the car battery the radio ended up in safe mode.
Now I have problems to enter the radio code.
I know I have to press and hold 'mode' and 'scan' and code 1000 appeared. My code has among other digits a 0 and a 9 but the buttons on the radio are numbered 1 to 6 only.
After several unsuccessful attemps I now can't even get it into code mode. How to proceed please?

I finally got it working. The five minute battery disconnect worked alright. After that I managed the enter the code mode by pressing and holding 'scan' and 'mode' together. The display showed 1000 and by pressing button 1 once for the first digit the display showed 000. The second digit could be altered by pressing button 2 four times, the display showed 400. The third and fourth digit could be controlled by buttons 3 and 4 respectively. After the display showed the correct code I pressed and holded 'scan' and 'mode' simultaneously again for several seconds and suddenly the radio worked again. magic thanks for your advise.

yay....