HELP! Stereo won't turn on!

[race2win86]

Hey everyone. I am having a slight problem with my 1999 Alero. I purchased a used OEM Gm stereo off of ebay from a 2001 Alero to put in my 1999 Alero. I also bought the necessary harnesses to complete the switch. I installed my stereo and everything and my stereo gets power. However, it will not turn on. The red "Theftlock" light constantly blinks like every 3 seconds, but isn't that normal for it to blink? Anyways, when I push the power button, the radio does not turn on. I can put a CD in but it does not play or anything. However, I was able to set the clock. Therefore, I know it's getting power and can keep time. Nothing shows up on the display unless I press "HR" or "MN" to change the time, or press RCL to display the time. The time will show for 5 seconds or so then go off. Does this mean that my stereo is locked, even though "LOC" is not displayed? Or does this mean that a GM dealer has to "program" my car to accept and make use of this newer stereo?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.
Darren

[PotIsYourFriend]

I'm willing to bet it's locked... Maybe there's a way to unlock it...

[race2win86]

OK...so if it's locked, then why isn't "LOC" or something else displayed when I turn the car on? Plus the guy I bought it from said everything works fine so therefore he must have been able to use it with out it being locked.....hmmm....is it possible to unlock a radio/cd player that has the RDS feature??

[cficare68]

In my encounters with the deck if it is locked it is not going to allow you to set the time on it. It's not going to allow you to do anything short of putting in the code to unlock it. Check your harness, verify that everything is connected correctly and that there are not any loose ends

[race2win86]

All of the wires matched up on the harnesses except:

The reverse harness that I connected to the car's harness had two blue wires - one for a power antenna and one for amp turn-on. As far as I know, I do not have a power antenna. It is integrated in the rear window. As for the amp turn-on, where I would I connect that to the harness on the new stereo because the harness that is connected to the new stereo did not have any blue wires or wires labeled as amp turn-on?

Also, the reverse harness had two orange wires - one for illumination and an orange/white one for dimmer. However, the harness connected to the new stereo only had one orange wire that was labeled as illumination/dimmer. So do I have to connect the two orange ones into the one orange one?

Finally, the reverse harness that is connected to the car's harness had a black/white wire labeled as "amp ground" that I did not connect to anything because the harness connecting to the new stereo does not have a black/white wire labeled as amp ground.


Does this help any? Hopefully it isn't too confusing lol

[JTrujillo86]

I didn't think you were able to connect a 2001 radio to a 1999 vehicle even with the correct harness. Don't the 2001 through 2004 radios work with the PCM, therefore no theftlock code is needed? I thought when you start the car, the radio verifies that it's in the correct vehicle by working through the PCM. I didn't think that the 1999's and 2000's were able to do this.

Maybe I'm just crazy...

- Jeremy

[race2win86]

Originally Posted by JTrujillo86

I didn't think you were able to connect a 2001 radio to a 1999 vehicle even with the correct harness. Don't the 2001 through 2004 radios work with the PCM, therefore no theftlock code is needed? I thought when you start the car, the radio verifies that it's in the correct vehicle by working through the PCM. I didn't think that the 1999's and 2000's were able to do this.

Maybe I'm just crazy...

- Jeremy

Thanks for the info......what do u mean by PCM? I called Metra, the manufacturer of one of the harnesses I bought. He said that 2001 and newer stereos are turned on by the computer and not by the ignition and my 99 alero is not capable of using the computer to turn the stereo on. Can anyone second this?