2013 Auris Excel (UK) USB Playback issue

[Smitten]

HI All, 

I seem to be getting nowhere with this issue, so I am asking for Help.

A couple of weeks back I bought the 2013 Auris Excel from the main Toyota Dealer, and all is well except the USB playback.

Insert the iPod via USB and it works fine, Insert a USB preloaded with my MP3 Collection, and the head unit doesn't see the USB, so far I have tried various USB Ranging from 2 GB to 128 GB, all USB 2.0 and above, NTFS and FAT 32 format ( dependent on USB Pen Drive), nothing seems to be working the USB connection on the head unit is greyed out, this is also the same on my Wife 66 plate Avensis Tourer. My Car has been back to the main dealer twice so far and twice its come back as not fixed.

Can Anyone shed some light on what could be the issue. OH BTW inserted the pen drives back into my Desktop, Laptop or Tablet they all play fine.

To Eliminate the Obvious I have used the following to get to the route of the problem.

2 x Sandisk 2 gig USB 2.0 loaded with MP3 Ripped from 4 CDs ( FAT 32)

2 x Lexar 2 gig USB 3.0 loaded with MP3 Ripped from same 4 CDs (FAT 32)

2 x Kingston Datastore 8 gig USB 3.0 loaded with MP3 Ripped from same 4 CDs (NTFS)

2 X Lexar 16 gig USB 3 loaded with MP3 Ripped from same 4 CDs (NTFS)

2 x 32 gig Sandisk Extreme USB 2 loaded with MP3 Ripped from same 4 CDs (NTFS)

2 x 64 gig Verbatim 64GB Store 'n' Go USB-Flash Drive, ripped from the same Cd's as above 

2 x 128 gig Fury Hyper X USB drive again ripped from the same Cd's as above

I am not stupid, I am a certified Microsoft IT Tech with 21 yrs experience and at a loss to understand what is going on here, is it a power issue?, It's certainly not the music, as it plays fine on all other devices. 

To Clarify, the IPOD works then plugged into the USB Slot, so that would rule out Power issues or the USB slot being dodgy, the USB when played in the Laptop, Desktop or Tablet all play fine, all showing as Valid MP3 and WMA Properties, despite splitting mp3 on one drive and WMA on the other.

The USB in the car has power, all the USB Devices are in the correct format, and all clean wiped and repartitioned before loading with songs.Bluetooth streaming works well, so does all other functions on the headunit, it's just this Damned USB Issue I cannot figure

[Beekeeper D]

Not being something I had played with since getting the car, I had a go and got a usb stick to work successfully with my 2014 Auris Excel TS Hybrid - which I think probably has an a/v unit that is similar if not utterly identical to yours. 

 

When I first put the stick in, the list of 'media' sources was automatically refreshed (it knew something had been inserted), but 'usb' remained greyed out. 

So I reformatted it from the MacOS format it had been, to a single FAT32 partition using OS X's Disk Utility. However even with the single partition, under the options I did also take the trouble to select the MS-DOS partition table type "Master Boot Record". And I left the volume name at the default (in all capitals). 

Again I copied a single simple mp3 format file to the stick with no directories other than the top level one. And with the DAB radio playing it autoplayed the mp3 on insertion of the usb stick. So I copied a few album folders from an iTunes music folder on the Mac onto the stick. And the car could see and play all the tracks (I haven't tried deeper directory levels, but it does NOT require all files to be in the root directory). 

When I looked again at the 'media' source list, usb was no longer grey AND had moved up the re-sorted list. 

The stick used was an 8Gb PNY (usb2) that I had to hand. 

I think I might even use this facility - so thanks for motivating me to explore the area!

My suggestion would be to call up the media source list (menu) and watch to see if it refreshes (at all) as the stick is inserted. If it doesn't then it doesn't know your stick is there. If it refreshes but usb remains greyed out and towards the bottom of the list, then it knows it is there but is failing to mount it - which might be due to the detail of the stick's formatting being at fault - something along those lines would be my guess as you are seeing the same problem on two vehicles. 

For debugging, keep things simple and add complexity only when you must! Just try and get something (as simple and undemanding as possible) actually working, and only after that try to add refinements. Good luck! 

Note that it does take several seconds to boot the head unit. I don't think it is looking at the usb until about the same delay as the DAB tuner takes to chime in. Patience helps! 

[Smitten]

Hi Bee, 

Thanks for the reply.

Tried this on both Cars yesterday drove from my house to Preston, about 35 minutes either way, and USB Still is Greyed out., Whilst I appreciate your input I would like to comment that 75% of the USB were brand new out the packet, so I would rule the formatting issues, as new USB generally Speaking are ready to go..., more than happy to receive any other thoughts your may have 

[Beekeeper D]

12 hours ago, Smitten said:

... Whilst I appreciate your input I would like to comment that 75% of the USB were brand new out the packet, so I would rule the formatting issues, as new USB generally Speaking are ready to go...,

Better to take control yourself, and know that it is formatted ideally for DOS rather than Win10 or anything else. 

Only a small capacity is needed (search/index on the player is pretty dumb). And even usb2 is overkill - expect the socket to be usb1. Start with the most basic, not the most ambitious! 

Watch the 'media' menus as you insert, to see if it refreshes - otherwise it hasn't recognised the insertion, which would indicate a car hardware issue and the dealer being unable to demonstrate it working. But if it works for the dealer but not for you, then it is down to your usb sticks and the formatting and data on them. 

[Anthony Poli]

If you bought the car from a dealer then take it back.

We had an issue with the Yaris, would not see the ipod, I don't know exactly what they did, but I know they had to reinstall the sat nav software.

 

[Beekeeper D]

1 hour ago, Anthony Poli said:

If you bought the car from a dealer then take it back.

From his first post, Toyota main dealer, and he's already been back twice with this problem, which also identically affects his wife's "66 plate Avensis Tourer". 

Hence my suspicion that it might not be the car ... 

[Packard]

I had virtually same on my Aygo (also have Auris)' virtually everything inpluge inwas greyed out.. when back to delaers turned out a physical fault with the USB port.

 

which they stated they have a lot always in stock as a common problem..

 

as its under warraty I'd take it in to be checked