GM Service Manual Online
For 1990-2009 cars only

Radio with CD MP3


Object Number: 1434153  Size: B3

Radio Data System (RDS)

The audio system has a Radio Data System (RDS). RDS features are available for use only on FM stations that broadcast RDS information.

With RDS, the radio can do the following:

    • Seek to stations broadcasting the selected type of programming
    • Receive announcements concerning local and national emergencies
    • Display messages from radio stations
    • Seek to stations with traffic announcements

This system relies upon receiving specific information from these stations and will only work when the information is available. In rare cases, a radio station may broadcast incorrect information that will cause the radio features to work improperly. If this happens, contact the radio station.

While the radio is tuned to an RDS station, the station name or call letters will appear on the display instead of the frequency. RDS stations may also provide the time of day, a program type (PTY) for current programming, and the name of the program being broadcast.

XM™ Satellite Radio Service

XM™ is a satellite radio service that is based in the 48 contiguous United States and in Canada (if available). XM™ offers over 100 coast-to-coast channels including music, news, sports, talk, and children's programming. XM™ provides digital quality audio and text information that includes song title and artist name. A service fee is required in order to receive the XM™ service. For more information, contact XM™ at www.xmradio.com or call 1-800-852-XMXM (9696).

Playing the Radio

PWR (Power): Press this knob to turn the system on and off.

VOL (Volume): Turn this knob to increase or to decrease the volume.

DISPL (Display): When the ignition is turned off, press this knob to display the time. For RDS, press the DISPL knob to change what appears on the display while using RDS. The display options are station name, RDS station frequency, PTY, and the name of the program (if available). For XM™ (if equipped), press the DISPL knob while in XM™ mode to retrieve four different categories of information related to the current song or channel: Artist, Song Title, Category or PTY, Channel Number/Channel Name. To change the default on the display, press the DISPL knob until you see the display you want, then press and hold this knob for two seconds. The radio will produce one beep and the selected display will now be the default.

AUTO VOL (Automatic Volume): With automatic volume, the audio system adjusts automatically to make up for road and wind noise as you drive. Set the volume at the desired level. Press this button to select LOW, MEDIUM, or HIGH. AVOL will appear on the display. Each higher setting will allow for more volume compensation at faster vehicle speeds. Then as you drive, automatic volume increases the volume, as necessary, to overcome noise at any speed. The volume level should always sound the same to you as you drive. NONE will appear on the display if the radio cannot determine the vehicle speed. To turn automatic volume off, press this button until OFF appears on the display.

Finding a Station

BAND: Press this button to switch between FM1, FM2, AM, or XM1 or XM2 (if equipped). The display will show the selection.

TUNE : Turn this knob to select radio stations.

SEEK : Press the right or the left arrow to go to the next or to the previous station and stay there. The radio will only seek stations with a strong signal that are in the selected band.

SCAN : Press and hold either arrow for more than two seconds. SCAN will appear on the display and the radio will produce one beep. The radio will go to a station, play for a few seconds, then go on to the next station. Press either arrow again or one of the pushbuttons to stop scanning presets. To scan preset stations, press and hold either arrow for more than four seconds. PSCN will appear on the display and the radio will produce one beep. The radio will go to a preset station, play for a few seconds, then go on to the next preset station. Press either arrow again or one of the pushbuttons to stop scanning presets. The radio will only scan stations with a strong signal that are in the selected band.

Setting Preset Stations

Up to 30 stations (six FM1, six FM2, and six AM, six XM1 and six XM2 (if equipped)), can be programmed on the six numbered pushbuttons, by performing the following steps:

  1. Turn the radio on.
  2. Press BAND to select FM1, FM2, AM, or XM1 or XM2.
  3. Tune in the desired station.
  4. Press AUTO EQ to select the equalization.
  5. Press and hold one of the six numbered pushbuttons until you hear a beep. Whenever that numbered pushbutton is pressed, the station that was set will return and the equalization that was selected will be stored for that pushbutton.
  6. Repeat the steps for each pushbutton.

Setting the Tone (Bass/Treble)

AUDIO: Push and release the AUDIO knob until BASS or TREB appears on the display. Turn the knob to increase or to decrease. The display will show the bass or the treble level. If a station is weak or noisy, decrease the treble. To adjust the bass and the treble to the middle position, push and hold the AUDIO knob. The radio will produce one beep. To adjust all tone and speaker controls to the middle position, push and hold the AUDIO knob when no tone or speaker control is displayed. ALL CENTERED will appear on the display and you will hear a beep.

AUTO EQ (Automatic Equalization): Press this button to select customized equalization settings designed for country/western, jazz, talk, pop, rock, and classical. To return the bass and treble to the manual mode, push and release the AUTO EQ button until CUSTOM appears on the display.

Adjusting the Speakers (Balance/Fade)

AUDIO: To adjust the balance between the right and the left speakers, push and release the AUDIO knob until BAL appears on the display. Turn the knob to move the sound toward the right or the left speakers. To adjust the fade between the front and the rear speakers, push and release the AUDIO knob until FADE appears on the display. Turn the knob to move the sound toward the front or the rear speakers. To adjust the balance or the fade to the middle position, push the AUDIO knob to select BAL or FADE, then push it again and hold it until you hear one beep. To adjust all tone and speaker controls to the middle position, push and hold the AUDIO knob when no tone or speaker control is displayed. ALL CENTERED will appear on the display and you will hear a beep.

Finding a Program Type (PTY) Station (RDS and XM™)

To select and find a desired PTY perform the following:

  1. Turn the P-TYPE knob to activate program type select mode. TYPE and a PTY will appear on the display.
  2. Turn the P-TYPE knob again, to select a PTY.
  3. Once the desired PTY is displayed, press the SEEK TYPE button to select and to take you to the PTY's first station.
  4. To go to another station within that PTY, press the SEEK TYPE button twice to display the PTY and then go to another station.
  5. Press P-TYPE knob to exit program type select mode.
  6. IF PTY times out and is no longer on the display, go back to Step 1.

If both PTY and TRAF are on, the radio will search for stations with the selected PTY and traffic announcements.

If the radio cannot find the desired program type, NONE will appear on the display and the radio will return to the last station you were listening to.

BAND (Alternate Frequency): Alternate frequency allows the radio to switch to a stronger station with the same program type. To turn alternate frequency on, press and hold BAND for two seconds. AF ON will appear on the display. The radio may switch to stations with a stronger frequency. To turn alternate frequency off, press and hold BAND again for two seconds. AF OFF will appear on the display. The radio will not switch to other stations. This function does not apply for XM™ Satellite Radio Service.

RDS Messages

ALERT!: Alert warns of local or national emergencies. When an alert announcement comes on the current radio station, ALERT! will appear on the display. You will hear the announcement, even if the volume is low or a CD is playing. If a CD is playing, play will stop during the announcement. Alert announcements cannot be turned off. ALERT! will not be affected by tests of the emergency broadcast system. This feature is not supported by all RDS stations.

INFO (Information): If the current station has a message, the information symbol will appear on the display. Press this button to see the message. The message may display the artist, song title, call in phone numbers, etc. If the entire message is not displayed, parts of the message will appear every three seconds. To scroll through the message, press and release the INFO button. A new group of words will appear on the display after every press of this button. Once the complete message has been displayed, the information symbol will disappear from the display until another new message is received. The last message can be displayed by pressing the INFO button. You can view the last message until a new message is received or a different station is tuned to. When a message is not available from a station, NO INFO will appear on the display.

TRAF (Traffic): If TRAF appears on the display, the tuned station broadcasts traffic announcements and when a traffic announcement comes on the tuned radio station you will hear it. If the station does not broadcast traffic announcements, press the TRAF button and the radio will seek to a station that does. When a station that broadcasts traffic announcements is found, the radio will stop seeking and TRAF will appear on the display. If no station is found that broadcasts traffic announcements, NO TRAF will appear on the display. If TRAF is on the display, press the TRAF button to turn off the traffic announcements. The radio will play the traffic announcement if the volume is low. The radio will interrupt the play of a CD if the last tuned station broadcasts traffic announcements. This function does not apply to XM™ Satellite Radio Service.

Radio Messages

CAL ERR (Calibration Error): The audio system has been calibrated for your vehicle from the factory. If CAL ERR appears on the display it means that the radio has not been configured properly for your vehicle and it must be returned to your GM dealer for service.

LOCKED: This message is displayed when the THEFTLOCK® system has locked up. Take your vehicle to your GM dealer for service. If any error occurs repeatedly or if an error cannot be corrected, contact your GM dealer.

XM™ Radio Messages

Radio Display Message

Condition

Action Required

XL (Explicit Language Channels)

XL on the radio display, after the channel name, indicates content with explicit language.

These channels, or any others, can be blocked at a customer's request, by calling 1-800-852-XMXM (9696).

Updating

Updating encryption code

The encryption code in the receiver is being updated, and no action is required. This process should take no longer than 30 seconds.

No Signl

Loss of signal

The system is functioning correctly, but the vehicle is in a location that is blocking the XM™ signal. When the vehicle is moved into an open area, the signal should return.

Loading

Acquiring channel audio (after 4 second delay)

The radio system is acquiring and processing audio and text data. No action is needed. This message should disappear shortly.

Off Air

Channel not in service

This channel is not currently in service. Tune to another channel.

CH Unavl

Channel no longer available

This previously assigned channel is no longer assigned. Tune to another station. If this station was one of the presets, choose another station for that preset button.

No Info

Artist Name/Feature not available

No artist information is available at this time on this channel. The system is working properly.

No Info

Song/Program Title not available

No song title information is available at this time on this channel. The system is working properly.

No Info

Category Name not available

No category information is available at this time on this channel. The system is working properly.

No Info

No Text/Informational message available

No text or informational messages are available at this time on this channel. The system is working properly.

Not Found

No channel available for the chosen category

There are no channels available for the selected category. The system is working properly.

XM Lock

Theft lock active

The XM™ receiver in your vehicle may have previously been in another vehicle. For security purposes, XM™ receivers cannot be swapped between vehicles. If this message is received after having your vehicle serviced, check with your GM dealer.

Radio ID

Radio ID label (channel 0)

If tuned to channel 0, this message will alternate with the XM™ Radio eight digit radio ID label. This label is needed to activate the service.

Unknown

Radio ID not known (should only be if hardware failure)

If this message is received when tuned to channel 0, there may be a receiver fault. Consult with your GM dealer.

Check XM

Hardware failure

If this message does not clear within a short period of time, the receiver may have a fault. Consult with your GM dealer.

Playing a CD

Insert a CD partway into the slot, label side up. The player will pull it in, and READING will appear on the display. The CD should begin playing. If you want to insert a CD with the ignition off, first press the eject button or the DISPL knob.

If the ignition or radio is turned off with a CD in the player it will stay in the player. When the ignition or radio is turned on, the CD will start to play where it stopped, if it was the last selected audio source.

When the CD is inserted, the CD symbol will appear on the display. As each new track starts to play, the track number will appear on the display.

The CD player can play the smaller 3 inch (8 cm) single CDs with an adapter ring. Full-size CDs and the smaller CDs are loaded in the same manner.

If playing a CD-R, the sound quality may be reduced due to CD-R quality, the method of recording, the quality of the music that has been recorded, and the way the CD-R has been handled. There may be an increase in skipping, difficulty in finding tracks, and/or difficulty in loading and ejecting. If these problems occur, check the bottom surface of the CD. If the surface of the CD is damaged, such as cracked, broken, or scratched, the CD will not play properly. If the surface of the CD is soiled, see Care of Your CDs for more information.

If there is no apparent damage, try a known good CD.

Do not add any label to a CD, it could get caught in the CD player. If a CD is recorded on a personal computer and a description label is needed, try labeling the top of the recorded CD with a marking pen instead.

Notice: If a label is added to a CD, or more than one CD is inserted into the slot at a time, or an attempt is made to play scratched or damaged CDs, the CD player could be damaged. While using the CD player, use only CDs in good condition without any label, load one CD at a time, and keep the CD player and the loading slot free of foreign materials, liquids, and debris.

If an error appears on the display, see "CD Messages" later in this section.

1 FLD (Previous): This button is inactive when playing a CD.

2 FLD (Next): This button is inactive when playing a CD.

3 REV (Reverse): Press and hold this pushbutton to reverse quickly within a track. Press and hold this pushbutton for less than two seconds to reverse at 10 times the normal playing speed. Press and hold it for more than two seconds to reverse at 20 times the normal playing speed. Release this pushbutton to play the passage. ET and the elapsed time of the track will appear on the display.

4 FWD (Forward): Press and hold this pushbutton to advance quickly within a track. Press and hold this pushbutton for less than two seconds to advance at six times the normal playing speed. Press and hold it for more than two seconds to advance at 17 times the normal playing speed. Release this pushbutton to play the passage. ET and the elapsed time of the track will appear on the display.

6 RDM (Random): Press this pushbutton to hear the tracks in random, rather than sequential, order. RDM ON will appear on the display. RDM and the track number will appear on the display when each track starts to play. Press RDM again to turn off random play. RDM OFF will appear on the display.

SEEK : Press the left arrow to go to the start of the current or the previous track. Press the right arrow to go to the start of the next track. Pressing either arrow for more than two seconds will scan the next tracks, playing the first eight seconds of each track until all of the tracks have been previewed. Press the button again to stop scanning and to play the track.

TUNE : Turning the TUNE knob will fast track reverse or advance through tracks. The track number will appear on the display for each track.

DISPL (Display): Press this knob to see how long the current track has been playing. ET and the elapsed time of the track will appear on the display. To change the default on the display (track or elapsed time), press this knob until you see the display you want, then press and hold the knob for two seconds. The radio will produce one beep and the selected display will now be the default.

BAND: Press this button to listen to the radio when a CD is playing. The inactive CD will remain safely inside the radio for future listening.

CD AUX (Auxiliary): Press this button to play a CD when listening to the radio. The CD symbol will appear on the display when a CD is loaded.

(Eject): Press this button to eject a CD. Eject may be activated with either the ignition or radio off. CDs may be loaded with the ignition and radio off if this button is pressed first.

Using an MP3 CD

MP3 Format

If you burn your own MP3 disc on a personal computer:

    • Make sure the MP3 files are recorded on a CD-R disc.
    • Do not mix standard audio and MP3 files on one disc.
    • Make sure playlists have a .m3u or .wpl extension, other file extensions may not work.
    • Files can be recorded with a variety of fixed or variable bit rates. Song title, artist name, and album will be available for display by the radio when recorded using ID3 tags version 1 and 2.
    • Create a folder structure that makes it easy to find songs while driving. Organize songs by albums using one folder for each album. Each folder or album should contain 18 songs or less.
    • Make sure to finalize the disc when burning an MP3 disc, using multiple sessions. It is usually better to burn the disc all at once.

The player will be able to read and play a maximum of 50 folders, 50 playlists, 10 sessions, and 255 files. Long file names, folder names, or playlist names may use more disc memory space than necessary. To conserve space on the disc, minimize the length of the file, folder or playlist names. You can also play an MP3 CD that was recorded using no file folders. The system can support up to 11 folders in depth, though, keep the depth of the folders to a minimum in order to keep down the complexity and confusion in trying to locate a particular folder during playback. If a CD contains more than the maximum of 50 folders, 50 playlists, 10 sessions, and 255 files the player will let you access and navigate up to the maximum, but all items over the maximum will be ignored.

Root Directory

The root directory will be treated as a folder. If the root directory has compressed audio files, the directory will be displayed as F1 ROOT. All files contained directly under the root directory will be accessed prior to any root directory folders. However, playlists (Px) will always be accessed before root folders or files.

Empty Directory or Folder

If a root directory or a folder exists somewhere in the file structure that contains only folders/subfolders and no compressed files directly beneath them, the player will advance to the next folder in the file structure that contains compressed audio files and the empty folder will not be displayed or numbered.

No Folder

When the CD contains only compressed files, the files will be located under the root folder. The next and previous folder functions will have no function on a CD that was recorded without folders or playlists. When displaying the name of the folder the radio will display ROOT.

When the CD contains only playlists and compressed audio files, but no folders, all files will be located under the root folder. The folder down and the folder up buttons will search playlists (Px) first and then go to the root folder. When the radio displays the name of the folder the radio will display ROOT.

Order of Play

Tracks will be played in the following order:

    • Play will begin from the first track in the first playlist and will continue sequentially through all tracks in each playlist. When the last track of the last playlist has been played, play will continue from the first track of the first playlist.
    • If the CD does not contain any playlists, then play will begin from the first track under the root directory. When all tracks from the root directory have been played, play will continue from files according to their numerical listing. After playing the last track from the last folder, play will begin again at the first track of the first folder or root directory.

When play enters a new folder, the display will not automatically show the new folder name unless you have chosen the folder mode as the default display. See DISPL later in this section for more information. The new track name will appear on the display.

File System and Naming

The song name that will be displayed will be the song name that is contained in the ID3 tag. If the song name is not present in the ID3 tag, then the radio will display the file name without the extension (such as .mp3) as the track name.

Track names longer than 32 characters or four pages will be shortened. The display will not show parts of words on the last page of text and the extension of the filename will not be displayed.

Preprogrammed Playlists

You can access preprogrammed playlists which were created by WinAmp™, MusicMatch™, or Real Jukebox™ software, however, you will not have editing capability. These playlists will be treated as special folders containing compressed audio song files.

Playing an MP3

Insert a CD partway into the slot, label side up. The player will pull it in, and READING will appear on the display. The CD should begin playing and the CD symbol will appear on the display. If you want to insert a CD with the ignition off, first press the eject button or the DISPL knob.

If the ignition or radio is turned off with a CD in the player it will stay in the player. When the ignition or radio is turned on, the CD will start to play where it stopped, if it was the last selected audio source.

As each new track starts to play, the track number will appear on the display.

The CD player can play the smaller 3 inch (8 cm) single CDs with an adapter ring. Full-size CDs and the smaller CDs are loaded in the same manner.

If playing a CD-R, the sound quality may be reduced due to CD-R quality, the method of recording, the quality of the music that has been recorded, and the way the CD-R has been handled. There may be an increase in skipping, difficulty in finding tracks, and/or difficulty in loading and ejecting. If these problems occur, check the bottom surface of the CD. If the surface of the CD is damaged, such as cracked, broken, or scratched, the CD will not play properly. If the surface of the CD is soiled, see Care of Your CDs for more information.

If there is no apparent damage, try a known good CD.

Do not add any label to a CD, it could get caught in the CD player. If a CD is recorded on a personal computer and a description label is needed, try labeling the top of the recorded CD with a marking pen instead.

Notice: If a label is added to a CD, or more than one CD is inserted into the slot at a time, or an attempt is made to play scratched or damaged CDs, the CD player could be damaged. While using the CD player, use only CDs in good condition without any label, load one CD at a time, and keep the CD player and the loading slot free of foreign materials, liquids, and debris.

If an error appears on the display, see "CD Messages" later in this section.

1 FLD (Previous Folder): Press this pushbutton to go to the first track in the previous folder. Pressing this button while in folder random mode will take you to the previous folder and random the tracks in that folder.

2 FLD (Next Folder): Press this pushbutton to go to the first track in the next folder. Pressing this button while in folder random mode will take you to the next folder and random the tracks in that folder.

3 REV (Reverse): Press and hold this pushbutton to reverse quickly within a track. Press and hold this pushbutton for less than two seconds to reverse at 10 times the normal playing speed. Press and hold it for more than two seconds to reverse at 20 times the normal playing speed. Release this pushbutton to play the passage. REV and the elapsed time of the track will appear on the display.

4 FWD (Forward): Press and hold this pushbutton to advance quickly within a track. Press and hold this pushbutton for less than two seconds to advance at 10 times the normal playing speed. Press and hold it for more than two seconds to advance at 20 times the normal playing speed. Release this pushbutton to play the passage. FWD and the elapsed time of the track will appear on the display.

6 RDM (Random): To random the tracks in the current folder or playlist, press and release this pushbutton. FLDR RDM will appear on the display. Once all of the tracks in the current folder or playlist have been played the system will move on to the next folder or playlist and play all of the tracks in random order. To random all the tracks on the CD, press and hold this pushbutton for two seconds. You will hear a beep and DISC RDM will appear on the display. This feature will not work with playlists. When in random, pressing and releasing either SEEK arrow will take you to the next or previous random track. Press and release this pushbutton again to turn off random play. NO RDM will appear on the display.

SEEK : Press the left arrow to go to the start of the previous track. Press the right arrow to go to the start of the next track. Pressing either arrow for more than two seconds will search the previous or next tracks at two tracks per second. Release the button to stop searching and to play the track.

TUNE : Turning the TUNE knob will fast track reverse or advance through the tracks in all folders or playlists. The track number and file name will appear on the display for each track. Turning this knob while in random will fast track reverse or advance the tracks in sequential order.

DISPL (Display): Press this knob to switch between track mode, folder/playlist mode, and time of day mode. The display will show only eight characters, but there can be up to four pages of text. If there are more than eight characters in the song, folder, or playlist name, pressing this knob within two seconds will take you to the next page of text. If there are no other pages to be shown, pressing this knob within two seconds will take you to the next display mode.

    • Track mode will display the current track number and the ID3 tag song name.
    • Folder/playlist mode will display the current folder or playlist number and the folder/playlist name.
    • Time of day mode will display the time of day and the ID3 tag song name.

To change the default on the display, press the DISPL knob until you see the display you want, then press and hold this knob for two seconds. The radio will produce one beep and the selected display will now be the default.

INFO (Information): INFO will appear on the display whenever a current track has ID3 tag information. Press this button to display the artist name and album contained in the tag. INFO will disappear from the display when the information in the ID3 tag has finished.

BAND: Press this button to listen to the radio when a CD is playing. The inactive CD will remain safely inside the radio for future listening.

CD AUX (Auxiliary): Press this button to play a CD when listening to the radio. The CD symbol will be illuminated on the display when a CD is loaded.

(Eject): Press this button to eject a CD. Eject may be activated with either the ignition or radio off. CDs may be loaded with the ignition and radio off if this button is pressed first.

CD Messages

CHECK CD: If this message appears on the display and/or the CD comes out, it could be for one of the following reasons:

    • It is very hot. When the temperature returns to normal, the CD should play.
    • You are driving on a very rough road. When the road becomes smoother, the CD should play.
    • The CD is dirty, scratched, wet, or upside down.
    • The air is very humid. If so, wait about an hour and try again.
    • The format of the CD may not be compatible. See "MP3 Format" earlier in this section.
    • There may have been a problem while burning the CD.
    • The label may be caught in the CD player.

If the CD is not playing correctly, for any other reason, try a known good CD.

If any error occurs repeatedly or if an error cannot be corrected, contact your GM dealer. If the radio displays an error message, write it down and provide it to your GM dealer when reporting the problem.