Kenwood DMX1037S Headunit Freezing and Rebooting

Question for the masses here.

Anyone with a Kenwood DMX1037S or DMX1057XR having issues with the unit randomly freezing and then restarting?

I have a 2019 Platinum that had the JBL system. I did a tech12volt upgrade to all the speakers/subwoofer and added an amp + DSR1 a few years ago. No issues with this setup.

The factory headunit leaves a lot to be desired so I decided to upgrade to the DMX1037S, again, from JRT @ tech12volt. Included headunit, maestro rr (pre-flashed), and all harnesses pre-wired. It was a SUPER SMOOTH install. Gauges, TPMS, etc. all work flawlessly.

Ever since installing, I have had intermittent issues with the headunit freezing and rebooting. At first it was once every few weeks. Now, it happens almost every time I drive but I cannot seem to reproduce/force it to happen, it's totally random. I'm using the Kenwood supplied GPS sitting underneath the center speaker grille.

Kenwood and Maestro are both updated with the most recent firmware. After trying to research this, I thought it might have been a CarPlay issue/Google maps issue. I removed google/waze and swapped to Apple Maps...still occurs. The issue has happened on Wireless CarPlay, Wired CarPlay, as well as HD Radio (even with all cell devices deleted from the Kenwood).

I've re-initialized the head unit a few times and it still happens. I called Kenwood and they said "You might be in the 1-2% of people having this issue despite the most up to date software" and want me to send the unit to them for diagnostics at my cost (still under warranty as I bought it 1 month ago). Seems odd.

I'm trying my hardest to figure out what is causing the issue, but it feels like I'm running in circles and will have to send it in.

Anyone have this issue and resolved it?

 

That’s what I was afraid of. Decided for now to keep my JBL headunit with my dsr1 and arc audio system. Mine sounds awesome but could be better with aftermarket headunit. Held off on the 1057.

 

mine dnx996xr double din does the same thing every once in a while reboots super annoying have no idea if it’s wiring or head unit, my factory head unit did the same thing but hard to prove when under warranty. This was one of the reasons why I changed it in the first place.

 

Does Kenwood have a decent tech support? Seems like an expensive unit to be wonky.

 

My Factory JBL headunit was flawless. No issues with it in terms of reliability. I had the harnesses pre-wired by James at tech12volts and he does a great job. Everything on the new headunit works at it should, with the exception of the sporadic freezing. I would find it hard to believe that indicates a wiring problem, but i am FAR from a car audio expert. I'm guessing it's more hardware/software related inside the Kenwood.

I only have one experience with calling them, and they answered quickly. The rep walked me through re-initializing the unit, as well as opening up a claim. He said a small number of people have had this issue and have had to send their units in. I asked him what the root cause was but he couldn't provide any further info. I'm hesitant to send it in for evaluation for fear of being told nothing is wrong and that they can't reproduce the issue. But luckily I have 11 months left on the warranty to make up my mind.

 

My factory JBL headunit does not do any rebooting. Knock on wood. Works great. This is my first system I have never changed out the headunit. All of my systems over the years I did aftermarket headunit the same time. I’m still going to add the Kenwood 1057 eventually.

 

Could you video it while it's rebooting? I have found that helps when problems are erratic and a tech can't use the unit for 30 hours or however long it takes to glitch.

 

Have you talked to james about it? I bet he would help you get straightened out.

I have the 1037s and haven't had any freezing issues.

 

I can try to record when it occurs but that may be a bit challenging. It happens with no rhyme or reason, so trying to ensure I have my phone accessible while driving and then being able to open the camera and record a video, it will likely be halfway rebooted...but that is better than no video I suppose.

I've sent him an email, I've called (mailbox full), and I've sent him a text but I haven't heard back yet. I know he's a super busy guy and I don't want to keep pestering him. He's usually VERY responsive, so I will give him more time to reach out.

Danimal96 -- Do you have the Kenwood setup through James with all of his harnesses? I've read about the TPMS issue/headunit not turning off with the non-modified HR-TO2 harness, so I assume he wired in the resistor prior to sending me the harness because I have all gauges working and no issues with power remaining on. I'm curious if my remote start (also from James) has something to do with this. But once again, EVERYTHING works perfectly as it should with the exception of random restarts. I think my next step might be disconnecting the OBD2 connector for the Kenwood and see it that resolves the random restarts.

In the Maestro Installation Guide it says "NC" for the amp turn on wire, but I ended up splicing to it and running the amp turn on wire with my RCAs from the headunit down to my amp... this was recommended by James. The Power Ant wire I did not connect since I have a 2019 with the standard whip antenna, not the sharkfin which needs power.

Should I try disconnecting the amp turn on and just let the amp function by auto signal sensing?

 

This is very interesting, I too have randomly had my head unit DMX1057XR do this. I have only noticed maybe 2-3 times. First year had no issues. But then it started this as well. Haven’t seen it occur for a few weeks now though. One new issue is I listen to music through my phone with Spotify with CarPlay and randomly music will stop almost like an old CD skipping due to scratches. It never use to do this. So I am not sure what is going on there as this is new.

I am curious to see what you find out on this. Hopefully this isn’t a start to this thing failing on me. I still have the stock JBL head unit as I too have a 2019 Platinum.

 

It was a while ago, james bundled everything up for me. I think i still ended up going into the maestro and setting things up in there but i'm not sure if james had already set up other stuff or not.

He's always taken really good care of me when i have issues, he's probably just slammed at the moment....hopefully he will get back to you soon. I wouldn't really start messing with anything until you hear from james outside of making sure that a bare ended wire wasn't grounding out.

 

My stock JBL unit did this all of the time. That's why I replaced it with a Boss 10" unit. Never had issues since. I would be upset if I were you too. That Kenwood unit is expensive.

 

What Boss unit did you get?

 

Yeah I'm probably going to throw in the towel until I hear back from James. I've become an expert with taking out and putting in the headunit at this point, and I've checked every single connection, all the wires/connectors are solid.

I still have my OEM JBL headunit and the DSR1, so if I have to send this back (either to James or to Kenwood), at least I can reconnect everything. That's what's nice about all the harnesses from James, it's plug and play so I can revert back if necessary.

I have a feeling it's a Kenwood issue. I've found some posts in the Tacoma forums with similar issues (across multiple Kenwood models) but no one has posted solutions. Seems like there is a decent amount of people having the exact same problem. Someone attributed it to the Kenwood software after the most recent update, but I cannot find a way to downgrade the firmware for the headunit. I also don't want to go mucking anything up until I hear from James.

Until then, I'll just keep monitoring the situation and dealing with the random restarts.

I've looked up the Pioneer DMH-WT8600NEX as an alternative, but I really want to keep the Kenwood because I want a physical volume knob

 

I have the DMX1057XR and it has frozen and restarted more times than I'd like it to. Like you, the issue is super random and difficult to replicate. Most times, the headunit powers on normally, opens carplay and plays music, drive around without touching the headunit and all of a sudden, restarts! Other times, it would function fine without a hitch for the whole drive! Would be difficult to capture on camera unless I have a camera set up to record as soon as I start the car and then hope it freezes or restarts. I did take a trip up to Canada last year and there was this stretch of exit/on ramp at the highway interchange where it did freeze at the same spot! Other than that, freezing and restarts are random.

I do have another issue with the dimmer though. Not sure if its because of the harness but whenever my headlight comes on, the headunit is suppose to go into dark mode but now it just flickers between dark and light mode so the solution so far is to run dark mode permanently.

 

Yeah it’s hard to justify spending top dollar for this unit and have these issues. Looks like I will be keeping my JBL headunit much longer before I decide again to add this headunit.

 

I've wondered if it was a GPS/location issue, but mine has restarted in the middle of nowhere as well as in cities with good coverage.

I'm using the Kenwood supplied GPS antenna tucked under the center dash cover. Which antenna are you using? Wonder if connecting the OEM roof mounted antenna would make a difference. I'm grasping at damn straws here!

As for the dimming issue, not too sure what to make of the day/dark mode issue, but see if this solution can help. Check out https://www.tundras.com/threads/kenwood-head-unit-not-dimming-at-night-solved.87326/ Post #3. Otherwise, it could be the orange illumination wire is not hooked up correctly.

 

My understanding from my installer there is a plug wire to connect to the oem antenna on the roof. Not sure if that’s the problem.

 

Kenwood antenna in same spot as yours, under center dash speaker cover. The Canada trip was the only time it froze in literally the same exact spot. Other times, super random and not replicable.
I’ll have to play around with the dimmer setting some time. It use to work great but all of a sudden giving me issues without me doing any change so I just got tired of it and set it to dark mode permanently for the fix.

 

I’ll have to check next time I take the head unit out to see if the OEM antenna plugs into the Kenwood without any adapters.

 

My 1037s used to occasionally reboot, Didnt bother me as i had an older kenwood dvd player in my tacoma and the same thing would happen once every few months at most. Now, I can either go two days without a reboot OR I cant make a 10 minute drive without it rebooting 3 times. I listen to music fairly loud so its JARRING when it freezes and plays the same 1 second of audio over and over for 5-10 seconds before it reboots on its own. Doesnt matter if its playing something from android auto or just the radio. The odd thing is it has NEVER frozen on me during a phone call. The stock headunit would freeze approx 4 minutes into EVERY phone call to the point that my phone would lock up and I had to reboot both. I cant win.

both maestro rr and headunit at most current update level.

 

Note to self: do not update firmware!

Good idea to just hold tight and hear back from james.

You could eliminate it from the car, pull the head unit and wire it up on a bench to see if it still does it or not.

 

There is an adapter from Maestro, the sTO2, which has GPS and XM adapters to go from OEM plug to Kenwood. I have them from James but didn’t use them since I used the headunit gps antenna.

I guess this thread is somewhat reassuring in the sense that I’m not the only person experiencing the freezing/rebooting.

has no one ever sent the unit into Kenwood?

And it sounds like it’s the exact same symptoms… music freezes/glitches for about 5-10 seconds and then reboots. Today was the first time it did it while I was on the phone via CarPlay. Wife couldn’t hear me and then once it rebooted the CarPlay reconnected and we continued our conversation.

what a pain in the butt

 

I would send it back to Kenwood.

 

https://www.crutchfield.com/S-r5dpFUb1VtC/p_104BE10ACP/Boss-BE10ACP.html

 

Yes there is adapter like the one post said the Maistro. My local audio guy I deal with for over 20 years he had everything for me and I know the installer he did all my stuff from James. Was planning on doing the headunit and backed out cause I was going to sell my truck. Then decided to keep it. The only thing good I have going with my audio guy and he is a Kenwood dealer if I would have them do it and have issues he would just send it back and replace it no problem. My area no one wants to pay that big dollar for a headunit. My tundra was going to be the first with that Kenwood 1057.

 

so is it a kenwood or maestro software issue?

 

The big question is why are some having the issue and some don’t have no problem with there headunit.

 

That’s the million dollar question right there. I cannot make sense as to why it’s so sporadic and why some people have normal functioning HUs.

I don’t want to mess with anything until I hear back from James at Tech12Volts but things I’m considering trying is:

1) unplugging obd2 connector
2) using OEM antenna with the adapter
3) unplugging the maestro box (I’d lose steering wheel controls, but not the end of the world) to figure out if it’s the maestro causing the problem

I’d do all of those separately to try and isolate the issue. I really do not want to send the unit back to Kenwood, I’m guessing they wouldn’t find a problem seeing as how so many people are experiencing this… I would venture a guess they would point fingers to the maestro unit or to the wiring.

 

I know over the years in all my installs with Pioneer or Kenwood headunits with the gps built in I have never had issue with the boot up time or rebooting. My 3 installers which worked for the same place and did all my systems they were always full system changed out never a issue. I know speaking with my audio guy the owner his answer was to why the Kenwood takes sometime a few minutes longer to turn on because there is so much to process. But the rebooting should not be happening. Before I decide to add the Kenwood 1057 I am going to see if he can find out with his distributor if there are issues with the Kenwood constantly rebooting.