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Can't pair Verizon Galaxy S5 to 2011 Prius JBL non-nav

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Audio and Electronics' started by landolfi, Apr 10, 2015.

  1. landolfi

    landolfi Junior Member

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    Vehicle:
    2011 Prius
    Model:
    Three
    The phone sees "CAR M_MEDIA" and the head unit searches, but it seems like as soon as they see one another, the head unit says it can't pair and then a bit later the phone says there was a pairing error. I am running Android 5.0, but it happened on 4.4.4 also. I took it to the Toyota dealer today and they tried everything I did with the same result--I had hoped and thought they had a Bluetooth stack update, but apparently they thought I was clueless about how pairing works. :) Anybody else had this issue and have any ideas? I searched here and on the Web and so far haven't seen anyone completely unable to pair. I tried turning Bluetooth off until the head unit starts scanning, tried initializing the head unit before trying to pair, and a number of other fruitless attempts. It seems likely a 2011 head unit wouldn't know how to talk to a newer Bluetooth device, so the only thing I can think of from here is to try JBL to see if there is a Bluetooth stack update for the head unit. The phone pairs fine to other Bluetooth devices.
     
    #1 landolfi, Apr 10, 2015
  2. xliderider

    xliderider Senior Member

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    You mentioned initializing the head unit, but not your phone. Try rebooting the phone and try again.
     
    #2 xliderider, Apr 10, 2015
  3. landolfi

    landolfi Junior Member

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    Tried that just now. First the head unit says "Unable to pair with phone" and shows "Failed" in the display, the phone says "Error: Unable to communicate with device". Just got off the phone with Toyota customer care and they said to have the dealer run a Bluetooth diagnostic. What a pain in the behind. With the car almost 5 years old, I doubt the Bluetooth module is still under warranty and I also doubt it is cheap, especially installed.
     
    #3 landolfi, Apr 10, 2015
  4. xliderider

    xliderider Senior Member

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    Three
    Even though the BT pairing fails, does the S5 show up as a device on your phone? If it does, select the device and select Pair or Connect, whichever it is. You may have to do this several times.

    I had to do this a few times with my S3 to get it to work initially.
     
    #4 xliderider, Apr 10, 2015
  5. landolfi

    landolfi Junior Member

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    I think you mean the head unit? Yes, it stays in the S5 list, but I get the same error when I try to connect to it. I think there is an Android "safe mode", I am going to try that next.
     
    #5 landolfi, Apr 10, 2015
  6. landolfi

    landolfi Junior Member

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    Vehicle:
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    Model:
    Three
    Solved.

    For anyone else having this issue, the issue was the passkey. It worked when I changed the passkey on the head unit to 0000. From what I saw on an Android forum, changing the passkey to 1234 or 0000 will work. I never got a passkey request from the phone, but it did pair successfully. Apparently on the Gen III non-navigation radio you can't stream A2DP, but I can transfer phonebook entries via Bluetooth one at a time, and of course the phone works.
     
    #6 landolfi, Apr 14, 2015
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