I just bought a radio from a 2005 Trailblazer and naturally it did not operate in my 2006 Tahoe. I thought I bought a $100 paperweight until I saw your video. Thank you for sharing this info and saving me a bill from the stealership. Very much appreciated.
Worked for me! Bought a locked CD radio for my 2005 Chevy Colorado, Didn't know I ordered one locked, found this video, pulled the chip, BINGO!! Got. CAL ERROR message when first comes on, SO WHAT, goes away when you touch the volume. THANK YOU!!!!!
Awesome!!!! Thank you... I bought a used radio, and realised it was going to be an issue. Looked at a dozen videos and websites.. ONLY yours was the correct way to do it... Well done.
8 years later!! You have definitely helped someone sir!!! The first one, the one on the left, that's what I have. From an 03 Monte Carlo. Thank you thank you!!! The dealership was going to be $145 an hour to program/unlock. Buuut, I have to go back to the junkyard, the radio worked, but not the CD player ugh!!!
Love you video! FYI The reason you’re losing power to the radio after removing the chip is because the radio has no way to communicate with the vehicles communications module that hooks to your on star as well. These radios don’t use a typical 12 V signal for power the module actually sends an 8 V signal. That’s why when you put an aftermarket radio in the wiring kit comes with a splice wire for 12 V source. I also had an issue with my 6 disc changer Bose system after a CD got stuck I unhook the fuse radio went in and went and limp mode so and wouldn’t play the CD player. Radio just flashes the CD emblem. Remove the radio took the top cover off and got the CD out but still just flashes. Nobody has had a fixture other than replacing the radio but I found a fix. Like I said the radio is controlled by that module by pulling the fuse you’re not shutting down the module you have to unhook the battery and Touch the cable ends together for about 30 seconds to a minute and that will put all modules in the vehicle to sleep. I work for a dealer I have to do this sometimes to certain vehicles that do weird things sometimes you just have to reset the modules and everything goes back to normal. Again thanks for the video.
This is great advice and it worked great with the adverse effects. Most of them were no problem, but mine would always go back to track one on the cd everytime you shut the key to the off position. So some memory is forgotten by taking out the chip. There is another option that I found by accident scrolling youtube for other suggestions. My main proble was that the face plate lights were mostly burnt out and the cd player did not work. I purchased another radio from a junk yard which I unlocked by taking out the chip. Heres the best part! Once I discovered that the cd player worked in the new radio, I then switched out the cd player and the face plate. Guess what? Now I have a new working factory cd player with no issues! There are videos on how to take the face plate and cd player out, very simple.
I just want to confirm that if I pull the chip out that the radio is now forever unlocked? I guess my question is it's not going to just run for 10 minutes at a time with the chip out it will work normally with a couple errors correct? Thanks
Last winter for no reason whatsoever my S-10's radio locked up on me. Did a google search and your videos came up. Went out and tried several numbers and FINELY got the code to unlock my radio. It's nice to have a radio again! Thank you!!!
I know this is a old video but it helped out alot ,I did everything right but still didn't work until you showed the wires on the back plugin and how to move the yellow wire.now I have a working stereo, thank you so much....
Works like a charm. Mine was the type with easily accessible chip. Used pliers and twisted it off. No problems with "cassette light". Radio presets remain after shutting off. Has "calibration error" message when first starting radio.
I had a locked radio for a 2003 Buick Rendezvous. I couldn't even get the codes by pressing the buttons. I removed this chip (small screwdriver through the side) and the radio works perfectly. THANK YOU!
After taking our '05 Colorado to the dealership and being told they can't unlock the stero, that we could find instructions in the owners manual and of course charging us for their "advice", I found your video. Guess what?! IT WORKED!! Having to deal with the CAL ERR msg for a second is no bother. Thanks for your video!!
I just followed your technique for a used radio I put in my Silverado, worked great! No loss of preset memory. THANKS!! This is what the internet was invented for, sharing information. I LOVE IT!
thank you so very much .. I saw the other guys that you mentioned. They would not help. but you sir, did.. and thank you for explicit details which is exactly what I needed. Great Job! Now I have another idea about this.
Hey Bro, I want to thank you for posting this information. I bought a radio for my mothers 2005 Equinox form a salvage yard that was locked. After looking at your video I was able to fix the issue by removing the chip. Thank you.
Hi I removed the chip and that unlocked it but lost memory so you can't store stations 2 days later I put the chip back and got the memory back and stayed unlocked Thanks for the video
If you are not hearing AUDIO after doing this, then the issue is that that the stereo was programmed to use a different AMP. GM used BOSE and Non-BOSE AMPs that communicate with the radio before producing audio. The radio has to be matched to the AMP. I'm not sure how to bypass that
Man Thank you so much i have went without a radio for a year in my 03 silverado because it was lock i just ordered aftermarket radio installation kit harness everything and just seen your video just pulled radio out done what you showed and it works great now i have to figure out what im going to do with the radio and stuff i just ordered lol awesome man thank you
This process worked. The board looked different on my radio but it still worked. I removed the chip with the numbers "9355093" on it. Cons: radio does not hold the programmed stations. When vehicle is turned back on, radio defaults to preset fm station. So far it's not an issue but have to select which CD to play after each vehicle start-up.
Thank you so much!! My radio was the one on the right and as soon as I removed the chip.... I had radio!! Thank you so much for your time and your info!
THANK YOU SO MUCH!! My Pontiac grand am (2003) stereo stopped playing CDs. And my aftermarket stereo isn't ready to go in yet(still need dash kit and harness) and I had a 2001 chev cavalier stereo laying around. But it was saying locked. So thank you so much!
Awesome! Just fixed my radio after replacing the BCM. only downside it now shows a little cassette icon in the bottom right and it's a CD only with no cassette deck. But I can definitely deal with that!
I just did this today! Radio unlocked and works great. The tape icon is on (no cassette on this unit) and the presets do NOT save...but the clock remembers the time. My aftermarket stereo quit and this old factory radio sounds better!! Thank you for this video
Great tutorial on how to remove the chip. The radio is working great in the car with no effects. Thanks for sharing this fax with everybody greatly appreciated highly recommended
If you take that little chip from one stereo into another you can unlock a junkyard stereo to work in your car without any issues. I retrofitted the monsoon system out of a Pontiac grand am in to my Chevy Malibu and had to do that to get the head unit unlocked.
I just got the older model, but it was a little bit different. The chips had goo on them. I removed the eprom using a small flat head screw driver. It worked.
Thanks for the advice. I have this problem now and the darn thing just won't budge from the "LOCKED" display. The funny thing is, I had just purchased the vehicle (2002 GMC Sonoma) the previous week. The radio worked just fine for awhile, and I was able to set all the presets and play around with the buttons to see what function did what, and then I was able to set the correct time. Shortly after that it just decided to "LOCK" with no reason. The radio was not changed, the battery did not die, and I am quite sure it came with the vehicle. I can not get it to do anything now (and the cassette player does not work, but I knew that when I bought the truck). I'm about to pull out the whole damn radio and throw it to the cows to stomp on. I hate the thing! Lets face it, nobody is stealing "any" radios anymore, and if they are that hard up for a radio, then have fun with it. With this one, stealing it would be doing me a favor...
This works AWESOME! What you need is a tiny craft X-ACTO knife, fresh blade. (The silver pencil kind.) Put a 2005 Impala ray-dee-oh into my 2005 Avalanche. For some reason, the number 5 preset works after power off/power up. Kicks as hard as a 49-year-old needs. Aftermarket is shite. (That's what I took out that was dead as a door nail.) If I want to get fancy, I might install the AUX jack, or just grab an FM combobulator and call it a day. And now, back to The Tragically Hip!
I removed the chip in mine just like you did on yours and it works. However, the memory issue drove me crazy! So I put the chip back in and had a friend with tuner software flash the radio to my vin. Imo, if I had to do it again, I would pay the dealership to do it right the first time. Worth every penny.
Actually if you ground out one of the legs to the radio chassis ground ( if using this video as reference then would be top right leg) only takes few seconds. There is no negative effects whatsoever. In fact when vehicle is off the light still blinks like it should. Now idk for certain that it forces it to program to vehicle or Actually disables Eprom entirely. The radio has to be connected to vehicle to work. This method will work with all chips like one in video
Thank you for sharing that information. I just bought an 04 Chevy Tahoe LTZ Z21 AND when we got it, the stereo was locked. Still is actually. It has a red screen and only says LOCKED on it. So hopefully your advice helps. Thank you.
towards the end of your highly informative video you confused me. Not that hard to do BUT anyway. Lemme ask ya this,, on the 2 radios you had upside down showing the chip placement, after removing the chip on these 2 particular models, Do you also have to manipulate the wiring on those ??????
Didn't work for me. I have a 2001 Chevy Impala with the older radio. After removing the chip, the radio worked fine until I shut off the ignition and started the car again. It immediately locked. I pulled the radio back out, unplugged the communication plug and tried again... Same thing.... Worked fine until I shut it off and started the car again and it immediately locked again. Any thoughts?
You shouldn't need too in vehicle as the computer in the car is still providing the radio the "On" signal. The wire trick I use, is to turn the radio on, outside of the car like in the video, or in other types of vehicles that this radio can, and does fit in that do not provide the "on" signal. Not to sound confusing and all.
Hello Pan, My 6 cd changer died in my 2006 GMC, after doing some research I felt comfortable buying a used LOCKED replacement radio. After viewing your very informative video I removed the chip and the radio is working. Yippy! Unfortunately I am not able to keep constant power to the presets/CD position. Now the way I understood it, I ran a jumper wire from the thick orange to the empty slot just to the right???Two possibilities, #1 I did a crappy job installing the said jumper wire, #2 I am completely wrong. In any case would you be a so kind and go over the wiring one more time for use non-regent folk. Thanks Dennis
