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Mystery USB port (factory installed) next to my CD slot

Discussion in 'Gen 3 Prius Audio and Electronics' started by tagew, Sep 4, 2009.

  1. tagew

    tagew New Member

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    2010 Prius
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    I just (two days ago) received my Gen III Prius. It's of the 'executive' flavor here in Europe. Don't know what it translates to in the US.

    This morning I was struggling to find out how to insert a CD in to the player. Didn't have the manual on hand so I had to look for help and found a video linked from this forum that showed how to push the load button so the display flips over and shows the CD slot. In the video, there were two slots - one for CDs and one for the navigation disc.

    When I tried this in my car, there was just one slot and s small lid that said HDD update. I lifted it and found something that I thought was a USB connector (woohoo!), but on closer exam it more resembles a mini FireWire connector.

    Has anybody else seen this? With it's placement it's obviously not meant for use with an iPod or something, but I thought that maybe you can load the onboard music hard drive from the usb/firewire/whatever thingie instead of from the CD.

    Thankful for info.

    Tage
    Stockholm, Sweden
     
    #1 tagew, Sep 4, 2009
    2 people like this.
  2. tagew

    tagew New Member

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    Update: I took a photo of the mystery port in question, but I can't seem to add it here until I've made 5 posts. Ping me if you want to take a look before that.

    /Tage
     
    #2 tagew, Sep 4, 2009
  3. Manksgloob

    Manksgloob Member

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    Hm, by chance could it be a way for your dealer to update the maps in your HDD-based NAV system?
     
    #3 Manksgloob, Sep 8, 2009
  4. qbee42

    qbee42 My other car is a boat

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    From your description, your car has a hard disk navigation system, so no slot for the DVD. The data connector is for loading map and system updates.

    Tom
     
    #4 qbee42, Sep 8, 2009
  5. tagew

    tagew New Member

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    Thanks for your replies. That's what I thought too, but since the navigation share the hard drive with the entertainment system, I hoped to be able to access the mp3 library using the FireWire port.

    It would be really convenient to just copy my music library onto the hard drive rather than having to rip all mp3s again. Not to mention all legally purchased downloaded tunes that I can't seem to transfer to the hard drive on CDs.

    I did a bold attempt last night and hooked up the firewire port to my computer. No go. I tried with power off (in the car) and power on but neither worked. No disk mounted and the computer couldn't gather info on what was connected on the FireWire port.

    I tried the reverse thing and booted up the mac in target disk mode - effectively turning it into a FireWire drive and hoped that the car would somehow mount that drive, but to no avail...

    There's probably some secret button combination needed to allow access to the drive.

    Any guesses?
    /Tage
     
    #5 tagew, Sep 8, 2009
  6. qbee42

    qbee42 My other car is a boat

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    Could be. It would make sense, but since we don't have that system here I have no idea. Generally data ports like that are set up to look like removable drives when attached to a computer - plug them in and they magically appear. However, it is possible to have a port that requires proprietary software on the host computer.

    Tom
     
    #6 qbee42, Sep 8, 2009
  7. StephUK

    StephUK New Member

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    From the French Prius board, the connector is clearly a mini Firewire but nothing detected on Windows and "Unrecognised" (or equivalent) when connected to a Mac.

    Some people will now try with the unit switched in setup/engineer mode (apparently press the "display" button and switch light on/off 5x times.

    I can't test it myself until.... I got my Prius, hopefully next week :)
     
    #7 StephUK, Sep 9, 2009
  8. tagew

    tagew New Member

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    StephUK - finally some progress! Engineer mode. So you hold the display button and then switch the headlights on and off? Or some other lights?

    /Tage
     
    #8 tagew, Sep 9, 2009
  9. mastercut

    mastercut New Member

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    maybe would be right to use a raw data rescue software to back up all the HDD.
    i need a firewire cable and i will use DATA RECOVERY WIZAR .
    Stay tuned!!!!
     
    #9 mastercut, Oct 4, 2009
  10. rayhertford

    rayhertford Junior Member

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    Hi

    I'm in the UK. Just got my Prius T Sprit which has the same audio unit with the HDD. Isn't it complete pants!!! I don't know about you, but I download my music from iTunes, I don't own the actual audio CD's. When you rip the iTunes music to an audio CD you don't always get the track and title info into the cars HDD!!!!

    BTW you don't know if the iPod docking kit as shown on YouTube works the same way as the USA head unit but with the european HDD head unit? What worries me is that there isn't a electronic box of tricks under the passenger seat as shown in the USA fitting instructions.

    Let me know if you get any luck with the firewire port. It would be great just to copy or FTP mp3 files direct to the HDD!

    Ray
     
    #10 rayhertford, Feb 22, 2010
  11. vagabund

    vagabund New Member

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    I'm dying to find out what happens next! Did you succeed in connecting your laptop to the HDD unit? Do you need to do it after entering Diagnose mode? (the finger dance)
     
    #11 vagabund, Apr 27, 2010
  12. marcelwolf

    marcelwolf New Member

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    After 2 years any solution yet??
     
    #12 marcelwolf, Jun 24, 2011
  13. chathud

    chathud New Member

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    Hey guys,is there any update on this.because im having the same question .
    What can i do with the mini fire wire port next to the dvd slot.
     
    #13 chathud, Jun 5, 2016
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