Just Bought J50 Skyline Crossover - Usb Question

[talkiet]

Hi there - I just got a 2009 J50 Skyline Crossover today and LOVE it so far... One difference from the 2006 V36 250GT sedan I had is that the stereo/entertainment system is 3 years newer and the BT streaming works (WELL!) and it does NOT have a CF card slot for music.

The translated documents I have found all refer to the older units with the CF slot, but I assumed the new models with the USB port in the center console would also function as a store for music...

I put some mp3 files on a FAT32 formatted 4GB stick and plugged it in and got a message that translates to "Check USB or IPOD"... and I'm unable to select USB as an input to play from.

I don't really want to muck around with the Music Box (which does work)... I'd like to be able to have a USB key and change songs on it easily when I want...

Does anyone know if there's a trick to getting the slightly later model units to play music through the USB port?

Or an updated version of the translated docs (which are helpful but there are now many options which aren't covered - and Google translate is getting me only so far)

No photos yet as I got the car as an ungroomed import...

Cheers -N

[t5iv]

Try another format. NTFS, Ext4 etc.

[junkie]

FAT or FAT32 are the most compatible formats

[mkn23]

have you tried using an ipod?

[talkiet]

have you tried using an ipod?

Nope. Don't have one, don't have an iPhone either. I am currently rounding up all my USB drives and trying them. A search earlier tonight showed that this is a common issue with the inifinti G series of about the same year... Lots of USB sticks just don't work.

Cheers - N

[talkiet]

And update. The 4th USB stick I tried works! Bonus, it's the oldest, least useful (for anything else), and physically smallest stick I have!

Cheers - N

[develec]

Reformat USB to fat16. That was more common when the car was built

[sonicii]

Reformat USB to fat16. That was more common when the car was built

?? It was built in 2009, not 1989..

FAT16 hasn't been common for quite some time now and has a maximum partition size of 2GB..

I would have expected FAT32 to be the pick for a car of this age. NTFS is widely accepted in the PC world, I wouldn't be surprised if devices like this don't support it. exFAT was quite new at the time (released in 2007).

If it is working on some UFDs, then I guess it is just very picky about what UFDs it likes.. see if you can get a larger version of the one it likes.

[junkie]

I would say the issue is with the audio device being unable to recognise some modern USB sticks, and not so much how they're formatted.

[sonicii]

Yeah. I would make sure all of those annoying 'backup' or 'crypto' products that a lot of UFDs come preloaded with these days have been completely removed too..

[talkiet]

There wasn't a single unique factor about the stick that worked. Others about the same age and capacity didn't work, and the one that worked was FAT32 (I tried all 4 with FAT32 so clearly not a filesystem issue)

In any case, I have one that works - I'm happy for now.

Cheers - N

[Nightcrawler]

I have a JVC dual din after-market unit in my V35 that I have had for around 10 years, and it has the exact same thing - some drives work, some don't - it seems completely random. For sure though I have better luck with older USB drives than newer ones.