I installed my eclipse hu yesterday and after I wired everything up I turned the key and everything comes on but the main screen. I checked over my wiring, which is pretty self explanatory anyway because it is all color coordinated, and I didn't wire anything wrong. I bought this hu (which is an Eclipse CD5000 btw) at circuit city because it was an open box item and got it half off. I bought the warranty with it too, just incase this happened. My question is, could I have blown the fuse in the back for the secondary power because the hu volume is very low and starts clipping at a very low volume, and would that also cause the no screen or is it something internal? Like I said, the motorized face works and the buttons light up and the radio works, I just can't see anything like track number and all that. Anyone have a clue? I am probably going to have to ship it back, but I am wondering if I blew that in line fuse, either way I am going to have to take it out again.

Oh one more thing, what speakers are in our tC's? Pioneers?

 

It's probably messed up. Or you may need to hook the dimmer wire up. I dont know anything specifically about that head unit. The speakers are OEM cheezeO

 

Maybe that is why it was an open box item.

And I think the front speakers may be Pioneers. The back ones are of low quality, so i'm thinking they're cheap no names.

 

Well thats why I bought the extended 2 year warranty, they said they can ship it to Eclipse and get it fixed for free, but they can't replace it since it wasn't the same cost as a brand new one, but can get me store credit.... I don't want store credit so hopefully it can be fixed... I know the speakers are stock, or oem you might say, but some manufacturers do put name brand stuff in, like monsoon, bose, infinity, etc. just curious since the stock headunit says pioneer and I don't really want to take off the door panel to find out lol... I do have the dimmer hooked up, but the way the wires were set up, I could only hook up the dimmer to the headunit, but not the illumination wire (both do the same thing basically so that doesn't explain my problem still with both sound and main screen).
They did have it on display there and it was working then before I took it home.... hrmmm

 

Front speakers are indeed Pioneers.

 

the whole sound system is pioneer stock.

now what you guys don't realize are that the stock speakers are very, VERY good.. especially for stock..

now.... what's limiting them from preforming well? the stock HU.... you switch out the stock HU? you'll hear a BIG difference how the stock speakers perform.

now the problem that the OP is facing sounds more like the headunit has some issue that i don't know too much at the top of my head. i would have it taken a look at.. or return the item.

 

That's true. The stock speakers are nothing to sneeze at once you've swapped your head unit. I changed mine over to Alpines because the stockers were buzzing with high volume, perhaps as a result of plastic mounting bracketry. But I honestly did not notice a head jump up in sound compared to the stockers, just less buzz.

If you're planning to with at least speakers and a new head unit, I highly recommend doing the head unit first and seeing how you like it.

 

The illumination wire and dimmer should have no effect on the visibility of the display itself. They simply provide the HU with a small signal that allows the HU to vary the intesity of the backlight on the display. If you hook the HU up without wiring in the illumination or dimmer wire, the HU will operate normally. That being said, it is HIGHLY unlikely that this is your problem. Also, any blown fuse should cease the unit from functioning completely. It should not allow the HU to maintain power in any way.
Check the ground wire for the HU. If you can, run a separate ground wire to a more secure ground location (preferably something that is solid metal to metal contact) and see if it resolves the problem. A poor ground could cause the HU to act weak and also cause some unusual activity with regard to display fuctionality, sound quality, etc..
If this does not resolve your issue, you may need to verify that the HU is indeed working correctly. The easiest way to do this is to wire the HU in the simplest circuit possible. A simple way to accomplish this is to use a separate known-good, fully charged battery, such as one removed from the car. Connect the power (Both constant and ACC) and ground wires to the + and - posts of the battery, respectively. Do not connect any speakers at this time. The unit should power on and attempt to operate. If the unit still shows the same symptoms you mentioned earlier, then most likely, the HU is defective and needs to be returned to the manufacturer for repair. If the unit works correctly, then it is time to attach a cheap speaker to one of the channels. Insert a CD into the HU to ensure it plays well and that the quality is reasonable. If a problem occurs, the HU is defective. If everything works correctly, then it is time to question your original installation and start the install process from scratch. Proceed in a similar fashion as with the test bed. Connect power and ground (no speakers), check functionality. Proceed with speaker connection.
Always be careful of speaker connections when the HU is powered up. Do not let any speaker wires make contact with one another. A + and - making contact with power on would most likely damage the HU.

 

First thing I will do is take it out and make sure all of my connections are secure, then if nothing changes I will just hook up power and ground to a battery and go from there, hopefully it is just a loose connection. I was just going to soder all of the connections and use heat shrink, but I decided to use end or but connectors instead, I kinda wish I would have too the time and effort to do that now. I am not new in the field of installing cd players etc. I just haven't run into any problems such as this. Thanks for all of the help everyone, very much appreciated!