OnStar buttons stopped working

[northern_hummer_user]

Hello,

Encountered my first failure of some kind. OnStar buttons stopped working suddenly. Wife discovered the problem when trying to make a phone call. The LED on the mirror to the right of the buttons not powered. None of the buttons, including the little one by the Fog lamp switch, seems to do anything anymore. OnStar people very helpful. I called them using a regular phone and they said there was a problem connecting to my vehicle...

Has anyone else experienced this or suggest a possible fix? The closest GM dealer is 6 hrs away by ferry ($300) and if I can avoid a 3 day trip, I will.

Everything else is working and I checked all of the fuses in the black fuse box under the hood.

[Storm Chaser]

Do you see your heading and temp? I thought mine had stopped working but had accidently turned it off. If the heading and temp are not showing, try the extreme left button.

[whaaaaT]

you can turn off onstar without turning off the mirrors heading and temp also. You hold the power button on the mirror for a while and you'll see the onstar green light turn off. Just read your owners manual its in there. You probly turned it off. Unless you broke the antena off the roof.

[northern_hummer_user]

Wow, what a quick reply.

I'll try the compass on/off button when I get back from Hawaii in January. I'll post if it works. The compass/temp always worked so it didn't occur to me to read more about it.

Thanks,
NHU

[deserth3]

Make sure the connector to the back of the mirror is fully seated.

[f5fstop]

Remove the onstar fuse for five minutes and try again. If this fails to allow it to work, the dealer will probably have to replace the mirror. There have been some minor problems with the early 6.0 boxes that allowed the system to reboot with power removed for five minutes.

[northern_hummer_user]

Thanks f5fstop. Could you give me a hint to which # fuse controls the onstar? I went though the manual and also looked at the graphic on the inside of the fuse box when I first had the problem. It wasn't exactly clear to me...I thought that the one controlling the radio might me the right fuse but I'm not sure.

Thanks,
NHU

[f5fstop]

They do a great job of hiding the Onstar fuse...
From the battery positive cable, you will see three red wires. One goes to the underhood fuse block, one goes to the starter, one goes to the Onstar and XM module. In that one, you will see an inline fuse. I believe it is wrapped up in tape, but it is obvious and easy to locate.
Not saying this will help, but there was a either a bulletin or preliminary bulletin on this problem. You could just disconnect the battery positive, but this resets all the saved functions, and better just to pull the fuse.

[northern_hummer_user]

Hello,

Flew home today and had my first opportunity to try what f5fstop and Whaaat suggested.

I can happily report that the problem is fixed and ONstar works fine again.

How it was fixed was disappointing and a little embarassing: Totally dead battery. There I was in 32 (0c) degree weather, after leaving Hawaii 12 hrs before in the airport parking lot, in a community without a service garage or tow truck...

Luckily, a Toyota owner (who was checking out my H3 and asked me lots of questions when I walked up) was able to give me a jump start. When I got the boost I noticed that the Onstar LED was on again!

The H3 was parked for 21 days with nothing left on that I could find. The Onstar lady ran a diagnostic and reported no error codes. Anyone else suffer this experience? Anyway, I now have jumper cables packed in with my jack.

BTW: After driving a Suzuki Vitara for 3 weeks sure made me miss how well the H3's clutch works and how good the H3 drives.

NUH

[K9sH3]

Originally Posted by northern_hummer_user

Hello,

Totally dead battery. There I was in 32 (0c) degree weather, after leaving Hawaii 12 hrs before in the airport parking lot, in a community without a service garage or tow truck...

Luckily, a Toyota owner (who was checking out my H3 and asked me lots of questions when I walked up) was able to give me a jump start. When I got the boost I noticed that the Onstar LED was on again!

The H3 was parked for 21 days with nothing left on that I could find. The Onstar lady ran a diagnostic and reported no error codes. Anyone else suffer this experience? Anyway, I now have jumper cables packed in with my jack.



NUH

This seems to happen alot to us, I too found a dead H3 at the airport when I returned.
And with the help of Crash, F5 and Paragon and 442 (who'd I miss?) I am buying a yellow top. Or maybe both yellow and red as Paragon suggested. I don't question him, I just react!