Boss Audio BE10ACP Car Stereo -Android CarPlay Digital Multimedia Receiver - $229 at Autozone B&M only, $329 everywhere else

Well, sorry it happened to you too, but glad to know it wasn't anything I did wrong. I've been back and forth with tech support, they've said check default volume levels and do factory reset. No help. When I asked about reinstall or rollback of firmware, they just said "I'll have to check with my R&D team. I don't have an answer at this time." I guess I'm going to push for a replacement if they don't come up with an answer quickly. I know when I bought it, Autozone said it had a 1 year replacement warranty. But I'd rather Boss ate the cost of replacement.. they published this brick firmware. I've pretty much lost what little faith I had in Boss after this experience.

I would like to send it back to them too, but I doubt Autozone "eats the replacement cost". I'm sure they send it back to Boss and get a replacement/refund or something to that effect. I just think Boss is just going to jerk us around and it may take weeks to get a replacement. And who knows if they even give us a "new" replacement. If going the Autozone route, we could probably just walk in there and exchange it. I wouldn't say squat about failed firmware update because then they might try and spin it like it's our fault; something we did wrong. I'm probably just going to say something like it just stopped working, no sound.

Sounds like a good call. Let me know how it goes if you try. I just moved and my nearest autozone is an hour away, so I'm going to keep trying with Boss for now. I noticed there's a different, identical looking model--BCPA10, and I don't see the BE10ACP listed on the boss website under "in-dash" (had to search google to get to the boss page). I tried to throw the BCPA10 firmware update on a flash drive, but couldn't get the option to show up on my head unit. I'll follow up if/when I hear anything new. Thanks for all the updates.

edit: fixed double quote

You could try renaming the firmware LOL. Sometimes that does the trick with crossflashing and the sort.

Edit: I see that the file is also named ISPBOOOT (with 3 "O"s again LOL) so I'm guessing renaming it wont do the trick. I guess that this file is the actual firmware (was previously thinking that the this file was the updater and the other one (the one that has been on their site was the actual firmware needed) or why else would that original file be up on their site if it was nothing? Very sloppy if you ask me. Also believe that the model you found is the replacement for the BE10ACP. And as I said in an earlier post (must've been a couple months ago) that this unit wasn't listed as a head unit on their site (remember I also said that the only way I was able to find it was via a web search). And it's been out of stock for quite some time on their site so I'm positive that it's discontinued. That was short lived. They must've realized that this particular unit had bad hardware and abandoned ship. The disconnecting issue I was having seemed too consistent to be a loose connection because it would happen like clockwork almost to the minute everytime on my way into work right at the one hour and ten minute mark. Almost like something would overheat, overload, or whatever little processing it did would run out of memory. If they do have a new version around, maybe they would ship us that one instead. Probably just wishful thinking. They probably would just send us "refurbed" BE10ACPs that are more screwed up than the ones we currently have.

I did get a message from boss that they will RMA the unit. Of course, they want a receipt to validate the warranty. Shame on me. I guess I'm going to go the autozone route, assuming the warranty is tied to my phone number that I gave when I bought it.

What's the problem with providing them with an autozone receipt, are they not an authorized seller or something? Actually we would be SOL if they didn't carry this particular model any longer (I mean you could stand there and argue that this is the same as that one but those guys are robots in there and will say that they're different some how and they may even look at the price difference too). I'm hoping it will be the updated model with the better display connector, but that's probably luck of the draw. I can let you know this weekend when I have time to rip it out and box it back up. Another thing i know I don't want to do is remove the wiring harness for the unit as it's soldered to the factory harness adapter. I'm also going to keep the microphone in place too because I have that fished up an A pillar across the ceiling above the headliner to the map lights. If that's an issue I'll just take the ones out of the new unit and put them into the box.

The problem is.. I lost the receipt! I did just call autozone and they confirmed my warranty through my phone number. I'm going to try to swap it tomorrow, if I can make it up there. I'm also going to try to keep my connector and mic.. we'll see if it all matches up and exactly what unit I get. Fingers crossed!

edit: Got this email from Boss when I asked if they will have a new firmware update, or if they are going to pull the bricking firmware off their website: "We will not be removing the firmware, because it does resolve most customers' issues, however, there is a small batch of units that the software update does not fix. It seems like you have one of those radios. Do you have a speaker you can directly hook up to radio's power harness? I am curious to see what happens if a speaker is wired directly to the back of the radio."

The problem is.. I lost the receipt! I did just call autozone and they confirmed my warranty through my phone number. I'm going to try to swap it tomorrow, if I can make it up there. I'm also going to try to keep my connector and mic.. we'll see if it all matches up and exactly what unit I get. Fingers crossed!

edit: Got this email from Boss when I asked if they will have a new firmware update, or if they are going to pull the bricking firmware off their website: "We will not be removing the firmware, because it does resolve most customers' issues, however, there is a small batch of units that the software update does not fix. It seems like you have one of those radios. Do you have a speaker you can directly hook up to radio's power harness? I am curious to see what happens if a speaker is wired directly to the back of the radio."

All I have to say is good luck with the autozone exchange. I did it today and after a little back and forth with them. I thought we were all set and the guy says it will be $148 and change. I was like what? He goes the price went up! I'm like the receipt says 1 year exchange. Luckily someone else was there and showed the guy what he had to do to cancel out the price difference in the system. That guy wasn't budging though. You know, same thing happened to me at advance auto a while back where they made me pay the price difference on an exchange like that and they would not budge no matter how much I argued and I had to concede because I had my vehicle all apart and needed it done that day so I could make it to work the next day. Think it was an alternator or something.

Anyway, got the new one in and it is the old design still with the crumby screen connection. One thing I noticed right away when I was installing it was that the screen arm connection is super loose on this one. I know some of the people in this thread and/or youtube were complaining about that previously (you might have been one of them LOL) and sorry to doubt you guys. I can't believe there's so much variance between units. I mean the first one I had would snap in super tight with precision and the only "flex" I could even detect was the plastic face on the actual head unit moving a little. Goes to show that Boss doesn't have very tight quality control. One plus I noticed was that I didn't have one single usb disconnect in the two hours straight that I just used it. That's got to be a record for me. Maybe something was in fact wrong with the previous one. But that just goes to show again that they either have some more quality control issues (since others were complaining about the exact same thing) or possibly there was a slight hardware revision. No more firmware updates for me unless they're proven to be bug free, but that's the problem, I don't know if that will ever happen. Had loads of trouble with my previous Kenwood unit and that thing had 3 or maybe even 4 updates and each one would bring a new set of problems. Let me know how your autozone adventures go.

Edit: You know I was thinking that some people were mistaken about what actual model they bought and the one with the improved screen connector is probably the BCPA10 model you mentioned. Seems like some of the youtube commenters bought their 10" boss head unit online rather than autozone so there's a good chance that they got the newer model. I mean the model #s are so close that it's very easy to get them mixed up. And maybe some autozones even had the newer unit.

Glad to hear you got it swapped eventually. I hope I don't run into any trouble, but the manager I spoke with yesterday sounded cool. Sucks you didn't end up with the newer connector model; you're probably right about it being the BCPA10. Good to hear your disconnects may be fixed, fingers crossed on that.

Regarding the loose screen connection, are you talking about the ball joint the screen connects to, or the "box" that clicks into the head unit? If it's the box that clicks in, I've had trouble on mine with the wire from the connector getting hung up between the screen and head unit, not allowing that second "click" you're supposed to get for it to be fully inserted. I have to pull my screen back out and get my finger in there to get the cable started further into the head unit.

I made it to Autozone tonight, and they have temporary hours and closed at 6. Ugh! Guess I'm headed back up tomorrow. Will update then.

That sucks with the limited store hours. Believe that ended long ago here in Maryland. Yeah, I'm talking about where the screen arm clicks into the head unit; pretty damn loose IMO. I'm fortunate enough to have a dash kit where the head unit is angled down (the lower part of the head unit is more recessed than the top) so sliding the screen down makes it get tight against the dash kit near the bottom rear of the screen. Had the same problem as you with the cable folding over keeping the screen from snapping in on the first one. For some reason this one seemed fine. Almost like the the cable jacket was thicker so it didn't want to bend - just pushed straight in. Or maybe it's just my imagination and I've done it so many times now (must've installed and removed this head unit half a dozen times now - if you look back earlier in the thread, I was trying to get the steering wheel controls working right).

How's it going with the disconnects?

Spoke too soon, disconnects persist. Decided to go to a Costco and a few other places today that were over an hour away and it happened. And I don't know if I mentioned it previously but once it happens and you unplug/plug back in the phone it then happens again a lot. Real PITA if you're using the screen/nav. When it happens using Google maps it will resume where you left off but with Wave, you have to enter the destination again (sometimes). I stopped using Waze just because of this. I really think it's a bug of some sort because it's happened with 2 different phones and a multitude of cables (some cables tried included name brand ones like Belkin and Anker). Oh well.

Bummer, sorry to hear it. Have you asked boss tech support if they've seen the problem? Not that I have any faith in them whatsoever. But maybe a bug free firmware is being tested? I'm not holding my breath.

This is the last message I got from boss 4 days ago. "I am attempting to figure out a solution, wouldn't be able to warranty out your unit as you don't have a receipt. Bear with me, I will run this issue up the chain to see if anything can be done." Guess I'll reply I'm looking forward to their solution.