jonnymc

i had the same problem when I re-activated. I tried moving my car, opening doors, resarting the car, etc. Turns out being on my cell phone in the car was causing the interference during activation. The sirius rep promised to resend the activation after we hung up the phone and that did the trick.

ThePiombino

That's intriguing seeing as being on our cells phones doesn't cause interference with the radio at other times. I can't imagine their sending a unique frequency just for activations.

theautoking

TIP:

Do not buy into Sirius's "soft" and "hard" reset troubleshooting suggestions. These methods do not work and result in nothing but frustration on the consumers part as well as possible hefty (and unnecessary) fees for a new factory installed radio that you do not need to replace

If you are having difficulties re-activating your service, do the following:

1. Write down your ESN number for your Sirius Account. (This will be important later)

2. Call Sirius and ask for Technical Support. Tell the representative you have done the "soft" reset and it does not work.
- Make sure your radio is tuned to Ch. 184 and car ant. is not obstructed in any way.

3. Ask the Tech Rep to enter in a "DUMMY" ESN number to your Sirius Account, refresh and then RE-ENTER your original ESN number. Once that has been done, have the technical rep RE-SEND the activation signal.
- According the tech rep I spoke with at Sirius, your ESN cannot be saved in their system and once it is erased it is difficult to locate again. I'm not sure how 'true' that is, but thats the reason for step #1.

4. DONE. no soft resets and no hard resets.

Fortunately for me, I figured this out within 24 hours of reactivating my service with Sirius.

MY STORY: I had a free 1yr trial and did not renew my subscription. A year later (now) I wanted to have the Sirius service again and then I started having problems "reactivating" my service. I don't know the technical side behind why you have to have Sirius put a "dummy" ESN in the system (or zero out your ESN) reenter your original ESN and then resend the signal, but it works. And its the only thing that made sense to me.

I hope this helps everyone who has been frustrated with this.

Mr_Brown

I had the same problem described in this thread and was told by the Sirius Customre Care rep that my "Mostly Music" plan was not compatible with the Audi radio. As soon as the plan was switched to "Sirius Everything", the radio immediately updated and started working. YMMV.

Brian Cecil

I called Sirius a week ago to extend my 3-month trial subscription into a 2-year regular subscription on my 2011 A4. The Sirius rep assured me there would be no break in service (guess where this is going next). The next day, the audio went off, except for channel 184, and I got messages on the MMI screen advising me to renew my subscription. I tried twice to activate the system through their internet site, without success. I called Sirius, was on hold for ten minutes, got dropped out of the call, called back, was on hold for another ten minutes, then spoke to a customer service rep who told me in heavily accented English that I hadn't renewed. I contacted my bank, who told me Sirius hasn't charged my credit account yet for the renewal. I e-mailed Sirius asking them to expidite the credit card process so I can get the radio reception. They still haven't replied -- so much for the message on their Contact Us page, "We'll reply to you within 24 hours." I wish I had enough free time in my life to really enjoy this nonsense, but I don't. This is in complete contrast to my experience with the XM radio on my 2010 Honda, which went seamlessly from the 3-month trial subscription into a regular two-year subscription. Maybe XM is more serious about doing business than Sirius is.

Avant4Adam

the ol' "pay us more money" and we'll fix it! genius!

pilot4300

This is the only way I could get it to work on my 2010 B8. None of that hard/soft reset, open and close the door stuff, etc. worked. Sirius customer service can't seem to grasp the fact that on a B8 you can't tune the MMI to channel 184 when the service is expired.

Unfortunately, Sirius only seems to give you the great subscription deals once your prior one has expired, so I am going to have to get used to this practice.

ceb7

I believe when you turn the radio to Sirius (display shows the "to activate your Sirius call ....") that *IS* channel 184.

Mr. Sauce

Has anyone had any trouble renewing their Sirius Traffic subscription after the trial period? I've spent countless hours with Sirius customer service...to no avail. In the current state, I have access to all Sirius audio channels...but when I select the INFO button I don't get any of the traffic data for the Navigation system. I had traffic during the trial period...but Sirius says that there's no "package" that allows me to use a single ESN for both Audio (radio) & Data (traffic) packages. Has anyone had this same experience?

2011 Q5 - Prestige

sketch13

Below is the tip that finally worked! I spent 6 or 7 excruciating calls to Sirius trying to tell me to turn to channel 184 - not possible in my 2010 A4 Avant, all I got was a page saying to call Sirius' 888 number - and the idiots telling me to 'soft' and 'hard' resets. One even told me it was a dealer problem and that I had to take it in. Luckily, I found this post - demanded to talk to a tech rep (not the first person you talk to, but a second level tech) and walked them through the below steps. It fixed the problem immediately. They even gave me a whole five dollar discount on my new account - totally worth the three hours of my life I lost.

Thank you whoever you are that posted this info.