Hi there. I have an aftermarket Alpine unit, installed by the previous owner of my s2k.

The dash controls were working great, but suddenly only the MUTE button works.

Could it be I hit a combo of buttons from the dash controls to deactivate them?

Any ideas how I can fix this please?

 

In order to use the dash controls with an aftermarket headunit, one needs a dash control interface (DCI).
There are a number of different makers of these, but the basic operation is the same.
From the dash controls there are two wires - one for the mute, and one for all the other functions,
because they operate in the exact opposite manner: the mute provides +12v while the other wire is
a path to ground. In addition depending on the headunit there are two possible implementations of
the mute - either through the same remote command mechanism as the other commands, or through a
hard-wired telephone mute which some headunits support. In some implementations the mute may be
a separate module from the DCI. Older headunits commonly used an infrared (IR) remote and a
separate tel/mute wire, while newer ones usually have a hardwired remote and no separate tel/mute.
Some reasons your DCI may not be functioning:

• no power to the DCI
• disconnected dash control wire to DCI
• disconnected wire from DCI to headunit (if headunit supports hardwired remote)
• IR emitter out of place or failed (if headunit uses IR remote rather than hardwired)
• DCI lost its programming
• DCI failed in some other way
• bad ground on the dash control itself
• headunit no longer recognizing remote commands

Unfortunately there is no easy answer, and you're going to need to take things apart and troubleshoot.
Here is a link to DCI technical info from Modifry, a maker of one DCI, which explains general DCI operation well.

 

Many thanks! will check it out this week when i go down to the garage! thanks again

 

Solved! I had some loose wires. I re-crimped the wires and all was okay again. Thanks all for the help