Electronic Problems: This morning, my speakers don't work, the printer doesn't want to print, and my car radio is dead - after replacing the car's battery yesterday. It's getting power...

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

This morning, my speakers don't work, the printer doesn't want to print, and my car radio is dead - after replacing the car's battery yesterday. It's getting power because the display for the rear and side cameras works. Everything else in the car works.

You might have noticed that I seem to have more than my share of electric/electronic problems. Still, I refuse to believe they have anything to do with what my neighbors have been telling me. This piece of land was the site for the trial and hanging of many witches years ago. They were supposedly buried on the property. The hanging trees were cut down, milled into lumber, and used to build this house. Even if I did believe those stories, I find it doubtful that they have anything to do with my electrical problems. Right?

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

Yep, ghosts in the machine(s) - no question.

Lacking getting a priest to perform an exorcism, I’m guessing you’ve already checked the fuse for the car radio and rebooted the printer and computer? If the printer is USB connected, it’s worth unplugging and replugging the USB cable to see if the printer is recognized, and if so, taking a look in device manager to see the printer status and if there’s anything in the queue. Regarding the speakers, what are they attached to?

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

jerryc41 wrote:

This morning, my speakers don't work, the printer ... (show quote)

Replacing a car battery removes the power source that backs up its digital station memory. Grab your car manual and reprogram all the stations.

fetzler Loc: North West PA

In modern cars changing a battery is not as simple as the old days. Did you use a battery tender to supply voltage to the terminals while removing the battery? Not using a tender can cause computer problems and your radio is computer. A trip to the dealer is now likely in order. As always RFM.

BassmanBruce Loc: Middle of the Mitten

Well, today is “Earth Day”, perhaps the planet is being a little less subtle with you?

EdJ0307 Loc: out west someplace

jerryc41 wrote:

This morning, my speakers don't work, the printer doesn't want to print, and my car radio is dead - after replacing the car's battery yesterday.

I can see the speakers and radio not working but why do you have a printer in your car?
I think the speakers are fine it's just that the radio doesn't work and not feeding the speakers.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

fetzler wrote:

In modern cars changing a battery is not as simple as the old days. Did you use a battery tender to supply voltage to the terminals while removing the battery? Not using a tender can cause computer problems and your radio is computer. A trip to the dealer is now likely in order. As always RFM.

"doesn't work" is very ambiguous.
I'll go with burkphoto's recommendation before a needless trip to the dealer.
The radio lost its memory of channels, including last one listened to.
Having "no station" would seem like the radio is not working.
Some car radios have internal memory backup batteries, most probably don't.
I've never put a "tender" on a car while changing a battery, and won't.

fetzler Loc: North West PA

Longshadow wrote:

img src="https://static.uglyhedgehog.com/images/s... (show quote)

I realize that original commenter was not specific. Of course your 1977 Electra doesn't need a tender. Unfortunately, some cars apparently do (mine does). I once had a radio that had an internal battery. When changing the battery voltage had to be applied during the change over. If you goofed this you just bricked an $3000 radio until it went back to the manufacturer. As always RFM or suffer the consequences.

burkphoto's suggestion isn't bad but I suspect is more than this.

therwol Loc: USA

jerryc41 wrote:

This morning, my speakers don't work, the printer ... (show quote)

I had a car with an anti-theft feature in the radio. Loss of power from removal (or disconnecting the battery) would require that you enter a code that only the owner or dealer would know before the radio would work again. Maybe it's a longshot, but you might want to look into it. The code was given to me when I bought the car.

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

therwol wrote:

I had a car with an anti-theft feature in the radio. Loss of power from removal (or disconnecting the battery) would require that you enter a code that only the owner or dealer would know before the radio would work again. Maybe it's a longshot, but you might want to look into it. The code was given to me when I bought the car.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

therwol wrote:

I had a car with an anti-theft feature in the radio. Loss of power from removal (or disconnecting the battery) would require that you enter a code that only the owner or dealer would know before the radio would work again. Maybe it's a longshot, but you might want to look into it. The code was given to me when I bought the car.

Yep, entirely possible. With my car, the radio “combination” for the anti-theft feature was with the documents when I bought the car.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

Longshadow wrote:

img src="https://static.uglyhedgehog.com/images/s... (show quote)

Well, if you own a hybrid, when changing the little 12-Volt battery that runs computers and accessories, hooking a 9-Volt transistor radio battery across the battery cables can preserve station memory as well as many computers’ memories all over the car. Not doing that is okay, but you have a lot of resetting to do, if you don’t.

fjdarling Loc: Mesa, Arizona, USA

Jerry, if your car is a hybrid - I think you said a few times that you bought a Prius - then I can't help with your car radio issue. But I noticed that a Windows update was recently installed on my computer. If your computer that is having the issues is Windows-based, you should check the update history to see if an update was installed. That could be the cause of your printer and speaker issues. As for a solution, those devices may only need to be powered off and on again (that works for my wife's speaker and printers. Or, they may need to be reconfigured in Windows Settings. If those easy steps don't help, you may need to update the drivers for those devices to work with the new Windows update. Good luck!

Longshadow Loc: Audubon, PA, United States

burkphoto wrote:

Well, if you own a hybrid, when changing the little 12-Volt battery that runs computers and accessories, hooking a 9-Volt transistor radio battery across the battery cables can preserve station memory as well as many computers’ memories all over the car. Not doing that is okay, but you have a lot of resetting to do, if you don’t.

No hybrids, and the only thing I've had to "fix" was the radio stations.
I've no idea how my mechanic does it. Guessing since I have to reset the stations in the radio, he simply disconnects & plops a new battery in the car. works for me.
Having to reprogram the stations is not a deal breaker for me.

Computers on wheels, oie.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

If only I could turn it on. Although the battery was out for an hour, the clock remembered the time.