[rbuzz00]

I have s 2024 ZL1 with the upgraded Bose sound system.
The owner's manual is a little vague on this but if I read it correctly this system should play music MP3 files from a USB Memory stick. Correct?

It's hard to believe That Chevy's top of the line sound system in the Camaro has USB ports that can only be used for charging.

When I place my memory stick in either 1 of the USB ports located in the rear of the console and press audio on the screen, it doesn't seem to recognize the USB device at all.

Am I doing something wrong or does this only play certain types of USB Devices?

While I'm asking questions, let me ask you this. Is onstar even worth bothering with? From day 1 my onstar has been unable to connect to an adviser. All I get is the beep while it tries to connect and then it finally says connection has failed.

I have contacted onstar for assistance and they've tried to upgrade the software a couple of different times without success and have finally given up. The last word from them was to take it into a dealer and they would work with the dealer to correct it.

It irritates me that it wasn't checked out before it left the factory and would like to see it fixed, but since I'm not planning to subscribe I'm wondering if it's worth the trouble fixing it.

I'm not too keen on the idea of the dealer tearing apart my dash to repair it, and yet it ticks me off that it should work but doesn't.

Is onstar worth it?

[Callaway SC630]

You don't need that to play through USB. Sometimes, an overloaded drive doesn't get recognized. I would try one with only a few songs on it and see. After that, we'll need the experts to help.

[Nothing like an SS]

I have a 2020 SS, and mine shows my memory stick on the screen, like any other audio option. It is a 32GB and Samsung. Screen even shows it as "Samsung". Not sure if size makes a difference? Mine works no issues, I change drives with different playlists, etc. all the time.
On Star is a preference, many have privacy concerns, selling data and the like. Many threads on here about that.

[rbuzz00]

I think I might have resolved the problem with playing from a USB drive. I had read about the drive needing to be formatted in the NTFS format, so I reformatted the drive and tried it again. No go. So I went back to the FAT32 format and tried again. Still a no go, even though that same USB drive in FAT32 plays fine in my Jeep.

So I checked out another USB drive formatted in FAT32 and it works....it's recognized and shows up on the screen and plays just fine. Evidently there is something about that USB drive that the Camaro doesn't like. It plays fine in the Jeep. So I'll just go out and buy a new USB for use in the Camaro. Problem solved.

Now the onstar is still another problem. I know that I won't use it beyond the trial period, but I would at least like for it to work for the free trial subscription period. I just hate to take it to the dealer and risk them screwing up something in the process of fixing it. I think the electronics for the onstar is located under the dash on the right side and I know space is tight. The way my luck runs, they would fix the onstar but screw up something else in the process.

Oh well, at least I'm batting 500.

[CalgaryZL1]

Originally Posted by rbuzz00

I think I might have resolved the problem with playing from a USB drive. I had read about the drive needing to be formatted in the NTFS format, so I reformatted the drive and tried it again. No go. So I went back to the FAT32 format and tried again. Still a no go, even though that same USB drive in FAT32 plays fine in my Jeep.

So I checked out another USB drive formatted in FAT32 and it works....it's recognized and shows up on the screen and plays just fine. Evidently there is something about that USB drive that the Camaro doesn't like. It plays fine in the Jeep. So I'll just go out and buy a new USB for use in the Camaro. Problem solved.

Now the onstar is still another problem. I know that I won't use it beyond the trial period, but I would at least like for it to work for the free trial subscription period. I just hate to take it to the dealer and risk them screwing up something in the process of fixing it. I think the electronics for the onstar is located under the dash on the right side and I know space is tight. The way my luck runs, they would fix the onstar but screw up something else in the process.

Oh well, at least I'm batting 500.

You are lucky your OnStar doesn’t work properly, it’s useless in all senses! So technically batting 1000

[Ventmaster]

"Paranoia strikes deep", according to Buffalo Springfield in 1967. But there are many folks on this site that have expressed concern that when activated for the free trial or even when not activated for the free trial or paid for an ongoing subscription, that the OnStar can continue to monitor your location, speed, number of hard braking or acceleration rates, etc...
There has also been speculation that insurance companies and law enforcement can buy and utilize that data to your detriment.
If you don't intend utilizing those 650hp anywhere on the street, don't worry about it!

[Rogueleader_92]

I had similar issues with the USB drive, I spent a couple of evenings setting up a car playlist and moving it to a microSD card I plugged into a USB reader that is the same size as a cheap drive. It worked for about 20 min then refused to read/recognize it at all.

I bought a new drive and went to transfer the files from one drive to the other and found a folder had gotten corrupted, finished the transfer, loaded a new copy of the corrupted folder from my PC and its worked like a charm for months now. All I can think is the car dosen't like some cards/drives and while indexing it corrupted the card.

As for Onstar, if you don't want it don't get it fixed. I accepted the free rials, did nothing with it (it's really only useful in a crash situation) and had to fight for 3 days to get it canceled and refunded due to misleading end dates on the app (app said charges started mid Feb, tried to cancel a week early, got a charge because the timer started mid Jan and the charge was just going through in Feb).

[rbuzz00]

Originally Posted by Rogueleader_92

I had similar issues with the USB drive, I spent a couple of evenings setting up a car playlist and moving it to a microSD card I plugged into a USB reader that is the same size as a cheap drive. It worked for about 20 min then refused to read/recognize it at all.

I bought a new drive and went to transfer the files from one drive to the other and found a folder had gotten corrupted, finished the transfer, loaded a new copy of the corrupted folder from my PC and its worked like a charm for months now. All I can think is the car dosen't like some cards/drives and while indexing it corrupted the card.

As for Onstar, if you don't want it don't get it fixed. I accepted the free rials, did nothing with it (it's really only useful in a crash situation) and had to fight for 3 days to get it canceled and refunded due to misleading end dates on the app (app said charges started mid Feb, tried to cancel a week early, got a charge because the timer started mid Jan and the charge was just going through in Feb).

That's the way I'm leaning right now with the onstar. It just irritates me to have something on the car that isn't working the way it should, even though I don't plan on subscribing. I paid for a car in which everything is supposed to work.

Maybe that sounds crazy. When it comes to getting something fixed like that, it may be a simple quick fix or it could lead to a major disassembly of the dash. Too many times if you get a technician who isn't careful you can wind up with other unexpected problems if things don't go back together like they're supposed to.

Besides, I always try to keep my cars in factory, unmolested condition whenever possible. I always remember a friend of mine who purchased a new Z28 many years ago. The power window on the passenger side quit working and he took it into the dealer for repair. The door panel had to be removed and instead of placing the door panel carefully aside, he threw it up on the roof and scratched the hell out of the paint. Ever since then I avoid dealers like the plague whenever possible.
I realize there are some great people at dealers, but I always seem to get the bad ones.

[speedyink1]

The USB works fine for music in my '23. What is the size of the flash drive? May not work if it's too large possibly.. (Can't be for being too small, I use a 4gb =P)

[GroundhogSS]

I had a problem when I first tried a USB stick. I think I had to format it as exFAT.

[rbuzz00]

The USB drive that I used was 64GB, I know, way bigger than needed, but it had been formatted and only had 13 songs on it.

I'm pretty sure that it is the drive that for some reason the Camaro system won't play it. I have a Jeep with a factory radio that has both a built in hard drive and also accepts USB devices and it plays perfectly in the Jeep.

Since I tried a different USB memory stick, the Camaro recognizes it and plays it just fine, so there must be something with that first memory stick that the Camaro just won't accept. To back up that, when I put the memory stick in my computer I got the message that there was an error with the memory stick and that the computer would have to scan and correct the error.

I'm ordering a couple of new memory sticks and I expect the problem to be resolved. Thanks for the input.

[arpad_m]

Originally Posted by rbuzz00

The USB drive that I used was 64GB, I know, way bigger than needed, but it had been formatted and only had 13 songs on it.

I'm pretty sure that it is the drive that for some reason the Camaro system won't play it. I have a Jeep with a factory radio that has both a built in hard drive and also accepts USB devices and it plays perfectly in the Jeep.

Since I tried a different USB memory stick, the Camaro recognizes it and plays it just fine, so there must be something with that first memory stick that the Camaro just won't accept. To back up that, when I put the memory stick in my computer I got the message that there was an error with the memory stick and that the computer would have to scan and correct the error.

I'm ordering a couple of new memory sticks and I expect the problem to be resolved. Thanks for the input.

While it was probably the USB drive itself, take note of the formatting advice previous posters gave, the Camaro software has a pretty finicky (probably very old) file system management component.

[ember1205]

If my memory hasn't completely failed me, I believe you need FAT32 formatted and no larger than 32GB in size.

[arpad_m]

Originally Posted by ember1205

If my memory hasn't completely failed me, I believe you need FAT32 formatted and no larger than 32GB in size.

exFAT worked for some people with much larger drives (or SD cards, once you swap the USB receptacle out for one that has a card reader).