Disabled OnStar System Identification - keywords blue button communication deactivated digital disabled information led no operation red

This PI was superseded to update text referenceing Bulletin. Please discard PIC3597E.

The following diagnosis might be helpful if the vehicle exhibits the symptom(s) described in this PI.

A customer may report that the OnStar® does not connect, status LED is not illuminated or a disabled system message is heard. This may be due to the OnStar® system being disabled.

OnStar® will deactivate vehicles where the customer has chosen not to renew their OnStar® subscription after expiration, when the initial activation has never taken place or the vehicle has an analog only system that was disabled due to the analog sunset (see the current version of service bulletin 05-08-46-006). As a part of the OnStar® renewal communications, customers are notified that the OnStar® system in their vehicle will be deactivated unless they elect to renew the account. Customers who had an analog only system were notified that their systems would be disabled once the analog sunset (February 2008) was reached.

In most cases a check with the Tech 2 will find no current or history DTCs as well a MIN of 1234567890 or 7348436002 (after 2/3/08) may be listed.

After the vehicle has been successfully deactivated, customers will experience the following when attempting to contact OnStar® from their vehicle:

Blue OnStar® key: depending on vehicle hardware, the customer will either connect to a sales advisor or will hear an automated demonstration message. If the demonstration message is heard the customer needs to press the OnStar® button again to make a call for activation.

Gen 6 and newer systems may not have the OnStar® LED illuminated. The technician may not be able to activate the green LED with the "Green LED" test option in the Tech 2. This is a normal condition for a deactivated version 6.0 and newer system. No further action is needed unless the customer has or wants to renew their OnStar® account.

Note:  If the customer wants to activate OnStar®, press the OnStar blue button. The LED will illuminate and start flashing, Allow the call to complete (this may take several minutes). Once the call completes request a unit configuration and retest the system.

Emergency key: A demo message will be played indicating the service has been deactivated. (on 1999 models, the operation of this key does not change with deactivation.)

Note: When successfully deactivated, the OnStar® system will not attempt to connect to the OnStar center if the vehicle's airbags deploy.

Certain vehicles that have never had an active OnStar® account may mimic the symptoms of a cellular or vehicle hardware concern, once they have been deactivated as they may not be able to establish a connection to the OnStar® center.

Please follow this diagnostic or repair process thoroughly and complete each step. If the condition exhibited is resolved without completing every step, the remaining steps do not need to be performed.