Why does NTG5*1 Audio20 not switch on at all?

From our conversations with customers, it appears that when it comes to a faulty NTG5*1 (or, if you prefer, NTG5.1) Audio20, two concerns cause the most doubt. First — whether such systems can be serviced at all, and second — whether after successfully bringing the navigation back to life, you will still have to spend extra money on pairing it to the car. It is no surprise that you may have such reservations. There are only a handful of companies that undertake repairs of this type of Mercedes main unit. At OEMatic we repair 95% of NTG5*1 Audio20 units with the fault “does not switch on at all” without the need for recoding to the car. What fails most often and what the typical symptoms look like — that is the subject of this article.

As always, we will start with correct system identification, because we want you to be sure that the problems described may affect your navigation system.

How do you identify NTG5*1 Audio 20?

There are several ways to verify it:

1. Manufacturer. On the unit’s rating label you will find the Panasonic logo.
2. Serial number. This unique string of digits always starts with PA1431, PA1432 or PA1433.
3. Model. In the Model field you will see NTG5*1 CD or NTG5*1 BASE.
4. Reference number. Straight after Ref. no. you will find CN-MP.. , CN-SP.. or CQ-SP..
5. Navigation function. Units with 520 on the label are the version without navigation (NTG5*1 BASE), while the 522 version (NTG5*1 CD) guides you to your destination with Garmin maps.
6. Your car. You own a Mercedes in the A, B, E, ML, SLC, GLA or CLA class. Cars produced from 2015 to 2019.
7. Part number. The range here is wide — below is a short summary of the most common versions:

A 166 900 65 17, A 166 901 37 02, A 212 902 34 11, CN-MP64F0AED, 522 PA1432, NTG5*1 CD
A 246 900 23 18, A 246 901 11 06, A 176 902 59 01, CN-MP55F0AEC, 522 PA1433, NTG5*1 CD
A 246 900 26 17, A 246 901 11 06, A 117 902 58 01, CN-SP16E0AEA, 522 PA1433, NTG5*1 CD
A 246 900 38 18, A 246 901 11 06, A 176 902 85 01, CN-MP55F0AED, 522 PA1433, NTG5*1 CD
A 246 900 47 16, A 246 901 73 03, A 212 902 34 11, CN-MP54F0AED, 522 PA1433, NTG5*1 CD
A 246 900 48 19, A 246 901 11 06, A 172 902 90 07, CN-SP16E1AEC, 522 PA1433, NTG5*1 CD
A 246 900 49 15, A 246 901 71 03, A 218 902 59 03, CQ-SP54F0AEA, 520 PA1431, NTG5*1 BASE
A 246 900 51 15, A 246 901 73 03, A 218 902 59 03, CN-MP54F0AEA, 522 PA1433, NTG5*1 CD
A 246 900 57 19, A 246 901 25 07, A 172 902 94 07, CN-SP16E2AEB, 522 PA1433, NTG5*1 CD
A 246 900 71 19, A 246 901 11 06, A 172 902 90 07, CN-SP16E1AEE, 522 PA1433, NTG5*1 CD
A 246 900 77 15, A 246 901 71 03, A 218 902 26 04, CQ-SP54F0AEC, 520 PA1431, NTG5*1 BASE
A 246 900 78 18, A 246 901 11 06, A 172 902 14 07, CN-SP16E1AEA, 522 PA1433, NTG5*1 CD
A 246 900 88 19, A 246 901 25 07, A 172 902 32 08, CN-SP16E2AEC, 522 PA1433, NTG5*1 CD
A 246 900 99 16, A 246 901 11 06, A 176 902 88 00, CN-MP55F0AE , 522 PA1433, NTG5*1 CD

Typical faults of NTG5*1 Audio20

Our customers describe the problems with these units like this:

• At first the unit would switch on after a while, then it got worse and worse. Now the screen is black all the time, it won’t take a CD, but the fan is still running.
• The navigation would start up after around 30 minutes, but now it won’t switch on at all. No sound and no image, and on the instrument cluster the screen only shows lines in the “trip, phone and navigation” menu.
• NTG5*1 only switches on briefly, shows the logo and then restarts — and the same thing happens over and over again.
• The screen is black, nothing appears — it won’t switch on at all.

As a result, the common feature of all faults is an audible fan noise. Additional problems, such as a non-working keyboard, a non-working eject button, a faulty CD mechanism or a lack of navigation function, though they occur only sporadically, are also repaired at OEMatic.

NTG5*1 Audio20 does not switch on at all.

Now you know what your radio is commonly called, you have compared the typical faults and everything matches. So why does NTG5*1 not work at all? In most cases, the problem is caused by a fault in the unit’s internal memory — usually a hardware defect (faulty memory chip) and software defect (software errors in the memory). Even if the damage is so severe that the chip has to be replaced, we carry out such repairs while preserving the radio’s original data (coding). This is important because a unit repaired in this way works on a plug and play basis. After the repair, you simply fit it back into the car and use the radio-navigation system again. In short, 95% of repairs end this way — you do not have to bear any additional adaptation costs. And what about the remaining 5% of damaged units? In such cases, after the repair at OEMatic we will help you find the right workshop to re-code the working NTG5*1 Audio20 to your Mercedes.

Are you curious what goes wrong in older models? We recommend reading 10 typical faults of the Comand NTG4 and NTG4.5 navigation system or pops, knocks and crackles in a Mercedes W204 with Comand NTG4 navigation. Above all, although Audio 20 or Comand systems do like to fail, we have effective methods to bring them back to life.