In my experience what you describe is normal behaviour. Ever since i've had the empeg i've been putting up with failed reboots.

I would have assumed the same thing, except that it only became a problem after I moved the stereo from the GTI to the Honda.

I'm still wondering what caused the failed reboots. I mean, I know it had to do with the voltage fluctuation, and I've cured that with the capacitors. But what I don't understand is why it would cause the unit to lock up on the Empeg logo screen, and why it would be intermittent. Perhaps there's something in the firmware that expects the voltage fluctuation to happen in a particular pattern, and my car doesn't have that pattern. For instance, maybe the firmware sends a spin-up-the-drives command too soon because the voltage briefly comes up past a certain threshold, but then it drops again and the drives fail.

Tony Fabris
Empeg #144