Any way to fix the factory (base) HU? The display doesn't light up
 

Really not that much of a problem since I usually just play my iPod through the cassette deck. However, if for some reason the battery is disconnected it will be hard setting up the audio portion and station presets without being able to see anything. The digital display is completely dark. I bumped it (pretty hard) when I was getting something out of my car and the screen was no longer lit up.

You can buy one off ebay and basically just swap out the face plates. I took mine apart to do the left side speaker cut out and its relatively easy, provided you have basic mechanical skills.

Someone is parting out their 5.5 gen so I'm just going to buy his HU and swap them out. I didn't figure there was a fix but I thought I'd ask.

I did think about just going with an aftermarket HU but then you need an adapter to make a single DIN HU fit a double DIN slot, a wiring harness of some sort to keep the use of the steering wheel controls, etc. A $200-250 HU is going to end up costing $100 more. Besides, the base OEM HU has a pretty clean sound anyway. I'd rather spend $300 or so on an amp, sub and crossovers.

yeah, just get another used one, would be cheaper.

Most of the used BOSE HUs are broken or they want way too much. I gave up on trying to find a reasonably priced working BOSE HU, I am ordering an Alpine CDA-9886 from CrutchField.com

I don't have the Bose, i have the base model HU.

Just bought one off a fellow .org member. :)

You will love how much better the alpine plays compared to the pos stock headunit. I know i did.

I'm fed up by the skipping problem when cold, but still hasn't decided if I should go aftermarket's.