losing power to head unit when ignition is turned on??

[nhop10]

basically as it says in the title when i turn my ignition on, or start the car if the head unit is on it cuts out and wont turn back on, as soon as i turn off the engine or ignition but keep the key in the head unit turns back on. i tested the live wire and as i thought it looses power when i turn the ignition on.

someone told me it might be a problem with my ignition switch? i have a mk3 golf gti 8v r reg. just wondered how to solve the issue.. i know i could just run a power cable straight from the battery but id like it propper. cheers

[berry9112]

Pretty strange problem that iv not witnessed before. Trace the power cable all the way back if you can, check relays/fuses aswell.
find where the power leads back to (like the first junction box) and run a new temporary power cable from there to the headunit to see if the problems still there, if so trace back to the next and so on.
Certainly nothing iv witnessed and iv installed a fair share of headunits and audio! If you find out what the problem is let us know

[nhop10]

cheers for the reply, still no idea what is the problem. its all standard cables in there. cant really trace it back without having the dash out i cant imagine. no idea where it goes from the head unit 'slot'... i still plan to change the ignition switch soon but doubt it is that