Radio lower controls lights out. Working once in blue moon. CD issues also
 

Hi
Have a 2011 Accord Coupe LX-S.
When I got it the lower radio controls had no light on at all. For several thousand miles and a few months.
Then, on a long drive, they flickered on and went off again.
Later on, they came back on and stayed lit up for at least an hour.
They are off / dark again, and they flickered on twice and went right out.

Right from the start of buying this car second hand this year, the CD player works erratically. At first I could not insert any discs. Then, much later, I found there were actually 6 CDs in there that would not come out. I finally got them out. And loaded one CD. That CD sometimes plays fine. Sometimes the CD stops playing after some digital noise. And it won't eject. I also got the 'mech error' most recently coming on a few times.
Basically, the radio plays radio and ipod / AUX just fine. But CDs are 50/50 at best. More like 20/80% working.

Not sure if the light issue could be related??
The entire lower level controls are dark almost all the time. Dimmer at instrument panel has no effect nor does headlight use. I had been wondering for awhile if it was a bulb or two gone out, but it's clear that it's not illuminated by individual bulbs like that once I finally saw it lit up.

Any thoughts?

Sounds like the entire radio needs to be replaced. You should be able to have an aftermarket radio installed that will provide plenty of modern features.

I may wind up having to go that route.
Although I was recently pleased to switch settings on the radio so it now displays radio station, artist and song titles from over the air radio. I didn't know the stock radio could do that for 3 months so that was cool.
Mainly I don't listen to CDs much and the external inputs all work for iPod, iPhone etc music players so that's very good.
Mostly it's some oddity thing and hard to know where certain radio controls are at night.
I've recently had my hands full mechanically with this car while working 15 of 16 days, so this is not something I'll be jumping on anytime soon. Have more maintenance chores to deal with first like replacing all the fluids in the car.