Ok, so the saga continues. The buckle up for safety feature got rid of the "activate phone" message on the E46M3, so that seems to work. Both phones (separately) loaded phone books, etc. right away, no issues now.

X5 was dead. Pressing R/T or the "face" button did nothing. No beep, no connection, no pairing, no nothing.

Oh well, if I can get my wife's E46M3 to reliably hook up to her phone, 99% of my problems are taken care of.

__________________
Kirk
Las Vegas
2016 X5 40e Mineral White/Black Dakota Leather, ZLL, ZCW, ZDA, ZDB, ZPP, multi contour seats, rear side window shades, HK stereo
2011 E90M3, 6-speed manual