Bizzare electrical problem not LCM

[onions]

Hi all,
Thought I might share a story with you that might be of interest...

About 3 weeks ago, I jumped into my 03 X5 and started her up. The radio came on and as it was quite loud, I went to turn it down and noticed that there was no lights on the radio panel and I couldn't turn the radio on, or off, nor could I turn it down...

The radio stayed on for about 30 seconds and then turned itself off... But I still was unable to turn it on or off...

Next, I noticed the the turn indicators were not flashing on the dash. Nor were they making any clicking sound. Same for the hazard lights...all flashing on the outside but no dash indicators...

The reverse sensors were also not working...

Did a search on this site and took the advice of unhooking the battery etc to try and reset the computer, but it didn't work...

Took the car to the local BMW service centre and after 2-hours of running diagnostics on the car they stated that they suspected the Lamp Control Module (LCM or LKM) had gone as they were unable to communicate with it.

The quoted $1200.00 for the module and up to $2500 for labor to repair it...

So, booked the car in for the new year and started saving...

Following Christmas, my wife wanted one of the CDs that was in the stacker/changer and when I attempted to eject the cartridge, it wouldn't work...

I undid the bolts and removed the changer and then disconnected the two leads at the rear of the unit then just plugged back in the power lead which then allowed me to eject the CD cassette...

Hooked back up the unit...and you wouldn't believe it, but everything started working again as it should!

What tha????

And everything has been working fine since....

So much for the BMW techs and all their computer diagnostic equipment...and I could have easily been $3500 down the toilet for nada...

Anyway, just thought I would share this in case it happens to anyone else...