My 2004 e53 satnav sometimes doesn't know where it is

[Josephhc]

Hi, recently bought my first X5 and loving it. I've already learned lots having joined this forum, but so far haven't found an answer to the following.
Every now and then my satnav wanders off on it's own and doesn't know where it (and therefore I) am!
Has anyone else had this and what might the solution be?. It does still have the original 2004 disc in which I intend to upgrade once this issue is sorted out.

[bcredliner]

If you have a 2004 disk, you may be traveling on some roads that were built after 2004. If so, the nav doesn't know where you are. It could also be that you are moving out of the area the disk covers. Also, sometimes you can lose the Sat signal in foul weather.

[Josephhc]

Thanks for your reply bcredliner. I don't think that's it as it can suddenly start veering off course (the satnav, not the car) when on a major road i.e. the M5. Is there a way to tell however if changing to the latest disk will solve the issue as I don't want to buy one if it doesn't?

[clward1]

I had something similar happen to mine & a new OEM disk off ebay solved it! Mine had the original 2006 disk and was working but lost. I think I paid about 40-50$ & had tried a new antenna & all the settings in the Navi. The new disk solved MY issue. It did take a least a few hours or a few drives to completely start working but mine has been fine for about a year now.

[Josephhc]

Thank you clward1. Really appreciate your response. Has anyone tried the disks from satnavupgrades.co.uk? Or am I better off going with OEM disks?
Loving this site. I am learning so much from you all. Hope to contribute more as I start fettling my X

[bcredliner]

In this case, rather than troubleshooting other possible causes,since your nav disc is old I would purchase a new disc. That will eliminate the disc as a cause and get you up to date nav capabilities.

If you have had your X and length of time you know that an overcast sky can cause you nav to go haywire,

[bcredliner]

I have purchased discs on line, don't remember the seller but the discs were in original BMW packaging and the discs had BMW info on them.

[TerminatorX5]

there are several things that you might want to consider...

of course, a new map disk is nice to have, so you should consider that

also, you need to check your firmware of the nav computer - from main menu, go to SET, select SET, and look at the top right corner of the screen. it will have numbers... check the numbers and post them here.

your car and the nav system is equipped with gyro(s) which along with the steering sensor, wheels sensor, yaw sensor can track the car in absence of the satellite signal but it would not do a nice job of doing so, resulting the "car" on the map be off the road, while you are on the well known throughway... so, if the sat signal is lost, the car is still capable of tracking you for a little bit (like in tunnels, or underground garages)
which brings a possibilty that an antenna lead to the antenna could be dislodged, defective, disconnected, or the antenna itself is damaged or otherwise broken. if the car tracks the location correctly and then loses it, the issue could be with antenna, or with overheating hardware that is miscalculating the position... or, with out of date firmware that can't calculate the information based on the correct signals...

so, first things first, check the firmware

then, while inside the SET, press and hold MENU key for 15-20 seconds or more - it supposed to take you into Navigation Service menu. one of the menu items will be Satellite Tracking, where you can see the technical data of the satellites that are being tracked by your system... drive around with that screen for a while and see if those numbers "freeze", dissapear, or work as ususal - this will give indication of the antenna working or not...

take it from there and let us know what happened...