Did you try to send contacts from your N95 to the car while the car is in pairing mode ?
That worked for me and my N95 on my X5 E53

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X5 4,4i-06 Current
330Ci Cab-03 2007-2008
MB E55 AMG-03 2006-2007
Z3 2,8 Roadster-98 2006-2007
X3 2,0d-05 2005-2006
320d-99 1999-2005

can you describe exactly how you did that while in pairing mode as i have the same problem )

If you have already paired, delete the pairing on both the phone and the ULF.

This one worked for me, e46 Gen12 ulf.

Non I-drive cars
First, go into pairing mode on the car, and use the N95 to find the car. Enter your pin number so the phone is paired. Don't exit pairing mode on the BMW yet.

Now on the N95 go to contacts. Select about 10-15 contacts (hold down the pen key and scroll down). Then go to options -> send business card -> via bluetooth. Select the BMW from the list of bluetooth devices and it'll send them across. Repeat for the rest of your contact list.

You may end up with a few duplicates in your BMW phonebook depending on whether your original contacts had multiple phone numbers or not. But it definitely works and displays incoming call name properly etc.

I tried doing the whole contacts list in one go but it failed - doing it piecemeal takes a little longer but its a one time thing.

I-Drive cars
Go to pairing menu on phone menu of iDrive. Start pairing on iDrive and then initiate the pairing from the N95. Enter pass key on both car and phone. At this point be careful not to say "yes" on N95 to the "automatically connect" request - you don't want it to connect otherwise you lose the ability to connect to the Idrive from the contacts menu on the N95.

Now go to the contacts menu on the phone and select the contacts as detailed in previous instructions (note you may get some connect requests from the car whilst you are doing this so you need to decline them). Then select send business card and send via bluetooth (selecting the car connection) - the N95 will then format the business cards and send them.

Once you have done this the car has given up trying to connect to your N95 so the iDrive menu goes back to asking if you want to set up a new connection (which is wierd). Don't do this. Instead remove car keys and insert again to restart iDrive - the N95 is now in the paired list on the iDrive.

Now go into the N95 and select the car bluetooth connection and configure it to automatically connect to the car.

Once it is connected the "A-Z" contacts are greyed out.

Here's the mysterious bit - now wait for 5 minutes and the menu goes white and all your contacts are there - not sure what the IDrive is doing during this time as the contacts are already transferred.

HTH

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Sept 03, M3, Silver Grey. Retro-fits: Modded Mk4 DVD Drive, OEM Bluetooth, VR Control, Rainbow Speaker Upgrade, Sony SOT Amp, HK Sub, CCFL, Intravee II, NightMode.

thank you very much but what is ULF ?

ULF is the BT phone module.

Cars with an i-bus (e46,e39, some X5s etc) use a ULF, cars with i-drive use a M-ULF and both these units connect to thier cars onboard computer network and "talk" to each of other cars onboard systems, CD, radio, navigation, LCM, TV etc.

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Sept 03, M3, Silver Grey. Retro-fits: Modded Mk4 DVD Drive, OEM Bluetooth, VR Control, Rainbow Speaker Upgrade, Sony SOT Amp, HK Sub, CCFL, Intravee II, NightMode.

so i clear the phone pairing on the x5 and the phone ?
cheers

Yeap, clear on phone, then press and hold pair button (console) turn ignition on, wait 3 seconds, release button, press and hold button again, wait 10 seconds, you will hear a beep, then all phones deleted from ULF.

Not sure about deleting a phone from an I-drive car (if thats what you have?).

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Sept 03, M3, Silver Grey. Retro-fits: Modded Mk4 DVD Drive, OEM Bluetooth, VR Control, Rainbow Speaker Upgrade, Sony SOT Amp, HK Sub, CCFL, Intravee II, NightMode.

tried all of the above and still doent work every time i try to send the business card i get a message saying connect with bmw and then the car just hangs with the message "please wait" on the display and nothing happens . It looks like im going to have to buy a new phone .