Holy %$@!!!! X5 locked up after DICE install

[Sablotny]

"Lights flashing like crazy is sign of dead battery." Man, I'm crossing fingers, that would be a great break. Drove home for lunch... hooked the thing up to the charger...

[Halston Pitman]

Originally Posted by Sablotny

I don't blame DICE for this - all I did there was to plug in the 3 and 6 pin connectors. What I think I blew was sinking screws into the carpert under the driver's seat. My [very] bad. Thought about "what lies beneath," but figured with my short screws and the thick underfloor padding my chances were good. I'll check the battery first- it does seem low on juice. What seems screwy is the Xenons flashing on and off rapidly when I turn the ignition, like something's haywire.

Of course this comes at a time when I'm absolutely buried at work and trying to set things straight to go on vacation for two weeks. I really don't have time to get a tow to the dealer and wait for results. Anyway, thanks for the help. I'm putting up my numbskulled move so everybody else thinks about it during their install. From now on- velcro tape on the back of the DICE module.

I'll remove seats and inspect tonight. Thank god there's a large carpet seam right at that location, hopefully it will make this job a little easier. I need easy right now.

As PS, what positions should the dip switches be on the DICE module to get full functionality on the nav screen (2001, non-DSP, nav)? The DICE instructions confuse me.

PPS - Where's the emoticon for tearing hair out?

I am sorry I am not a smiley expert

Let's try to charge that battery first. This sounds like the main issue and possibly the only issue. Once we tackle that and can confirm the batteries status we can better diagnose the problem.

What year is the vehicle and is the battery original?

[Tom G.]

Originally Posted by Sablotny

So, I did the DICE install this afternoon, thanks to the BSW instructions posted on this forum. I didn't quite pull the 20 minutes that their techs can do, but I was putting everything back together while my girlfriend checked out her new system at 1:15. Just as I was congratulating myself on a clean install, I tried starting up the truck. Headlights flashed rapidly, whacky lights flashed across the dash, and nothing else. The car's locked up in PARK, won't turn over, now out of juice. Seems to be a short circuit big time. I plugged in the 3 and 6 pin connectors to the DICE cable, and possibly did something really stupid- I mounted the DICE module to the carpet under the driver's side seat with two 1/2" wood screws. Are there some serious cables running under the driver's seat that I drove a screw into? I think I'm seriously hosed, since I can't even move the truck. Any info, advice or condolence welcome. First I gotta figure out how to get the thing into a shop. 2001 NAV, non-DSP.

First thing to do would be to remove the 3/6 pin connectors, essentially returning the vehicle to stock. If the problem still persists, there is something else wrong in the system and needs to be diagnosed.

As Halston said - the battery would be a good place to start, but removing the DICE will narrow down the issue to being BMW or DICE-related.

[Sablotny]

Who knew that flickering dash lights and kerklacking Xenons were signs of a dead battery, but that was it. Thanks very much to Halston and JPuma.

The way the X5 acted last night made me think of a Fembot getting hit in the tukas and going haywire. I came home at lunch & hooked up the charger, after dinner the "full" light was on the charger and the beast started up. Some of the dash lights stayed on a while during a quick test drive, but eventually all turned off. Now its time to dig into the battery compartment and see if it has an install date. Guess I avoided hitting any major arteries with my screws

Anybody have a model # for an Interstate or Optima?

[Tom G.]

Originally Posted by Sablotny

Anybody have a model # for an Interstate or Optima?

Keep in mind that if you go BMW - you do get 1 year of roadside assistance included with the new battery.

[justintmn]

All of my dash lights were off when I had a dead battery about four weeks ago. After recharging the battery, I did what Tom recommended to initialize the DICE procedure, hoping that the procedure will initialize the computer as well. Thank God, it worked and everything works as it was before the dead battery incident and saved me a trip to the Stealer .

Here is the initializing procedure but DO IT AT YOUR OWN RISK (courtesy of Tom from EAS):
1. Disconnect the black and red cables from both battery terminals
2. Touch the red and black cables, AWAY FROM THE BATTERY TERMINALS, for 5-7 seconds (I guess to neutralize the whole circuit).
3. Leave both cables disconnnected for 5-7 minutes.
4. Reconnect the cables to the battery.

Hope this helps.

Originally Posted by Sablotny

Who knew that flickering dash lights and kerklackiong Xenons were signs of a dead battery, but that was it. Thanks very much to Halston and JPuma.

The way the X5 acted last night made me think of a Fembot getting hit in the tukas and going haywire. I came home at lunch & hooked up the charger, after dinner the "full" light was on the charger and the beast started up. Some of the dash lights stayed on a while during a quick test drive, but eventually all turned off. Now its time to dig into the battery compartment and see if it has an install date. Guess I avoided hitting any major arteries with my screws

Anybody have a model # for an Interstate or Optima?

[E61Silver]

Good to hear, I wonder how long BMW batteries last?

[Tom G.]

Originally Posted by x54.4blue

Good to hear, I wonder how long BMW batteries last?

I would look into replacing after 3-4 years.