Home Forums Articles How To's FAQ Register
Go Back   Xoutpost.com > Electronics > Mobile Electronics Forum
Arnott
User Name
Password
Member List Premier Membership Search Today's Posts Mark Forums Read

Xoutpost server transfer and maintenance is occurring....
Xoutpost is currently undergoing a planned server migration.... stay tuned for new developments.... sincerely, the management


Reply
 
LinkBack Thread Tools Display Modes
  #1  
Old 03-28-2009, 05:40 AM
Kev Kev is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Como, Italy
Posts: 249
Kev is on a distinguished road
Dension Gateway 300 - Has anyone managed to install one in an X5?

Hi guys,

Bad week so far. Ordered an AV input plug for the TV (to add a DVB tuner) which was so badly made that trying to install the BMW plug inline caused their female plug to split (cheap plastic). Paid £35 for this but waiting for a refund.

Then picked up an Alpine T222 amp to drive a sub but instruction on home page don't match my car (ie. they assume there is an amp installed) - so will have to work that one out myself.

So on to the supposedly easiest job - install of Dension Gateway 300. I'm going mad here. This is my second unit and it behaves exactly the same as the 1st - ie. rubbish - doesn't work

The User instructions are very basic but maybe adequate. Install instructions are generic and can basically be ignored as they are of no use with a BMW install. So where am I going wrong? Could someone please give me some pointers if they have installed this device in their X. The helpdesk at the www.ipodcarkitdirect.co.uk is some kind of artificial intellegence automated system that serves no purpose other than to wind you up.

The loom is placed inline with the factory quadlock - pins 2,8,9 from plug B are taken from the Dension plug and installed into the original since I have TV/Nav etc and their plug doesnt carry those signals. Had to work this out for myself (thanks to help from John), and a pinout of the quadlock. The installation instructions are so useless and it is definately NOT plug and play. If I hadnt bought this in November I'd be push for a full refund but I delayed installing for 2 months. Tried 3 times (all with the same result) - got a replacement - and now back to square one 4 months later !

So here's what happens.

Battery off. Take out B plug from Dension quadlock. Extract pins 2,8,9 and swap them with original pins 2,8,9 (CD ground, + and -) in the BMW B plug. Disconnect quadlock from back of tuner/amp and plug theirs inline (installing the BMW B&C plugs in theirs. Their B plug comes wired just with these pins which is useless if you have TV NAV etc

The Factory CD has now been removed since Dension have discontinued the CD retention plug (I assume it was a pile of rubbish too).

Then connect the external Hard drive (80gb 4200rpm) - I have also used a kingston 4gb USB flash drive with same results. On this disk there are a few folders with MP3 in, and in the root there is the GW_CFG.BIN file renamed from original BMW file. This is to enable text on the BMW head unit apparantly.

Battery on. Wait - between 5 minutes and 12 hours results the same.

Hit the mode button to move from FM TO CD, Select CD 6 (source menu) - and track 4 (USB mode). Nothing.

All the time I'm doing this the CD track number randomly displays 99,44,32,etc. Same if I select CD 1,2,3 or 4 (which should playlist,artist albums)...

Not a sound from the system during this.

This is a replacement unit with the latest firmware.

Car has 16:9 NAV v32, TV (ana), BT (newish ULF), and no DSP.

I'm beginning to think that this is the biggest waste of £150 I ever did. Anyone else have experience of this hardware. Please dont tell me how great other devices are (Intravee etc.) as this will just be salt in the wound

Thanks in advance guys.

Kev.
Reply With Quote

Sponsored Links

  #2  
Old 03-28-2009, 02:11 PM
Kev Kev is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Como, Italy
Posts: 249
Kev is on a distinguished road
Back again.

Some progress at last!

The amp is in and running fine. Just tapped into the quadlock.

Dension is 'kind of' working. Well its not completely dead. It plays one MP3 from the memory stick. But thats it. No text, no menu's and only track 1.

The hard drive was my own stupid fault. Fat 32 volumes can only go to 32Gb so obviously the disk was formatted NTFS. I may try the exFat format later (Vista/W7), but for now I have an 8Gb flash drive working.

When the Dension sees the memory stick it creates a couple of database BIN files and plays the 1st MP3 it can find. I find that the sound quality is not as good as the CD (or radio to be honest).

I've tried to update the firmware but the flaky instructions on the dension website are not accurate and on my system it doesnt load and then reset to radio and tidy up by deleting the firmware file from the root. Instead it does nothing.

The dension.com site is dreadful. It mentions that Text must be enabled on BMW head units using this BIN file but nowhere does it make it available anymore. I had already downloaded a file GW_CFG_BMW_V2_STARTTEXT.BIN last year (yes thats how long i've been trying to get this rubbish to work.

Dension: Knowledge Base

As you will see in the above link, they now call it GW_CFG_START_TEXT_SELECTOR.BIN but have forgotten to put the hyperlink in so there is nothing to click.

In the above link they start by discussing the PC/USB world (great - thats what I am trying to get working), and finish by blabbing on about IPODs again - which I dont have and will never have till they stop using Itunes.

Anyway thats where I am so far. getting tired of this project now. Wish I'd just stuck an alpine CD/MP3 player/changer. Would have been cheaper and I could have kept my CD player.

I know - the gut instict is 'bin it' but it cost £150 and i'm 90% sure they wont refund me as they will just assume i dont know what I am doing - which is true but not my fault due to such dreadful websute and support.

Give up? Persevere? What do you rthink I should do. Noone here used a dension?

Cheers . Kev

Last edited by Kev; 03-28-2009 at 02:33 PM.
Reply With Quote
  #3  
Old 03-29-2009, 06:19 AM
Kev Kev is offline
Member
 
Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Como, Italy
Posts: 249
Kev is on a distinguished road
Hehe - I guess I should have posted that question BEFORE I shelled out on this tiny piece of Dension cr@p. Seems that there isn't anyone on this forum that uses a Dension Gatway with their X5. Probably for a good reason - they don't work

Latest development is that I can get a very distorted sound out from a USB stick and now move on from track 1 to track 2 etc. usually - but sometimes it still gets stuck on track 1.

The sound quality is so poor its like the when you whack the volume on full with an AUX connected device. You just need to set it to 75% and its ok. But how to do this with this device I have no idea.

In theory there are some files to increase the volume (this is for a different device - a BTA1500 - but since I cant get the thing to read/accept a firmware update, or enable CD text, I dont hold out much hope for these files to have the desired effect either.

Think I'll stick it on e-bay and hope I can get some of my money back. Will give Dension tech support a week to come up with something first though.

Thanks for all the advice anyway lads.

Cheers. Kev.

Last edited by Kev; 03-29-2009 at 06:51 AM.
Reply With Quote
  #4  
Old 02-07-2010, 07:08 AM
Member
 
Join Date: Feb 2010
Location: The Netherlands
Posts: 1
JeroenK is on a distinguished road
Same problem

Hello Kev,

I've the same problome on my BMW e39. Also an MKIV - BM24 and 16:9 Display. I only have music and I can't see nothing, also the updates don't work.

My question: Do you have also the same problems? or is the problem resolved?

Gr. Jeroen
The Netherlands.
Reply With Quote
Reply

Bookmarks

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Smilies are On
[IMG] code is On
HTML code is Off
Trackbacks are On
Pingbacks are On
Refbacks are On





All times are GMT -4. The time now is 08:03 PM.
vBulletin, Copyright 2024, Jelsoft Enterprises Ltd. SEO by vBSEO 3.6.0
© 2017 Xoutpost.com. All rights reserved. Xoutpost.com is a private enthusiast site not associated with BMW AG.
The BMW name, marks, M stripe logo, and Roundel logo as well as X3, X5 and X6 designations used in the pages of this Web Site are the property of BMW AG.
This web site is not sponsored or affiliated in any way with BMW AG or any of its subsidiaries.