My understanding of how to do this was just burn the .rar file to a cd as a non bootable (it's not a pc) data disc and put it in the nav drive and turn on the key to position 1 and it would update and eject. I did this and nothing happend other than the drive lights for on and cd in came on. Did I burn the disc wrong or do something else wrong or is the drive bad? My understanding of the nav sys is even if the drive is bad I should still have a display on the screen to control the trip comp and radio. When I use scroll thru the trip comp displays on the speedo info screen the date, and anyithing other than MPG and range are blanked out with "--".

This is either

a) the DSP amp is not coded correctly to your car, or
b) you have the Professional RDS BM24 radio, and it has dry solder joints that make the sound intermittent.

For a) you can determing this by seeing in the rear of the car if you have the DSP amp fitted or not.
Only the DSP amp has a coax plus and coax cable connecting the CD changer directly to the amplifier (spdif digital audio connection).
The non-DSP amp has no coax connection

For b) it's a bit hard to tell if you cannot see the screen!
My NavCoder software will read out the part number of the radio, if you wish to use that.

Unlikely, these amps hardly ever suffer from heat problems.

Try the following:

1. turn off ignition, wait minimum 60s, then unpkug and remove the nav computer.

2. If you have the TV tuner fitted, the TV tuner will take over the graphics and you'll see a picture.

3. If you have no TV tuner fitted, you'll notice that the backlight will no longer illuminate if the nav is not plugged it, because in this case the nav is the only device that can provide the graphics.

4. If the nav is not producing graphics, then either the nav is faulty, or it is a 3rd-gen or 4th-gen nav coded for a different vehicle with mono nav
You can tell by looking on the labels on top of the nav looking for the text BMWM01S (mono) or BMWC01S (color)
If coded for Mono, I can help you recode to colour.

Jochen

ok first you the man because it's you that I got the link for the OS from and that started this whole thing and I think i've solved all problems but I have to take it to the dealer to fix one.

It turns out that the radio problem was indeed a heat/bad amp issue. I replaced the amp (yes it's dsp it has coax) and it ran for an hour without the problem coming back. I think ( and here is my first reason for taking it to the dealer if I do) the fan on the old amp died. I'm not sure though because I can't get the old amp out! I have dissasembled everything and can't get the 2 bottom bolts out so the amp is still installed but when I took everything out and set it on the carpet of the back deck the new amp works fine.

As far as the nav screen goes i found that the coax pl-259 style screw on connector going into the little box closest to the tire well was snapped off but still almost connected. When I took the connector off the screen went white. I don't have connectors or crimpers to replace this connector so that's the second reason I was going to take it to the dealer but i'm really pissed at the dealer for not just tapping into the ibus in the first place and just telling me to replace the whole system. they said "we don't have the parts to start replacing things to find out what it is. Any moron with a limited knowledge of electronics could tell it was the amp as everything else kept playing.

So do I take it to the dealer or can I get this connector somewhere fast and do you know how to take the last 2 bolts on the bottom out of the amp. I have taken out the plastic panel between the well and the tire as well as all mounting bolts for the rack that holds the amp (I hoped I could just lift the whole rack out but no such luck).

I really appreciate you response.

hey Kiwijochen what do you drink? I should at least send you a good bottle of scotch or vodka!

btw what or where is the nav comp? I have the dvd drive with a little box on the top and the alpine unit under the tire well with the 2 coax cables coming off it, plus a third heat finned box with coax (this is the one with the broken cable) in and out.

i have no tv tuner btw.

On an X5:

The navigation computer is the actual CD/DVD drive in the left-hand side of the trunk, behind an access flap. It is all fitted in one device.

If you have the original Mk2 nav (standard in a 2000 X5), then you will also have a GPS receiver (silver/grey box) bolted directly above the nav computer.
If your nav was upgraded to Mk3 or Mk4 (DVD) then the external GPS receiver is no longer required and may not be fitted, or may be fitted but not used.

The finned unit underneath the nav computer, and almost level with the floor, is the audio amplifier.

I am not sure what the device with the broken connector is. Perhaps you can post a photo of it?

Thanks, Jochen
PS: Vodka would be nice, be aware I am in another country on the other side of the Pacific!!

I don't have a digital camera so a pic is tough. The device i'm talking about is much smaller that the amp (only about 4 inches by 6 inches) and is mounted to the front of the amp on the flat side.

Don't throw away your old amp!!!

I am 99% sure that your problem is a dead navigation computer. As soon as you get the nav computer fixed, your new amp will begin cutting out after 30 seconds. Here's why...

The DSP amps are coded to look for its controller, based on the car's configured options. If it can not find its controller after a reasonable amount of time, it will shut itself off. There are three different controllers: a navigation computer, a DSP control unit on an E38, or a DSP-enabled MID on an X5 or E39. You probably bought a used DSP amp that came from an E38 that did not have navigation.

Your nav computer is probably dead, because it is not running the front display and the DSP am is doing its auto shut-down routine. My hunch is that you will need a new nav computer when it is all said-and-done. When you plug it in, it is likely that the new amp will start doing the shut down. Or, at the minimum, the old amp would probably work again.

Another reason to save the old amp is that the dealer coding that configures it for the type of control interface also tunes the amp's acoustics for your car. If you put an E38 or E39 amp in the car, it would not sound right until you got it re-coded by a dealer.

__________________
SOLD
2000 E38 750iL Highline Edition, Upgraded with the lastest 2006 X5 Electronics
MKIV Navigation, 16:9 Display, Bluetooth, TV/Video with Backup Camera, Sirius, and Aux Input