MKIV Spontaneous Failure

[Sultan]

I'd appreciate any help you can offer.

After reading these forum threads for about 5-6 hours, I think I have an idea of what might be happening, but I'd love to get some input on what I'm thinking & my plans to fix the problem ...

I have a 2003 X5 with a MKIV Nav showing OS version 4-1/12 (never updated.) Recently, the Nav functions simply stopped working for no apparent reason, with a message saying "CD/DVD not found". Fortunately, all of the trip computer & radio/CD player functions work just fine.

It seems that the problem must be either the DVD itself is bad (original Navtech 2002.1), or the DVD transport/reader is bad. I've removed & cleaned the DVD (which looked fine to begin with), and even gone so far as to read the entire DVD into my PC to make sure there are no bad sectors detected. There weren't, so I suspect the DVD media is just fine.

In reviewing the threads here (GREAT INFO!!!), I've learned that the MKIV has both a CD laser & DVD laser. I'm hoping that gives me a way to troubleshoot this --

I'm planning to burn an OS upgrade to CD, and attempt to upgrade the OS; I'm assuming that if the CD laser reads at all, then it should be able to make it all the way through the upgrade process, and not leave me with a half-updated unit. If this works, I will (a) know that the CD laser works properly, (b) have a good current OS loaded, and (c) have the option to start using CD's instead of DVD's, or suck it up and spring for a new MKIV.

Who knows, maybe the new OS will even clear up my DVD read problem.

Can anyone out there add any insight to this? I'd love to have some input from someone who's dealt with this once or twice before I jump in and start monkeying with my unit. The *LAST* thing I want to do is disable my trip computer & radio functions trying to "fix" the Nav features.


Many Thanks,

Chris

[asot]

Welcome
I think your thoughts are pointed to a good way...

I agree that the problem must be either the DVD itself is bad, or the DVD transport/reader is bad (MK4 mechanism)

Have you tried a cleaning CD/DVD?
If your MK4 system manages the v31 CD upgrade well, you'll solve half the potential problem
After that, make a copy of the NAV map DVD, in order to be sure that is is re-written and possible defects have been corrected...

If everything fails, a new MK4 unit could be your next buy...!!!

[Sultan]

Actually, I hadn't thought about a cleaning DVD, which is a really good suggestion. I guess Nav lasers get dirty sometimes just like any other. At least, its worth a try.

I'm *hoping* that a new MK4 is *not* in my near future ...

Thanks Much,

Chris

[UCrewX5]

My suggestions would be to (1) update the OS and (2) pick up a new nav disk. I'll be very surprised if doing so doesn't fix your issue (and you'll have the latest maps and features to boot )

and :xoutpost:

[shupadupa]

Just wait for KiwiJochen to come into this thread, he will be some help.

[Sultan]

Yeah, I've see KJ in a lot of posts - it seems like he knows how to unsolder the entire Nav unit & put it back together with chewing gum - I think he's really MacGuyver

Based on some more tests I've run, I'm pretty sure that the CD laser still works, so in a worst-case scenario I could probably still run the unit from CD's instead of DVD's (ugh!)

However, I'm hoping that X5Crew was right about the upgrades; I haven't been able to get a CD of V30 that the drive will read yet, but I think that is due to the disk burning process and *not* a bad CD laser. From what I read, the MKIV is pretty finicky about home-burned disks, so I'll just keep trying until I get one that the unit will read.

It seems like all the new folks in this forum have a really tough time until after the first time they upgrade their Nav unit, and then once you do it the first time successfully, it goes a lot easier after that.

I guess I just have to get through my first time ...

[KiwiJochen]

Try the following:

1. Reboot (nav will turn off 1min after entire car shuts down, when it powers up it has rebooted)

2. Load new OS (current is 4-1/100, fixes a zillion bugs compared to your version)

3. Clean the muck of your existing map DVD (you'd be surprised how much accumulates, makes it hard to read)

4. If you still get errors, consider new laser or new mech from the guy in the Netherlands. When lasers get old and weak, they struggle to read the disk. Crashes or 'no disc' are the result.

5. And please don't use chewing gum for anything

[Sultan]

OK, Kiwi, no chewing gum!

I've successfully upgraded the OS from a CD image, so I'm very pleased to know that the CD optics work & the OS is current. I expect I will be able to run from CD's just fine, which is less than ideal, but not horrible.

I've done multiple cleanings on my original DVD, and even done a disk repair, but I am unable to get my DVD to read or even be recognized by the Nav computer. The only other test I could do would be to find a known good DVD, and put it in to see if it can be read. I suspect the DVD laser is weak or dead, since that seems to be a pretty common issue in this forum.

So for now, I'm probably going to try to get my hands on a Navtech CD for California/Nevada, while I figure out if I'm feeling up to the challenge of replacing the old laser with a replacement. I'll do a little more reading on the threads that describe how to do that. It sounds a bit daunting, but I rip open PCs all the time, so maybe if I read over the threads a few more times it will seem less intimidating.

And by the way, my BMW dealer quoted me *$3,500* to repair this unit!!! Charged me $150 for "troubleshooting" and obviously never even tried to upgrade my OS! I wish I had found this forum first, that $150 would have almost bought me the replacement laser. I'm never going back to my dealer again.

So, another round of thanks to everyone on this forum who have generously shared their knowledge & experience on this.

- Chris

[KiwiJochen]

Good that the upgrade worked.

You could just fit a whole new mech. Dead easy to replace, just a few screws and one plug. Buy the complete mech from the guy in the Netherlands

Dealer solution is always "nav is faulty" so "replace faulty component" which means "brand new nav".
Dealers don't open the nav lid and repair anything inside, they just replace the nav as one unit.

Getting a complete new mech is a solution that means that your nav will be essentially a brand new one: at the same time as fixing the laser, you will have fixed all mechanical wear and tear in the nav mechanism

[Sultan]

Well, I've decided to take the lazy way out, at least for now. I ordered the 2008.1 8-CD set from NavTech, and in addition to not having to work on my Nav anymore for a while (which will make my wife happy ...), I'll also have the latest greatest set of map data. I spend 99% of my driving time in Los Angeles anyway, so I will almost never need to swap CDs.

I suspect at some point in the future I might try my hand at repairing the unit, and dropping in a new mech definitely sounds like the way to go.

But now that I've discovered that it actually *is* possible to adapt the stereo for iPod/mp3 -- which the dealer told me was impossible -- I'm eager to move onto that project. So I'm off to read up on those threads now.

Once again many thanks to everyone who posted on this forum & helped me through this process.

Best Regards,

- Chris