2004 X3 Sat nav MK and upgrading it
 

Hi people,

great forum, just registered !

I have a 2004 X3 with professional nav system, but was just wondering if it is possible to upgrade the software to give a 'perspective' view. I phoned BMW but they just offered me a map update with expended POI, but my bet is that some bright spark has come up with a way to modernise the nav program to use the later versions of BMW Nav.

I hope someone can tell me whether or not this is pipedream, or a reality :thumbup:

Cheers in advance
Tony

If it is a DVD based Nav computer in the boot then yes.

AFAIK, the X3 was only fitted with the Mk4 DVD Nav but it could have been swapped out before you bought it (unless you had it from new).

Have a look behind the panel on the passenger side in the boot and if it has a DVD logo on, you will be good to go. Just download and burn the V.32 image (see the sticky at the top of the forum page)... and if you want to use a 2009 Map DVD, your nav will need to be updated anyhow as it will require the new features and dual layer capability :D

HTH.

1. Upgrade navi soft up to v27 or higher (v31-32 is the latest, more preferrable)
2. Enter to the Service menu (MENU->Settings->shortly press and hold MENU button approx 8 sec->Service menu will come on the screen)
3. Scroll down to the end of the screen and then one more click down-> you'll see Perspective menu->push on it and switch it on
4. Enter to the Navigation and switch on the map.
5. Press right button->you'll see Map positioning items and Perspective mode within them->switch it on
6. Enjoy the perspective view

Good luck!

Hi Scuba and Trapdoor, thanks for your lightening fast replies ! I've just downloaded and burned to DVD-R disc the v32 SW from the site link.

Shame the car is my wife's so can't just go and test it as it's at home and I'm at work now, but before I do, just a few Qs...

this is a pic of my actual unit...

http://i181.photobucket.com/albums/x...00209_0835.jpg

as you said it has the DVD logo on it, so I presume v32 needs to be burnt onto a DVD disc ?? Sounds obvious I know, but just wanted to clarify since the data is only 250mb or so and seemed a small size to me to need a DVD.

Secondly, I'm using DVD-R discs.... is this ok, or would DVD+R be better, again I know it sounds weird, but some older DVD systems prefer different type of discs.

All this seems too good to be true, and until I see I find it hard to believe that it could be this simple. Trust me, I installed a car-pc in my 1997 e31 running winXP and getting stuff to work smoothly with that can be pretty tricky, though not impossible of course.

Really looking forward to trying this out. The stock navi SW looks so dated in 2D view :thumbup:

You can burn the upgrade onto CD or DVD ... a DVD-R should be fine but SOME MK4 Navicomps have issues reading anything but original DVD's. I had one like that in my E46.

Personally, I use just bog standard good quality CDR's for firmware upgrades as it seems a bit of a waste using a DVD-R for such a small amount of data.

Remember that when you have upgraded, you won't get the 3D Perspective option available until you go into the engineering menu and enable it ... you will then get the PERSPECTIVE option additional to the North Up and Track Up views.

HTH.

Thanks again,

I've now got two discs, one DVD-R and CDR burnt, hopefully one of those will work.

The engineering menu ? This is same as Sevice Menu mentioned by Scuba I assume ? Forgive my ignorance, but up until yesterday I have only ever treated our X3 as a workhorse and never played with it, leaving everything stock. Strange really since I generally mod everything else :D

I will have a play tonight and see what happens.

On a side note, is there any other 'killer' mod you can do to these MKIV onboard systems ? I'll start searching the forums myself of course, but if you could recomend anything that would be cool...

Cheers
Tony

i and some others on this forum use DVD-RW, so you can burn soft, and modded maps, and just reuse them.
I found that DVD-R or DVD-RW has les compatibility problems then CD-R where some brands just dont work

Just done it ! You guys are nothing short of awesome, so a big Thank You for helping me out :thumbup:

The DVD-R worked first time. Took about 60secs to install the SW, and a further 3 mins for me to realise that I needed to put the original DVD back in to get the maps up ! Thanks for telling me about the 8 sec Service menu, which I wouldn't have known about otherwise. My 2004 X3 now looks like it could have come out of the factory last year instead, sat nav graphics wise at least !

To celebrate I even paired my wife's new mobile phone with it - something else I'd been meaning to get round to for ages since she upgraded handsets in Sept !!

cheers again
Tony

Nice to here...

One thing you should know about bluetooth
The last connected device connects first...
So if you pair your phone, then your wifes phone, and both of you are in the car, your wifes phone will pair with satnav

I've only paired the car with her phone since she drives it 90% of the time so that is not a problem, but I'll remember it for the future should I ever decide to steal it off her :D

Still can't believe how easy the whole thing regarding the Nav upgrade was. The Blocky graphics of the original 2004 SW was always something that bugged me about her car, but now..... well, you all know how good the Perspective view looks, and how nice the improved map layout is.

May well start the Video/TV mod to it soon now, having read other people's threads in this forum.

Good stuff !