Navigation Not Seeing Satellites
 

I have a 2003 330i with a retrofitted MK4 Nav. I did the swap 4 years ago and hadn't had a problem until about 3 weeks ago. I had to have my central locking system relays replaced and so I had my car battery unhooked for a week while I sent it off and waited for it to come back and then ever since I reconnected the battery I haven't been able to get a correct position. When I unhook the battery again or reset/install the firmware it finds my location perfectly but it still doesnt keep that it knows where I am. I also drove 12 hours after I had hooked the battery back up to get home for x-mas break. This is what the settings screen shows:

Buy it some glasses

ALMANAC: The display will show 'YES' or 'NO' to show if almanac data is being received.

http://www.xoutpost.com/electronics/...elp-folks.html

so in other words, park on top of a hill for an hour with the sat nav powered up and wait :p:

lol, yes that should do it Neil :) I might be an idea to start it every 10 minutes too :)

:iagree:

Make sure the antenna plugs all have good connections.

almanac will show yes after few minutes (up to 15 usually), but i suspect that you didn't let mk to go in standby mode before disconnect the battery...mk4 is pretty solid and it's hard to crash, but possible...anyway, better check antenna connection before anything else...

I checked the antenna and it seemed secure, I did let it shutdown before I unplugged the battery and I have driven it around a ton since I undid the battery so its been more than a day....

But what's the longest the ignition has been on for? Can you leave it out in the open, stationary for an hour with the ignition on and see if that helps?

Hi, This is what happen to my mk 3 computer when the antenna connection broke off when I was fitting it , I had to get a new (TRIMBLE ANTENNA) part for the computer, check your antenna connection is on right ,and also the small pin inside the connection is not broken off.

Surely in your situation though the system would not see any satellites?

In this case it is seeing 8, just not receiving the almanac data

yes you are right there was no satellites ,and the pointer was going off the roads on the maps, I would try reloading the cd or the dvd from the start.

But it also shows a S/N as 0...... and if I reset the computer it knows exactly where I am....

So is the problem sorted?

I don't know you will have to ask Striker :dunno:

I was :D

No, when I said that I mean if it thinks I am in north TN, I can reset it and it will show me as being back home in Oxford MS. But if I drive around for a while it will get confused again and lose my position.

When it loses it's position on the map, is the satellites still visible on the small screen on the top right of your screen

whats the longest you have left it parked, with a good view of the sky with the nav turned on (key in posistion 1) so it can get new almanac data? I'm guessing when you reset it and drive about, it's trying to update your posistion based on gyro/road speed sensors rather than GPS.

Rgds

Once the cd is load in ,usually about 5 minutes from start to finish, the computer will look for the satellites every time its is turn on and you can see how many satellites it as found in the small screen at the top right corner with the map of the world, once it starts to find the satellites they appear like small white dots, you can even count how many it has found

The square in the upper right corner is empty no satellites like I used to see. I have left it parked for a good hour or two with a good view of the sky.

is it got the G P S displayed along the bottom of the small square !

No....

Then I would check all your antenna connections ,check the connection behind nav/computer that it is a good connection and take it off and look at the small pin inside the sat/nav antenna connection is not broken off.
When you disconnected your battery to fix the cent/locking did you wait till the sat/nav had powered down first before you disconnected the battery !

Disconnect the antenna connection from the back of the sat/nav and leave it off , and try again . if sat/nav computer still does not show the satellites on the small screen or gps (global position satellites) then there is problem with the antenna or the trimble unit inside the sat/nav. try changing the antenna.

How have you got on, :dunno: have you got it fixed yet :dunno: !

I tried it, when I had the antenna off it said antenna open in the gps menu and I did not see the satellites. When I pugged it back in it said Recerr. I guess I need to try a new antenna I wish there was someone near by that I could try theirs with or something instead of buying a new antenna and it be the trimble unit, if it is how can I fix that or get it fixed?? Or is my whole nav computer shot then?

Also where can I buy a new antenna?

Antennas are cheap on ebay. Are all of the antenna connections good? There is probably one in the dash area between the antenna and cable. I am assuming your antenna is in the dash and not the rear??

Have you had your car windows tinted

Which ones work with the MKIV system though? Also its under the trunk lid so it is in the rear.

A long time ago and its ceramic so its not supposed to interfear.

Here's one from Germany on ebay Item number:270536406014 . just make sure it's the same connection as yours.

I don't believe the number of white dots correlates with the actual number of satellites the nav system has found.

Maybe a bit late to help Striker but here is my experience...

I had the very same problem in my MK4 and it turned out not being antenna related.
It was simply the nav which was having a hard time reading dvds.

Weird enough but as soon as I fed it with an original dvd all my problems disappeared.

I did even try a software upgrade but to no avail.

Then, in a few months, it started acting worse and having a hard time reading original dvds too, so I had the laser changed and all was back to normal even when using backup dvd copies.

About dots and sats correlation, I'm not really sure but it looks like being true as thats not a static image... you can clearly see dots appear and disappear and move around the little square.

I'm not saying that the moving image does not correlate with the acquisition / re-acquisition of satellites. What I'm saying is that I don't think the number of dots corresponds with the actual number of satellites.

Go to the service menu to see what sats you can really see and their signal strength. Don't rely on the dots if you really want to know.

I agree.