I'm Dumb, I have proof
 

Probably more examples, but the latest is that I have managed to disable the keys with PA Soft, now I cannot start my X5.

I'm not sure where I screwed up, but I did.

The battery died a few weeks ago, and I used the jumper cables to start the car and bring it into my garage so the charger could be connected. One of the keys died in the process. It will not lock or unlock the doors anymore with the buttons -- it still has all features when putting it into the door lock. The 4x4 light came on also. Additionally, even when the keys worked, I wanted to change some behaviors -- 1 button push to unlock all doors instead of a push for the driver door and another for the rest of the doors, and auto door lock on drive-away.

In any case, I could not get the 4x4 light to go out, and there is an error stored in the transfer case module about CAN communications.

Working on the key issue, I could not get the errant key to work. It can easily be the battery inside of the key, but is it a remarkable circumstance that the key battery would crap at the same moment as the main car battery. I was thinking that there was in initialization error between the key and the car. Whatever. In the process of getting the errant key to work, I have managed to make the working key fail too. Now I have 2 keys and both will not start the car. One of them started the day not responding to button presses, now it does not start the car either; the other key did everything right and now it does not start -- it still responds to button presses.

Upon Engine Start, nothing happens. The symptom set is similar to putting the gear selector in a position that is not P or N. Lights work, all that sort of thing. Just, no start.

Using PA Soft, looking at EWS, the keys both report WRONG PASSWORD, and WRONG RANDOM CODE.

How do I recover the password and code using PA Soft?

The best I can come up with is to order a new (remote or remote-less) key from BMW, read the codes you need from the chip, and then figure out how to write them into the two keys you have.

Recognizing it is all easier said than done. Key coding scares me. Good luck!

Hopefully you didn't tried coding with P.A. software with a weak or close to dead battery. Sounds like you might had bricked the car computer.

My X is coded so all the doors open with just one push of the open button and the doors self-lock at 8 MPH. It is also coded so that the fog light can be on with high beam.

"Figure out," is the hard part. If I could do that, I could simply tell the car to start anew with whatever the key says is the code that fits the magic decoder ring.

For the price of buying a key as the starting point, I could drag the car to the dealership and have it recoded so the keys I already have work.

I did it with engine on.

I had a setting for lock at speed -- whatever the section is called -- but it did not lock as expected. I do not see the setting to make all doors unlock at once.

Holy shite.

Hope you get that sorted.

Could the guy referenced in this thread help you out?

http://www.xoutpost.com/bmw-sav-foru...-new-keys.html

The 4X4 light gets fix once you turn the steering wheel all the way to the right then to the left then back to the center with out stop-in.(It happens because when the battery drain or gets disconnected)
then just clear out the codes.

They key I don't think that you could fix, the battery for the key is for the fob not for the starting part of it.
Good luck:thumbup:

Turn the wheel all of the way to reset the steering angle sensor. I like it. Now I just have to get the car to start so I can turn the wheel all of the way so the steering angle sensor resets. There is actually a code for the steering angle sensor.

Yes they will be a code.

Did the car battery die when the key was in the ignition? If it did...for some reason it has been observed that in some cases this will kill the key. I have no reason why, and have never heard why it happens...but I have seen this same story on e38, e39 & now e53 forum (?). And it has always been the new style (diamond shaped) remote key that has croaked when left in the ignition and the car battery dies.

No, the key was in my pocket. The car was parked on the street in front of my house and the alarm started sounding for no apparent reason. It stopped after a minute or two, whatever the normal length of time that it would sound. After the alarm went off, it made a chirp every so often, minute or so, kind of like the smoke alarm will chirp in your house when it needs a new battery.

After getting the jumper cables out and starting the car, I discovered that the buttons on the key would not lock or unlock the doors. This is a battery issue with the key, but it strikes me as a very strange coincidence that the car battery and the key battery would die at the same moment in time, and there was no advance warning of the impending doom.

In any case, I took the car to the shop because I have no further capability with the PA Soft. The shop says I have to buy a key, upon which time that key will talk to the EWS and allow a platform from which the other keys can be enabled again. If I could enable the keys that I have -- both are currently disabled -- then a crook could come along with a key that does not work and start PA Soft to enable it and drive the car away. An enabled key is required as an authentication source to enable other keys. Somehow, the dealership will provide an enabled key that can be used to authenticate the keys I have.

Talking in generalities here. I've bought keys cut for my car from the dealers, sight unseen. So that means they have a way of knowing what code the EWS system is looking for from the key in the ignition (not talking keyless entry here) AND they have a way to write that to a blank key (since they never touched my car, they can't have added to its list). So, they should be able to write that code to your two old keys. I suspect BMW NA actually cuts and programs the keys, so the only way for the dealer to discover your cars secret code is to read it out of a working key... Still don't know how..,

I have read and written those codes from the cars memory on an early R53 (MINI) using DIS, but on that car, you actually go into the cars memory and program each new key. It's clearly different than the E53.

When the car rolls off the assembly line...10 key codes are programmed into the EWS control module. The 1st owner received 4 of those keys (2 remotes, 1 spare, 1 valet).

Your EWS control module's 10 key codes are specific to each BMW based on the car's VIN. That is how the dealer can order keys & they come from BMW already programmed with your car's ISN (individual serial nbr) that matches the same EWS ISN burned to your DME, EWS-CM, & other keys.

See info below how the original 10 key codes are programmed at the factory...and as previously mentioned...EWS is not the same programming as FZV (remote central locking) & DWA (anti theft alarm siren system).

http://bimmerboard.com/members/q/ori...%20Factory.jpg

I believe that anytime the car looses power such as a dead battery or the battery cables being removed from the battery, you need to re-enable the remote function of the keys, at least, that was the procedure for my Audi. Never lost power to the BMW so don't know.

Part of my confusion here is that only one key lost the ability to lock and unlock the doors, and both of my keys was able to start the car until I got my PA Soft fired up and started changing things.

I suspect that I actually have two problems that happened at precisely the same time, the battery in the car crapped out AND the battery in the key died. Since the car was at the curb in front of my house and I was in the garage with a dying key battery, perhaps the key called out to the car with its last dying breath and set off the alarm. My X5 is an '05 model, and I have no clue as to the battery history, I've had the car for a year and not changed the battery. I don't know when the seller changed the battery before I came along. I do know that I am the 2nd owner.

DISABLING KEYS
This is the source of my problem. I managed to disable both of my keys, now I have nothing to authenticate that a valid operator is trying to enable them again. I was not realizing what I was doing until it was too late, now with the affects being known, I understand what happened and why I'm in trouble. One MUST have a valid (ENABLED) key to enable any/all other keys that are disabled. PA Soft says my car has KEY0, KEY1, and KEY2, all other keys, KEY3 ~ KEY9, are not used. This is in line with the description you gave, and my recovery process from here is to buy one of the remaining keys that the EWS knows about. That key will be an authorized key that can be used as the authentication source to re-enable the keys that I disabled.

I was hoping for a procedure that I could do at home that did not involve buying a key for $150. Of course, the weak link in what I wanted provides an avenue for car thieves to steal cars. To get a new key from BMW, one has to prove ownership of the vehicle because the keys that can be bought are prepped and ready to start the car, so a car thief could buy a key for $150 and then go steal the car.

What you did doesn't prove you're dumb (everyone has done things like this).

Not learning what went wrong, and allowing it to happen again would make you dumb.

This forum exists to keep owners from being DUMB!!!

If you have to go this route...shop around if possible to see if you can find a less expensive key.

You don't have to buy the most expensive of the keys (the remote) since you already have them. There is a much less expensive non-remote "valet" key that only operates the ignition & driver's door. It, too has an EWS chip inside of it that if ordered will come already programmed to start your vehicle. California dealers tend to charge higher than here in fly-over country..but the valet keys usually run between $45-$65 dollars here.

See key #3 in the diagram below...and here's the 11 digit part nbr (21 21 7 127 047)...you can call and give them this nbr and inquire how much they sell it for:




http://www.realoem.com/bmw/images/diag_1w0y.png