I think I stuffed up my climate control
 

Ever since I have had the X5 I have had a few dead pixels in the climate control. My E39 which is 8 years older has a perfect climate control. Unfortunately the E39 has the "rest" button and the E53 has the "max" button. Anyway, I pulled the 2 units out to see if I could swap displays. Turns out even the display circuit board is laid out differently so I put them both back together. I did however remove the display from the X5 and clean contacts to see if it made any difference. When I first put it back, the display was all blotchy, so I pulled it out again and realigned everything and put it back.

Now nothing works. All the buttons are lit up, even with ignition off and the fan is operating and blowing some air out the vents. Pushing any buttons makes no difference. To make it worse, the display does nothing apart from a little bit of backlight when I turn on the ignition. I checked it with INPA and with PA soft and no errors.

Any ideas?? Pic below.
http://i1076.photobucket.com/albums/...%20control.jpg

This is just a guess, but it looks like you have lost the coding of the IHKA unit.

Do you have BMW DIS or Progman?

I have recoded mine with BMW Progman in the past.

I have INPA and ISTA-P. I ran a scan and get no errors.

Just to scan it is nothing... u need to diagnose! So far at home u can take out the climate and wait little bit and then plug in again and check any difference! Probably it is full of dust!
I can guess I think your hedhehog is dead! Hope u know where it is located!

I replaced the FSR a couple of months ago. Symptoms then were a lot different. I had climate control panel lit up as normal, just no fan adjustment and no air con.

I have had the climate control panel out numerous times, I have disconnected battery for 30 mins, I have tried everything I can think of.

If I have wiped the data from the panel, then I am not sure how I can restore it short of copying another one.

Ask any x5 owner just to try panel! U could know it..is problem electrical in a panel or from outside! Otherwise we just are guesing here! May be some where is just short circuit....

Don't know anyone else with same unit. Tried the panel out of my E39 (even though it has the rest button) and it lights up like it should. Kind of works, but fan doesn't blow full speed and can't get air out of top vents (I'm guessing because its older unit and different programming).

Looks like it's the climate control unit itself that's stuffed. Cheapest I can get one here is $150.

U really need to get same panel from some body and try it! If u can not get diagnostic...what u can do is unplug hedgehog for night at home! If u will by new panel u will have to code it or program it!
Can check cooling level, water pump and air in the system!
Hope it is only panel or hedgehog