the reboot is a good temporary solution - I just know this will be an expensive fix if out of warranty (and it may get worse) so I will be asking for a permanent solution to this in a few months when I go in for my annual.

I've also had this happen with mine and the dealer can't figure out what the problem is. I've even gone over there when the screen is blank. I won't own this vehicle without a warranty...

Craig

This "idrive dark screen" happened to my 2008 X5 for the first time last night! The car is two years old this month.

I'll be taking it in to the dealership to have the wheels changed this month so I guess I'll see what they have to say about it.

I had them look at mine and they found nothing wrong. No codes were stored...

Craig

Happened to me this morning. When in reverse, the camera did not come up (only PDC screen on the right-hand side). In my case I only had to lock the car, wait 10 mins, unlock, start and the problem went away....

the gremlins of Friday the 13th, bro..

to have the PDC screen show up clearly but not the camera means you're seeing a different symptom - perhaps a different problem. In my case the entire screen and all functions were working, except it was way too dim to actually see. Hasn't happened for 3 weeks now though.

I've had instances where on normal days just the backup camera is missing (like you describe). Did any other function not show up? Wonder if the 2-button reboot would've fixed your camera issue.

Make sure the service writer puts you problem down in writing on the service request, and get a copy of the service request for your files, so that if it doesn't get fixed before the warranty is up and completely fails out of warranty, you can make a case that it was a pre-existing fault.

BMW will occasionally respond positively to out of warranty requests, particularly if you can document the problem existed before the warranty expired.

Pressing on the "Menu" button had no effect, too.

I was going to reboot the system, but simple car shutdown/lock/wait 10 mins/unlock/start fixed the problem.

Well this has become a permanent issue. Happens on every start. Another person who took delivery around the same time as me (Jan '08) is seeing the same thing, around the same timeframes too. They haven't been able to figure out the cause for 2 days. I'm not scheduled till January.

Hoping to get some insight from people who may have seen this before on any idrive.