BMW and M Power Owners
- Thread starter panthro
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As with most BMW automatic boxes of that era, the 5HP19 in the e46 is so long as they are serviced in accordance with the manufacturer (ZF’s) requirements - every 3 years /100k Km - , unfortunately, BMW decided in their infinite wisdom that the boxes are “sealed for life” meaning the vast vast majority of them have never had a fluid or filter change as a BMW with full dealer history will not have had its automatic box touched.
So along comes unsuspecting potential buyer many years down the line when the car is long past the point of BMW giving a monkeys about it and the box has an a tendency to fail through lack of maintenance rather than any fundamental design flaw.
https://youtu.be/xzoSL_npVaM
So my new Z4 has this. I pretty much exclusively use Spotify, is there anyway to be able to control Spotify via the stereo or am I going to have to start loading songs onto my iPhone as well? As is it connects to the phone but can't see any media on it because there isn't any.
So my new Z4 has this. I pretty much exclusively use Spotify, is there anyway to be able to control Spotify via the stereo or am I going to have to start loading songs onto my iPhone as well? As is it connects to the phone but can't see any media on it because there isn't any.
Ugh, so apparently this is just me. Everyone else who talks about Spotify on this version of iDrive can apparently go back and forth on tracks once Spotify is playing, I cannot. It shows up as connected via usb but only plays like its simply connected to the AUX in.
Apparently not. Too early a e89 Z4 maybe, it's a late 2010 model. I have Connectivity Package II, USBAudio Interface and Music Interface For Smartphon. Don't see anything about Bluetooth streaming and it doesn't come up in the multimedia section of iDrive.
I would look into maybe getting it coded or bluetooth module swapped as it would be better IMO than plugging in every journey
I know that A2DP (bluetooth streaming) became a thing in 2010. In my 2009 ford focus it was a case of simply updating the bluetooth module firmware through USB stick and it worked. Otherwise a more modern bluetooth module may solve your problems. However I have no BMW experience with this so perhaps someone else can advise you for this
![[TW]Fox](/data/man-of-honor/2009.png){kind=avatar}
Do you have a Combox? The easiest way to tell is if you have album art when you play off usb.
Not tried it yet, but I've not tried anything off of USB. I think Combox's came in in 2011 so I probably won't.
First time post.
I purchased a BMW AUC 2017 4 series M sport during the week and said that I would go and collect it today, just before I got on the train to go pick it up they called to say there was a problem. Bear in mind that it received it's first service 30 miles ago - they apparently took it into the workshop this morning to update the software. The software update has failed, and has caused the I-drive to fail. They are telling me that they 'need software from Germany' and can have it ready for Monday and are willing to drop it off, but they won't release the car until they have rectified it.
Does this ring true? I would have thought that the software was updated a few weeks ago when it was serviced, and if they did attempt to update it again that if the update failed the original software version would remain. Presumably I-drive related software and backups are contained on a BMW server as opposed to physical media?
Just looking for some information to go back to the dealership with. Thanks.
I purchased a BMW AUC 2017 4 series M sport during the week and said that I would go and collect it today, just before I got on the train to go pick it up they called to say there was a problem. Bear in mind that it received it's first service 30 miles ago - they apparently took it into the workshop this morning to update the software. The software update has failed, and has caused the I-drive to fail. They are telling me that they 'need software from Germany' and can have it ready for Monday and are willing to drop it off, but they won't release the car until they have rectified it.
Does this ring true? I would have thought that the software was updated a few weeks ago when it was serviced, and if they did attempt to update it again that if the update failed the original software version would remain. Presumably I-drive related software and backups are contained on a BMW server as opposed to physical media?
Just looking for some information to go back to the dealership with. Thanks.
@Serb possibly.
The techs don't usually update the ECU/idrive software unless they have to. If the external power fails during the update, it can brick the ECU - which might be what has happened.
It took some effort to get the dealer to upgrade my idrive software lol. It seems in general they're quite reluctant to do it for the reason mentioned above.
The techs don't usually update the ECU/idrive software unless they have to. If the external power fails during the update, it can brick the ECU - which might be what has happened.
It took some effort to get the dealer to upgrade my idrive software lol. It seems in general they're quite reluctant to do it for the reason mentioned above.
It is possible, my car was kept for an extra day when it had the steering rack replaced and they couldn’t get it working properly. They had to contact BMW who apparently guided them through what needed to be done and in the end they had to do a full update.
Soldato
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Why do these updates take so long? I'm a PC gaming and massive files can be installed in minutes on a PC, do they just have a really slow connection?
a full ilevel integration update takes about 3 hours from what the tech told me...
Soldato
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People doing coding to the cars can cause problems when BMW update the software. If you code enhanced Bluetooth and save the VO coding to the car when they attempt to update the cars software it will fail as it errors due to the phone cradle (which is part of enhanced Bluetooth) not being connected.
Some owners have had the Idrive replaced another dealer replaced the wiring loom ! Neither fixed the problem until the VO coding was changed back.
If you are updating the coding the best method is to change the VO coding without saving it to the car and then coding the required modules. If you have saved the VO coding in the past it is worth changing it back to stock before taking it to the dealer.
It took about 90 minutes to do a full istep update on my car, the dealer did it after I was losing DAB radio presets every so often.
VO coding is the list of equipment the car has installed. I’m surprised they take this list from the car when updating the software rather than a central database which is what VAG cars do.
Some owners have had the Idrive replaced another dealer replaced the wiring loom ! Neither fixed the problem until the VO coding was changed back.
If you are updating the coding the best method is to change the VO coding without saving it to the car and then coding the required modules. If you have saved the VO coding in the past it is worth changing it back to stock before taking it to the dealer.
It took about 90 minutes to do a full istep update on my car, the dealer did it after I was losing DAB radio presets every so often.
VO coding is the list of equipment the car has installed. I’m surprised they take this list from the car when updating the software rather than a central database which is what VAG cars do.
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Because it's nothing like installing a game on Steam.
Soldato
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It didn't want to make it sound as though it was, I'm just wondering why so slow, I'm not expecting every car to have an i7 and an ssd
.