iDrive issue - Re-booting every 7 mins

Turks · Post by **Turks** » Thu Dec 29, 2022 9:40 am

Hi all,

Long time since I’ve been on here. Hope everyone has had a good Christmas.

On my way to Lapland UK (Windsor) which was about a 5 hour drive, the iDrive started to re-boot. Was pretty annoying, and hoped it would sort itself out after an engine restart but it didn’t.

I’ve read in places it could be the battery (Tracker says battery health is good but that might not be accurate) or the iDrive module itself which would be pretty disappointing on a 2018 vehicle.

Any advice or things to give a try before taking it to BMW?

Cheers, Turks.

X5Sport · Post by **X5Sport** » Thu Dec 29, 2022 11:00 am

Have you tried holding the radio/volume/on/off button in until the iDrive hard resets? Takes about 30 secs on my X6. I started randomly losing the radio recently and doing that cleared it. I didn’t lose any data. You’ll know when it does it as the BMW splash screen will appear.

Beyond that, and assuming stable charging voltages (14.4V) measured under the bonnet, then you’re probably going to need a code read.

Hopefully it’s a simple fix because the iDrive computer is expensive and not plug & play due to coding of all the software licensing needed to be done - the FSC codes need to be loaded so the options on the car work. The one on our old 2-series needed reloading before it went back and that took about a day with the car plugged into the BMW network so the build could be downloaded from Munichs’ servers.

X5Sport · Post by **X5Sport** » Thu Dec 29, 2022 6:21 pm

Should have added that it may just be a software issue in which case a reload may sort it.

I’ve heard of the onboard hard drive failing but I don’t know if dealerships are allowed to go to what is effectively 3rd line (component level repair) on these units.

It might be worth having a word with Cartronics to see if it’s something that they can do? Could still need a reload after, but that has to be cheaper than a complete swap-out from BMW.

Turks · Post by **Turks** » Sat Jul 01, 2023 10:06 am

Just wanted to jump on to close this one out - I took it into Main Dealer and had them run diagnostics. No real issues found, so they did a software reload and two months on all is working properly still. Must have just been some sort of glitch. Glad it was nothing worse such as Hardware.

Cheers, Turks.

sapphireblack · Post by **sapphireblack** » Sat Jul 01, 2023 5:54 pm

"Jump on" six months after

Turks · Post by **Turks** » Wed Jul 05, 2023 3:25 am

To be honest, after I posted the original, I went overseas until April... I only took it into the Main Dealers when I got back and was soon overseas again and completely forgot to respond. I've got out of the habit of coming on here to have a look at things...

Turks.

sapphireblack · Post by **sapphireblack** » Wed Jul 05, 2023 5:47 am

Only a leg pull

I'm on foreign soil half of every year, visiting here frequently is a bonus for me

Leslie · Post by **Leslie** » Wed Jul 05, 2023 3:18 pm

Its good to know the outcome, so many threads I searched over the years never had an answer which can be so frustrating .here is certainly better than most by a long way

Turks · Post by **Turks** » Thu Jul 06, 2023 3:40 am

Agree - there are often threads where it was never confirmed if the suggestions ever worked or what the resolution was. Can be frustrating when looking for help to a problem someone else has clearly experienced.

Turks.

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