GPS CD Unit - What is it doing? - The Unofficial BMW M5 Messageboard (m5board.com)

celler · 28th March 2002, 15:16

Coming up on a little over a week of ownership on the M5. Still figuring out lots of things, but one has me puzzled. Everytime I open the trunk, the GPS CD unit on the drivers side is going to town (reading the CD) with blinking lights like its trying to access a particular map. This is, of course, with the car parked and the ignition off. This also happens when the car has been sitting overnight in my garage and I open the trunk before leaving.

Have others experienced this? Is this normal?

Also, does your GPS return to the selection screen every time after starting up? I guess the lawyers demand that we "Accept" BMW's conditions everytime we use it (and I'm not asking to kill that), but I would like it to return to just the basic map after I "Accept" rather than having to go through the selection process each time.

TIA

Craig.

CEC · 28th March 2002, 16:33

My GPS unit does the same thing when the car is off and trunk is open. No idea why.

I don't know how to set up the NAV screen display but I am willing to bet someone here does. Anyone???

Digi · 28th March 2002, 16:41

The car goes to sleep after about 20 minutes of inactivity. The GPS will go off when the car is asleep. If you use your remote key , unlock the trunk, or in any way wake the car up, you will always see the NAV spinning. If you leave the trunk open, lock the car, and leave it this way for 30 minutes, if you come back and just look at the without waking anything up, it should be off.

Kind of like the refrigerator light stayin gon when you close the door.

celler · 28th March 2002, 18:06

Thanks. Makes sense to me.

Craig.

MikefWA · 28th March 2002, 19:38

I still think all the litigation attorneys should have to push the "Accept" button about 20 times, 10 seconds between each interval. Punishment (reward?) for making such dangerous things safer for us.

2002 Sterling M5 /black luxury

(Can you tell that I just settled out of court, at the recommendation of my attorney, for a product liability claim?)

PhilSeastrand · 28th March 2002, 19:42

I believe the CD is active to prepare for ejection. When you open the trunk, it assumes that you might want to eject the CD and it does what is necessary to prepare for that possibility. This is only a guess, however.

celler · 28th March 2002, 20:48

Quote:

Originally posted by MikefWA
I still think all the litigation attorneys should have to push the "Accept" button about 20 times, 10 seconds between each interval. Punishment (reward?) for making such dangerous things safer for us.

Maybe the guys at NAV-TV.com can come up with a software upgrade that kills the pesky screen. I would get some satisfaction out of that. Kind of like killing the speed limiter, even when you know you will likely never have the car up to that range.

Craig

JFB · 28th March 2002, 23:19

My local dealer says that -- for legal reasons -- BMW dealerships will not remove the Accept screen. It might be possible, but you'd likely have to ask an independent shop.

When you open a door notice that the screen wakes up and goes to the ==BMW== display mode (I wish there was a way to select that display rather than just "off"). When you open the trunk, the car wakes the NAV CD reader, but does not light the passenger compartment nor wake the screen.

If you have the phone installed and you open a door, the phone will wake up too. I was surprised while I was detailing my car and the phone rang even though I did not have the key in the ignition. I have the VR module and keep the phone in auto-answer mode, so I just began talking to the caller.

The car goes into sleep mode after 12 minutes.

The display screen will reset to the Accept screen if you don't turn the ignition key to position 1 or 2 within that time.

After the locked car falls asleep, try unlocking it and opening a door. Then just close the door and re-set the alarm. Watch how long it takes for the ==BMW== screen to disappear.

celler · 28th March 2002, 23:59

I would not expect the BMW dealer to do it, but I do expect some smart Silicon Valley BMW owner has gotten just as tired of it as the rest of us. I do not know how to access the GPS processor, but I'll bet it can be done. If Jim C can rewrite the DME mapping, surely someone can get into the GPS software.

Craig

Digi · 29th March 2002, 00:47

An easier solution would be to keep the power on to the NAV CPU, and just power down the display and CD reader. This should fool the software into thinking it is still on, and not reset. The CPU would not take very much power to retain this setting, I wouldn't think. I wonder if this is a possible workaround?

Also, I'd think the NAV software could be "upgraded" from the USA-version BMW software CD to the CD of another English speaking country that does not have the warning (only in the sue-happy US. Then the warning wouldn't be required by the reprogrammed system.