Adjusting viewing angle of nav screen - Page 2 - The Unofficial BMW M5 Messageboard (m5board.com)

cosioboy · 28th March 2006, 16:21

Quote:

Originally Posted by 1mpowerme

Well I installed my screen tonight. I was told it was out of a 5 series. All I can say is it's bright and somewhat hazy from my view at the driver's seat. I suspect this was not in a 5 series but rather an X5.

To test that I wasn't being overly critical, I sat in the center of the back seat and leaned forward over the arm rest, then I leaned down with my face almost resting on the arm rest and the screen became darker and a lot more clear.

I then went back to the driver's seat and decided to turn down the brightness and all that did was make it darker and still hazy.

I am 100% certain I need to make screen adjustments. I'll use your method tonight Mottati. Thanks for the tip.

I have a ton of install pics by the way for anyone who is going to upgrade their screen from a 4:3 to 16:9.

From the sounds of it, you do have an X5 screen. You can call the dealer and give them your part number, that's one way to verify (you can try realoem.com, but there are a zillion 16:9 widescreen part numbers, inexplicably why)... If you are seeing it somewhat hazy from the driver's position, then I'd say go for the adjustment.

Frits · 28th March 2006, 22:10

@mottati: glad my instructions were good enough to get you going!

The weather is getting better and better here (finally! summer wheels are back on!). I've been driving more with the sunroof open, and with the bright sun shining right on the monitor. The image is still clear.

1mpowerme · 30th March 2006, 01:34

Well I blew it. How you can screw something up as simple as this is amazing to me. Everything went real well with the whole removal process and getting to the back of the screen to make the adjustments. I adjusted both the bottom and 2nd from the bottom pods and got the screen looking really good!

Then as I was reaching to disconnect the white and blue cables I must have touched the back of the screen in just the right way to where I got a good electrical shock and it made me jump causing the screen to come flying off with the two copper ribbon cables.

Getting my thoughts together I connected the copper cables again and the blue and white power connections and the screen illuminates fine but now I cannot press any of the buttons on the screen and access the main menu or anything. The only thing I can do is turn the right knob to adjust the scale of the map that is shown on my screen.

I tried shutting the car off for awhile then turning the key back to position 2 and the screen lights up "BMW" and goes to the accept screen, then automatically without me pushing a button is goes right to the map again showing my current position. None of the buttons work.

Then I disconnected my battery after the nav computer powered down and waited 10 minutes or so (I checked fuses in the trunk to pass some time) and reconnected the screen and still the same thing.

I wonder if I've somehow cooked something on my screen to where I won't be able to use the menu or any of my buttons? I checked the circuit board and I don't see any burn marks at all.

I'm stuck at this point. My 4:3 screen has been reinstalled for now and I'm wondering if I have a 16:9 unit now that is ready for the trash.

Anyone know what's up here?

cosioboy · 30th March 2006, 02:03

Quote:

Originally Posted by 1mpowerme

Well I blew it. How you can screw something up as simple as this is amazing to me. Everything went real well with the whole removal process and getting to the back of the screen to make the adjustments. I adjusted both the bottom and 2nd from the bottom pods and got the screen looking really good!

Then as I was reaching to disconnect the white and blue cables I must have touched the back of the screen in just the right way to where I got a good electrical shock and it made me jump causing the screen to come flying off with the two copper ribbon cables.

Getting my thoughts together I connected the copper cables again and the blue and white power connections and the screen illuminates fine but now I cannot press any of the buttons on the screen and access the main menu or anything. The only thing I can do is turn the right knob to adjust the scale of the map that is shown on my screen.

I tried shutting the car off for awhile then turning the key back to position 2 and the screen lights up "BMW" and goes to the accept screen, then automatically without me pushing a button is goes right to the map again showing my current position. None of the buttons work.

Then I disconnected my battery after the nav computer powered down and waited 10 minutes or so (I checked fuses in the trunk to pass some time) and reconnected the screen and still the same thing.

I wonder if I've somehow cooked something on my screen to where I won't be able to use the menu or any of my buttons? I checked the circuit board and I don't see any burn marks at all.

I'm stuck at this point. My 4:3 screen has been reinstalled for now and I'm wondering if I have a 16:9 unit now that is ready for the trash.

Anyone know what's up here?

Terribly sorry to hear of your experience, 1mpowerme! Not sure I can offer you any technical advice, it is tough to say from the description alone whether the screen is completely toast, or maybe some element needs to be replaced. Hopefully just the latter as you still have some functionality.

Wasn't quite sure of the electricity shock/charge you experienced - was it static electricity, or was it more lke touching a power wire directly?

1mpowerme · 30th March 2006, 02:30

The shock I received was not a snap sound like static electricity. This was direct current which seems to have given me a zap when I touched across two points in just the right way. In essence I became ground for a source that was hot. I did smell a slight burn smell after the incident but just figured it was my finger from the shock.

I just got this screen off eBay this past weekend for right around $575.00.

I thought at first I might have sent a surge to my nav computer and that was the problem area but once I installed my original 4:3 screen everything works fine again.

I wonder if I perhaps blew a small fuse of some sort on the screen itself but I don't see any fuses. I'm not a circuit board bench tester so I have no idea what to do to test and isolate the problem.

I would buy another screen and connect it to my tape unit but what if the problem is on the circuit board that the copper ribbon cables connect to.

I'm going to do some more searching on the M5 Board and see if anyone has had the same problem where they loose all functionality with the buttons but still get power to the screen and images.

Frits · 30th March 2006, 09:30

Ow, terrible to hear 1mpowerme! I guess you already tried reconnecting the copper ribbon cables, just to make sure they are properly fit in the connectors?

1mpowerme · 30th March 2006, 18:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by Frits

Ow, terrible to hear 1mpowerme! I guess you already tried reconnecting the copper ribbon cables, just to make sure they are properly fit in the connectors?

The copper ribbon cables are a pain to get in real good and sometimes they do slip. Once when the connection wasn't so good I noticed the screen didn't even light up or at times if you shake the cable the screen would turn white.

Once they are properly seated, it seems like you get correct picture and from there I would think all the navigation buttons on each side of the screen would work. In my case they don't now. The only one that works is the right bottom knob and it will only allow me to change my scale. If I press down for example to bring up the navigation menu for more options, it does nothing.

I tried pressing the eject button too for example so I could attach the screen to the frame and that doesn't work either.

I posted a thread specifically for this problem but I'm sure no one has really had it so not much help. I went to X5World and Bimmernav to see if anything was out there and nothing either.

I'm fairly happy with my 4:3 screen, especially after I upgraded to an MKIV computer and have the V27 firmware and the latest 2006.02 DVD.

But a 16:9 screen would be nice too.

Thanks for your write up Fritz. I enjoyed the many times you said "Watch for those copper cables!"

mamsterla · 29th May 2007, 04:39

I just came across this mod this weekend. I tried it out - I can say it was tough getting the two little black grommets that hold the copper cables back into position. I just skipped the little black pins that fit into the grommets. So far things look better. I still need a good nav disk to try everything out. I am awaiting a recode and this trick did not fix my horizontal 1 pixel line that goes across the screen. It did help with the sharpness of the picture. Thanks for the people suggesting this.

-MA

Amir M5 · 1st June 2007, 05:58

Frits, Thanks for the great right up.

I came across this post a few days ago and after reading and re-reading it finally attempted it today.

Everything was pretty straightforward, the most difficult part for me was getting the ribbon cables seated properly, but after a few tries even that was simple enough.

When all was done, the difference is amazing!! And now when I play DVD Video on the nav screen the picture is much clearer.

Thanks again Frits!!

1mpowerme · 1st June 2007, 09:35

Now I have to do this all over again for my 540iT once it gets the MKIV installed and 16:9 screen I picked up a couple months ago used.

This time I won't shock myself!