[Beemer Guy]

My new (to me) M5 arrived yesterday and I went to put some tunes in the changer, but the magazine won't eject. It has power and I can hear it doing something, but the cartridge stubbornly remains. I seem to recall that when new, these things came with a plastic card for just this situation that you would insert to trigger the release, but I can't seem to find such an animal in my manuals and paperwork (hey, it's a used car). Any suggestions on how to get this thing to come out, short of taking the whole thing apart (in which case I'd be as likely to break it as fix it)?

Thanks!

Michael

 

[RichardP]

A gentle, or not so gentle, whack on the side furthest from the magazine door just as you press the eject button will often do the trick. However this is a good sign that the changer mechanism is on it's way out, so even if you get it out you may find it just says NO DISCS or NO MAGAZINE when you put your CD's in.

 

[Alpine2002]

I have been slapping/punching the side of mine for about a year now and it starts working every time. I do frequent the Dice/Intravee discussions often.

 

[jgfabs]

Probably just a disc not returned back into the cartridge case.Do as Richard suggests first off or if this fails I have used a pair of long nose pliers to reach in and assist the disc carrier back .Not ideal....but it might allow you to retrieve your discs,and then buy a replacement disc carrier maybe!!!

 

[KGB_SSSR]

There is no great problem.
One CD disk fall out its place in cartridge. You need to get the changer of the car, take of its cover and put the disk on the right place.

 

[Beemer Guy]

Hmmmm... since I just bought the car, I made the assumption that there were no disks in there to start with. I suppose the PO could have left one in. I'll try all of your suggestions, thanks!

 

[Redneck M5]

Get an IPod Adapter

My M5 is completely stock except of an iPod adapter and a Bluetooth phone system.

I got fed up with taking my CD Changer out, shaking it around and putting it back in. The last time I took it out, I beat it with a hammer.

 

[AMP]

I've never tried this with the newer style Alpine changers, but the older ones (mid 90s) had a manual release for the magazine. Take a piece of heavy cardstock and cut it to be about 2/3 the width of the magazine and about 6 inches long. Insert it into the space between the magazine bottom of the magazine and the changer. About 2 - 3 inches in you'll hit a little resistance... keep pushing and you should release the tab that holds the magazine. There's a little tab inside the changer that locks into the recessed square on the bottom of the magazine. This is what you are releasing.

The older Alpines didn't have trays that slid out and held the discs so if one of the trays on your changer is partially out I don't know if this will work.

 

[Beemer Guy]

The last time I took it out, I beat it with a hammer.

Did that fix it?

 

[M55555]

I use to also hit it on the side of the unit. When that stopped working, I now hit it from the top, with the magazine door open. A lighter tap of the actual magazine usually gets it running again. Do at your own risk.

 

[KGB_SSSR]

Did that fix it?

As Jeremy Clarkson said "If you can't fix it with hammer, you have an electrical problem!"hihahiha

 

[1fast5]

My new (to me) M5 arrived yesterday and I went to put some tunes in the changer, but the magazine won't eject. It has power and I can hear it doing something, but the cartridge stubbornly remains. I seem to recall that when new, these things came with a plastic card for just this situation that you would insert to trigger the release, but I can't seem to find such an animal in my manuals and paperwork (hey, it's a used car). Any suggestions on how to get this thing to come out, short of taking the whole thing apart (in which case I'd be as likely to break it as fix it)?

Thanks!

Michael

same thing happened with the changer in my 540 while on a road trip. During a fuel stop I decided to re-arrange my music so I ejected cartridge #1 and replaced it with my back up cartridge that was loaded & ready to go. Everything appeared normal until I was back on the road, turned the sound system on &... nothing. Not only was there no music and no eject but the system itself now didn't recognize that the player was there. With the mode button my choices were am, fm, tape then back to am. cd option- gone.

Anyway, when I got home I took the changer out but left it intact, grabbed a flashlight and looked inside it from any angle I could get a peak where the cartrige goes in. What I found was a cd not seated in it's tray. It was in the correct tray but not seated in the indent. Somehow it got wedged in preventing that tray and maybe other stuff from moving so none of it worked. I have a tool shaped a lot like a butter knife that I was able to slide in, un-wedge the cd, then badda-boom badda-bing --back in business.

Hope it helps, good luck.

 

[Night Train]

I had this problem, too... my CD changer never worked. my brother is an electronics prodigy, so when I informed him, he took out the CD changer and took it completely apart. he worked on it for hours, but couldn't get it going. my theory is that after a couple of winters and some hard knocks, the changers understandably fade out. I don't mind, because for the most part, I've made the switch to MP3s.

 

[Beemer Guy]

Well... I finally took the unit out and took it apart (well, partially). The #2 tray is stuck. I don't think it even knows it's there, for when I try to eject the cartridge, it starts moving the elevator and hits the tray and quits. So it's toast, as far as I'm concerned. As some have noted, I may get this one unstuck, but it will happen again.

I guess I need to look into that "DICE" thing that everyone keeps talking about. Or make some mix tapes.

Thanks all for the help, advice and comments.

Michael

 

[RichardP]

I guess I need to look into that "DICE" thing that everyone keeps talking about. Or make some mix tapes.

There are better options than the DICE IMO, depending on what you want and how much you are willing to spend.

 

[Beemer Guy]

There are better options than the DICE IMO, depending on what you want and how much you are willing to spend.

Richard, I was going to ask you what those options are, but I think I'll start a new thread instead so that I can get more opinions, and if you care to share your thoughts, then more can see them.

New thread.

Thanks!

 

[RichardP]

OK, keeping the stock BMW audio system with the original radio from 2000 there are the options I can think of:

First the very easy options :

1) FM transmitter - cheap, poor sound quality, no head unit control or display.
2) Tape modulator - cheap, poor sound quality, no head unit control or display.
3) Hack the tape input - cheap, work required to get decent sound quality, no head unit control or display.

After those things can get a little complex and depend on what system you have, I'll assume you have all the original components (C43 radio) and DSP.

Connecting anything other than an OEM CD Changer made before September 2005 will probably require an A/D converter to change the analogue output into the digital input required by the DSP amp. Even the OEM CD Changer made after September 2005 does NOT have the digital output. So before you go any further, check the existing CDC connectors, do you have a 3 pin and a small coax or a 3 pin and 6 pin? The small coax is the digital input, if you have this you will need an A/D converter.

4) Replace the existing CD Changer with another OEM Changer with digital output.
5) Replace the existing CD Changer with a new OEM Changer (plus A/D converter). The new CDC has MP3 playback capability.
6) Replace the existing CD Changer with an Aux input (plus A/D converter). eg Connects2 CTVBMX001. Quite cheap, good sounds quality, no head unit control or display.
7) Replace the existing CD Changer with a DICE Silverline (plus A/D converter). Quite cheap, iPod and Aux, good sound quality, head unit control of iPod, lots of reported problems, single line text display may not work with the C43 radio.
8) Replace the existing CD Changer with an Intravee II (plus A/D converter). More expensive ($350, including A/D converter, plus AI-Net device), good sound quality, head unit control, full text display on C43 radio, other 'interesting' features (vehicle info display, folding mirrors etc.).
Possible AI-Net options:
a) iPod interface with KCA-420i.
b) CHA-S634 MP3 capable CD Changer.
c) DHA-S690 MP3/DIVX/WMA capable DVD Changer. *
d) SIRALP-1 Sirius tuner. *
e) TUA-T550HD HD radio tuner. *

All the above solutions are plug and play except for powering the A/D converter with requires a switched power source and some of the AI-Net devices (marked with *) that require unswitched power. There are several other iPod type interfaces, Grom, Neo, Dension Gateway etc. Most have similar or slightly better functionality to the DICE, most have better reliability reputation but the DICE is the most common and thus may simply appear to be less reliable due to the number of units out there.

Hope that helps.

 

[Beemer Guy]

Hope that helps.

Yes, Richard, that's a great help, thanks!

I checked the Intravee site and their distributor, and it looks like with all of the stuff that I'll need, it will be over $500US (plus shipping) to make it work. No USB interface though.

Maybe the exchange rate will improve when our economy improves...


Thanks again,
Michael

 

[RichardP]

I checked the Intravee site and their distributor, and it looks like with all of the stuff that I'll need, it will be over $500US (plus shipping) to make it work. No USB interface though.

Maybe the exchange rate will improve when our economy improves...

Yeah, it's not cheap with the current exchange rate especially if you need an A/D converter (which you could get cheaper in the US). Alpine did make a USB interface, the KCA-620m, but it's really rubbish!

 

[Laird]

My CD changer is now borked too...

Is it worth hunting for another unit on fleabay, or should I just bite the bullet and go for an IPhone integrated setup?

If the latter, what are folks' experiences/recommendations?