[OGxFUBAR]

Hey, I've stumbled upon Bimmerpost and I feel it is very overdue! Reddit sent me here when no questions could be answered and that the Brains all reside in this forum.

'Brief' Backstory as to why im posting;
I have a '14 328i GT F34. My Headunit last August decided on a long drive down to Florida, that at the end of the drive down, it did not want to work. Packed it's bags and said Adios! It was making a 'clicking sound' every 8-10 seconds (resembles the insert/ejection of a CD) With the car locked and shut down, it would continue to do this. Functionality failed across the board.
In-Car Manual, Navigation, CD/DVD, Bluetooth (media). Well you may get the idea.
The only item that continues to work is the Bluetooth for Phone Calls, Fm/Am and SiriusXM. Well while on my trip, I spent one of the rainy days in the car playing around with it; whatever I did, it sprung back to life and everyone started working again.

10 Days later i return home and the same thing happens during the drive home the whole headunit shuts off, powers back up and now nothing works again. It has been like this since August.

I went and bought an OBD and Bimmerlink. The codes are;

Headunit High
100400
Cause hard disk error

100401
Cause Initialization error of the hard disk.



My assumption is my Headunit is now fried; well to an extent as I obviously still have quite a bit of function to it.


Finally getting to the end of the post and my questions;

1) Can i fix this possibly without having to replace the headunit and without spending Luxury Tax on a BMW Dealer?

or

2) Will i have to replace the entire Headunit. If so, shall i go OEM (which i found for $200 Salvage) or Retrofit?

2a) If i have to make a replacement and a Retrofit is recommended over OEM, will everything work, Nav, BT, Backup camera, Sensors, Diag etc or will the buttons become obsolete in the dash/center console?


Thanks for any and all who read and help me, looking forward to having full functionality of my vehicle again here soon and not reliant on my 90's Nostalgia trip here recently with an AUX.

[Billfitz]

It would be nice if you could just swap out the hard drive, but it's not that easy. I've asked about the possibility of cloning the HD to a new SSD and then swapping them, which I've done for years with my computers, but that doesn't seem to be an option. A used HU from a wreck is probably the least expensive option, but it still would have to be fully coded with ISTA/P to your car and map software installed.

[steve@codemybimmer]

Replacing it with a used one would probably be your best bet but as Billfitz mentions, it will require programming notably to get the FSC locked functions enabled (Navigation, Voice Control, SXM and BMW Apps).

[OGxFUBAR]

Originally Posted by Billfitz

It would be nice if you could just swap out the hard drive, but it's not that easy. I've asked about the possibility of cloning the HD to a new SSD and then swapping them, which I've done for years with my computers, but that doesn't seem to be an option. A used HU from a wreck is probably the least expensive option, but it still would have to be fully coded with ISTA/P to your car and map software installed.

Originally Posted by steve@codemybimmer

Replacing it with a used one would probably be your best bet but as Billfitz mentions, it will require programming notably to get the FSC locked functions enabled (Navigation, Voice Control, SXM and BMW Apps).

I thank you both. I will go ahead and find a dealer; which I am hoping, my local 'Certified European Mechanic' outlet can do perhaps as the nearest dealer I think is 2 hours away. SMH.

I am very OEM OCD. I've seen retrofits that add Carplay and some other items, i know my vehicle is packed full of so many goodies that Carplay is the only thing i believe i would get out of a retrofit. What would your takeaway be on OEM vs Retrofit ?

Im more hesitant with retrofit incase i end up losing functionality elsewhere.

[Zheez]

I've replaced the hard drive on a couple of NBT units now. It's a massive pain but it is possible to do and the head unit can work again without pulling anything from the original drive - the only sacrifice being the electronic manuals but everything else will work fine. Electronic manuals can be restored by either programming the head unit again or getting hold of the relevant files from someone else to be able to copy onto a replacement drive.

Nav maps will need reinstalling but the head unit still remained coded to the car and I didn't need to do anything beyond that. Not sure if this is something you're interested in doing but I firstly tested it on my wife's car with a cheap used hard drive and then pre-emptively replaced the drive in my own car with a brand new one. It does involve messing around with a QNX CD and some basic Linux knowledge would be useful.

[OGxFUBAR]

Originally Posted by Zheez

I've replaced the hard drive on a couple of NBT units now. It's a massive pain but it is possible to do and the head unit can work again without pulling anything from the original drive - the only sacrifice being the electronic manuals but everything else will work fine. Electronic manuals can be restored by either programming the head unit again or getting hold of the relevant files from someone else to be able to copy onto a replacement drive.

Nav maps will need reinstalling but the head unit still remained coded to the car and I didn't need to do anything beyond that. Not sure if this is something you're interested in doing but I firstly tested it on my wife's car with a cheap used hard drive and then pre-emptively replaced the drive in my own car with a brand new one. It does involve messing around with a QNX CD and some basic Linux knowledge would be useful.

I do not have Linux knowledge or QNX know how. however, it all does sound like a great business model on the side to be able to sell a code to download and upload in to a hard drive.

I wish i had the knowledge to do it!

[max1bet1]

Driving F34 GT320d back here in UK. Driving since 2016

Absolute dream car at the very beginning (not enough horses, but still).

First issue in couple months: Adaptive lights stopped working too...no damage, impact or anything. Took to BMW dealership they couldn't find any issue,said new unit £1.4k. In 2 Years head-unit 'BMW logo on/off' issue appeared ...nothing functions apart of parking sensors and only when screen is on.
Found spare head-unit 2-3years ago took it to one guy and he swapped and programmed 'new' head-unit and it was working great. However 2-3 years later same issue with BMW logo being on/off again.


Now I live far away from London (where was my head-unit swapped), hence wondering if there is opportunity to get same used unit and program it myself?

Would appreciate some advise