[AleksandrN]

Went to tint the windows, car returned, iDrive does not work. No navi, no music, no parking sensors, no settings - nothing!
Any combinations of buttons do not work to revive it.
Filmed a short video to show it.

Trip to OD did not help, they could not diagnose the problem in 30 minutes I spent there, made an appointment for this Friday to diagnose the fault.
At least tinted windows look good...
Any thoughts on how this can be fixed?

[AleksandrN]

Anyone?!

[Frogman]

Did you check the fuses?

[steve@codemybimmer]

It looks your head unit is not getting any power at all. If the screen gets power but no signal, you would see "No Signal" appear on the screen in orange lettering.

Open the trunk, pull out the carpet cover and right of the combox, there's a fusebox and there should be a booklet there; open it and look for the fuse for the head unit. If the fuses look good, it could be a loose connection inside the main connector to the head unit.

You can probably troubleshoot it further by removing the centre console trim and then removing the head unit to see if the main connector is not loose or anything but since your car is still under warranty, I'd take it back to the dealer.

[AleksandrN]

Originally Posted by Aritaurus

It looks your head unit is not getting any power at all. If the screen gets power but no signal, you would see "No Signal" appear on the screen in orange lettering.

Open the trunk, pull out the carpet cover and right of the combox, there's a fusebox and there should be a booklet there; open it and look for the fuse for the head unit. If the fuses look good, it could be a loose connection inside the main connector to the head unit.

You can probably troubleshoot it further by removing the centre console trim and then removing the head unit to see if the main connector is not loose or anything but since your car is still under warranty, I'd take it back to the dealer.

You are right - it looks like no power at all. Fuses look good. I guess there is no quick fix solution here. OD appointment for Friday should hopefully diagnose the fault.

I will report back with any developments.

P.S. Still - how the hell do you mess up the iDrive unit while tinting the windows? I do not believe that this is a coincidence and iDrive just happened to become faulty while the car was away...

[steve@codemybimmer]

Originally Posted by AleksandrN

You are right - it looks like no power at all. Fuses look good. I guess there is no quick fix solution here. OD appointment for Friday should hopefully diagnose the fault.

I will report back with any developments.

P.S. Still - how the hell do you mess up the iDrive unit while tinting the windows? I do not believe that this is a coincidence and iDrive just happened to become faulty while the car was away...

Your head unit is connected to the FEM_BODY module which manages most of your electronics like the car locking system, head lights etc. This module is located by the passenger foot well so who knows, maybe something is loose there.

I doubt they took out your head unit though because they would need to take out the centre console trim, then undo 4 screws for the climate control and then another 4 screws for the head unit to come out.

Did you do the tinting or did you take it to someone else to have it done?

[AleksandrN]

Originally Posted by Aritaurus

Your head unit is connected to the FEM_BODY module which manages most of your electronics like the car locking system, head lights etc. This module is located by the passenger foot well so who knows, maybe something is loose there.

I doubt they took out your head unit though because they would need to take out the centre console trim, then undo 4 screws for the climate control and then another 4 screws for the head unit to come out.

Did you do the tinting or did you take it to someone else to have it done?

I took it to a shop to be done, but there is a development to the story )))

Thanks for your advice to checks the fuses in the boot - I found the diagram and decided to check all the fuses that are responsible for radio and computer (see pic). I could not reach only two of them easily because fuse box for those is located under the hood, so I started with the boot box. One by one I managed to check them all and found that fuse 142 is blown (see pic). Went to the petrol station to buy new fuses, tried to replace fuse 142 with equivalent 30 Amp one and... tah-dah... it was also blown in a milisecond!

So now I know that there is a shortcircuit in the system somewhere. What could have caused it is a wire that became naked (while operations with glass were done) and is now touching some metal (inside one of the doors?).
Hope that this will help the guys in OD to narrow down the problem and diagnose why this has happened, and, more importantly, fix it so that my lovely iDrive works again.
Now painful wait until Friday night...
Are there any BMW electricians reading this forum? What electrical circuit may fuse 142 control?

[Damn Dirty Ape]

looks like the head unit from the picture you posted.

[AleksandrN]

Originally Posted by Damn Dirty Ape

looks like the head unit from the picture you posted.

OK, but what may have caused the shortcircuit?

[Darkfiber]

Maybe they spilled water when they where doing the tint...? They spray water and soap on the windows to get the film in place, god knows where that's gotten into ..?

[steve@codemybimmer]

^ Well the head unit is connected to the FEM Control unit which is by the passenger foot well. Maybe they spilled water there and it got in.

[AleksandrN]

OK, so the story has come to an end and here is how:

yesterday I could not wait until Friday afternoon, especially given that I need a car for this weekend for a 1,000 km trip to Germany/Austria, so I went to OD and gave them the car, explaining the story about the fuses and the shortcircuit that I discovered.

They thanked me and said that they'll do their best to have the car ready for Friday evening.

So I just let it go and enjoyed a nice evening of workout in the gym and then a round of drinks with friends followed by a dinner accompanied by couple of bottles of Brunello di Montalcino.

This morning, with a slightly sore head, I called BMW to arrange pick-up and, to my surprise, they told me that I can pick up the car this morning!!! I "flew" to OD and there it was, my fully functioning "tractor ", with all its systems working well.

Apparently, tinting guys removed the back glass and then messed up one of the controllers in the boot when reinstalling the glass which has electrical heater in it. The system shortcircuited and fuse 142, which is in the circuit together with iDrive, got blown. The controller has also gone.

BMW decided that, even though it is not a 100% guarantee case, they will make it a guarantee case in this instance since the tinting garage works closely with them on many vehicles. I would like to hear a conversation that will soon happen between BMW and tinting place

So car is well, all systems are functioning, several sunny days (+22 C) ahead - great start of the weekend!

[Dbslonewolf]

This is happening to me as well but my heat and ac doesn't work either the control board doesn't light up or anything

[Nathen4242]

Sounds like a head-unit to me i had mine replaced on my 2015 428 GC was almost 4000.00$ after the repair was done. i have the warranty though so i did not pay a cent but still. 100% sure that is a head-unit problem !

[steve@codemybimmer]

Originally Posted by Dbslonewolf

This is happening to me as well but my heat and ac doesn't work either the control board doesn't light up or anything

That sounds like a fuse problem. I'd probably check that first before looking into replacing the head unit.

[Frisko1986]

did you get this solved?? Please advise what was it for yoy. My 13 f30 328i same issue. No AC, NO Radio , No Idrive. Its a nightmare

[bimmer2022]

Hi guys, did you find a solution, I'm having the same issue, no ac lights , no idrive, my radio is powering on, even I can hear songs but I can't use the idrive. I replaced idrive control for an used one an so the ac climate control, but its doing the same.Thanks 4 the info

[jdwagner01@aol.com]

I am currently going through the same issue. Got my windows returned yesterday and my idrive is dead. Looks just like the video from the OP. Any change you know what module went bad.

[Paulo Bernardin]

Frst of all, forgive for my english. I'm Brazilian. But I've been following the forum. My case is I have a BMW 320i, 2013. I used BimmerCode to release some car functions, such as: increasing the brightness of the headlight DRLs and other functions. However, my iDrive misconfigured everything. I can't get into any function. Pendrive entry does not work, other checks do not work. It turns on, but with very low brightness. Have you ever seen something similar?