earossi

Good morning. I am a new 2005 BMW 545 owner and new to this forum. I am not new to German machinery, though having owned other BMW's, Audi's, and Porsches. What is typically consistent about this German machinery is the lack of clear and complete instructions in the owners manuals.

I have been told that my 2005 545i is fitted with Bluetooth, but cannot find any instructions on how to couple my cell phone to the system. The car is equipped with Nav and there are screens on the control panel to operate the phone; however, there is no self-obvious way to get the system to recognize my Blackberry. Incidentally, the car does not appear to have ever had a cell phone since the normal compartment for the phone near the iDrive is not fitted with any type of adaptor.....instead there is just a hinged tray that pivots up to a slightly larger compartment below.

So, here are my questions:

1. Do all BMW's (2005+) have Bluetooth?
2. How do I get the system activated?
3. How do I get the system to recognize my phone?
4. Do I need to mess with the coding instructions in the owners manual?

Thanks in advance for any help this Forum can provide.

545felix

1. All US-Spec 2005 545s have bluetooth standard.
2. system is already activated if you have a 2005.
3. the instructions for pairing are in the manual, it's in the vehicle settings menu on idrive
4. see above

there is no cradle installed or necessary unless you want to charge the phone without using a cigarette lighter cable. No additional parts are necessary from what you have now for bluetooth to work. (I'm assuming you have a US car, don't know since you didn't specify.)

check the FAQ section if you need more info.

wickster

As above, you need to go into the idrive menu, its the very last item on the menu, 'communications', click on that and you should be able to figure it out from there

rkinra

Not sure if anyone knows the answer to this or not, but I just picked up a new 2009 535i and I'm having a problem w/ Bluetooth.

Basically, I have successfully paired my two phones (Apple Iphone running version 2.2.1 and a Samsung phone). What I use to do w/ my old BMW (2007 525i) was turn the bluetooth ON and OFF on each phone and the phone would seamlessly connect to the car. So, I could switch which phone I was using w/ the bluetooth in the car.

Now, if I disconnect the bluetooth on my Iphone (but turning off bluetooth on the Iphone) and then try to re-connect the Iphone (by turn on bluetooth on the Iphone) the car does not recognize the Iphone (unless I complete turn off the car and then start the car).

I'm not sure if this is a bug w/ the current iDrive or if my particular car has a bug? Any one else having this issue? The thing that I find odd is that this use to work perfectly in my old car (2007 525i). UGH!!!

BTW, I have talked to my dealer about this and they are clueless... They can't explain it to me. I also called BMW NA and their explanation was that the Iphone v2.2.1 is not a verified version. They want me to downgrade the software to 2.2. I highly doubt that is going to fix the problem.

Thanks to all for any suggestions.

545felix

how long are you waiting between turning the BT off and back on? you have to wait until the signal bars disappear off the idrive screen. then, turn the bt back on and give it 60-90 secs.

rkinra

Thx for the suggestion... Yeah, I have been waiting until the signal bars are off the screen and then give it a min or so (just in case) before I turn the bluetooth ON on the Iphone. Basically, I've lost the ability to switch phones using bluetooth.

I've even tried unpairing the phones and then re-pairing them (just in case the original paring was bad). I'm wondering if there is a bug in the new iDrive. I think that the version of iDrive for the 2009 is an upgrade from the 2007?

I love this car, but this one thing is really annoying.

earossi

Well, my frustration continues. Taking into account all the information in the replies to my original note, I went out to the car and pulled up the Communication selection on the iDrive menu. When you toggle to the Communicatiion link, you get a screen that has three things on it. There are only two selections on the top of the screen. One is for "PHONE" and the other is for "BMW ASSIST". On the larger screen is the message "NO PHONE INSTALLED". And, when I toggle to each of the two options, I get nothing of use.

The car was a California delivered car, which should not make a difference. Iit's a 2005 545i.

Does anyone have an explanation?

545felix

are you sure this is a 2005 car? what's the build date on the sticker with the VIN on the driver's door jamb?

under "PHONE" there should be an option to pair a phone. if there isn't, you've got a car built before 10/04 and you need a software update to enable it. if it's older than 3/04 you need a new phone module to get bluetooth.

BMW Rookie

545felix - I feel for you as I am in the same position. I purchased a 2005 545i (build date Dec. 2004) and I have not been able to activate the Bluetooth on the car. The dealer advised me that the car is equiped with all the hardware but needs a software update, which could take up to 2 hours to perform (@$110 per hour). The bad news is that the dealer informed me that there is no guarantee that they can get my Bluetooth activated as there have been complications with 2005 models.

If someone has corrected this problem on a 2005 I would also like to know about it.

BMW Rookie

545felix - stupid question but how can I tell if my 2005 545i (built in Dec 2004) came with U.S. specs (i.e. it could have been manufactured in Germany)? Is there an identifier for the location of the country of origin in the VIN?

Thanks