is installed in the car?

 

You have to ask your dealer/service technician. There is NO other way to tell.

Cheers.

 

There was a procedure posted on RF that I never could get to work. It was something like run around the car clockwise a few times and punch iDrive, then run around the car counter clockwise a few more times and punch iDrive again, then . .. .

 

Although the various posts show getting hidden information (I've gotten them all to work), none of that data was the version number people refer to in various software threads on this site.

The only way to tell is to have your technician hook up the car and look at it through that interface. That being said, I have a printout from this procedure, and NOTHING on my car has anything referenced to the 11, 11.1, 12 version numbers that people refer to on this site. I'm at a loss as to where they got that number. My dealer says that the Installers they get are based on the Date (May X, etc) and that the individual modules have their own version number.

I'm not sure if this could be a difference between Euro and US cars or not. How many US based cars have VERIFIED that the version number is a number and that's how they communicate to their dealer about the software in their car.

I've also found by calling around to various service techs that the general rule of thumb is not to update just to update. If your car is workign fine, then leave well enough alone. As a software engineer, this goes against my grain (I want the latest version of everything), but until I see someone get a new compelling feature (mp3's working, something like that), then I'm going to leave it alone. Everything in my car works great (Feb 8 build, delivery on Apr 8.), so I guess that I should just leave it alone.

just my .02

james

 

Aren't the reference to "ver numbers" on the tech printout just sw timestamp dates anyway with no real VERSION number??

 

The thread is probably not on here any more but someone found a way playing with I-Drive to give you the software version. Wish I could remember how.

 

This is the procedure that never worked for me -- from the experience of others:
**********************************
To determine Software version:
press and hold down iDrive knob for 10 sec, release it, turn the knob 3 times clockwise, 3 more counterclockwise, one clockwise, one counter., and one clock., and then press the I-drive knob again... a screen pops up with some type of programming...
**********************************
More of same:
**********************************
I followed the trick to enter the iDrive secret menu today (press & hold 10 sec.; clockwise 3 clicks; counter 3 clicks; clock 1; counter 1; clock 1; press once). I saw several interesting submenus: TV (for Ergo); Radio (for svs); GPS; Controlversions; Navigation; Tuner; ... I entered into them and saw a number of things I don't understand. The submenu Controlversions has all version info about all iDrive software routines (20+ routines). My iDrive software version is 5.8 (Oct 2003 release). It seems to me that iDrive is already equipped with a lot of routines, such as MP3, navigation, TV, etc.

 

JDN

I tried that and I get the vehicle setting menu

 

Yes, and so did I. Must have something to do with the way you hold your mouth . . . never could get the hang of it.

 

I think I remember the general consensus being that the convoluted procedure that JDN posted either doesn't work anymore (due to software versions) or doesn't work on cars with ProNav.

I can't remember the last time someone said it actually worked for them. Conversely, there are plenty of us who can't get this to work.