I've done some searching on the topic but there doesn't seem to be a definitive post on the subject.

I started my 05 with Nav today after lunch and noted the idrive screen was blank. I drove for several minutes, stopped, tried the cntrl-alt-delete trick, nothing. The screen will do a very subtle flicker when I do the reset, almost imperceptible, but no dice. And it's not cold out.

Any suggestions?

I have a 200 mile road trip tomorrow and obviously I can't use the radio or nav or anything right now. Sucks. I just had the software upgraded about 2 months ago for an unrelated issue (car was running rough).

 

My only direct exerience was a CID replacement for my same symptom. Could also be a CCC or corrupted software that could be as simple as a new load (new software of course).

 

If the control-alt-delete isn't working, it may be a bad CID as cobradav suggests but if you can't play music, etc., then it may be the CCC that's dead.

Are you able to use the system "blind"? For example, can you press the menu button and then slide the iDrive controller down to select entertainment and blindly choose a music source to see if you hear anything?

 

Update...
After being parked for several hours the problem resolved on it's own.

 

Regardless of the fact that it works, it should be serviced. These things do not happen just once.

 

Same exact thing happened to me one week after picking up my car. I just went back inside and steamed for about 10 minutes and it "fixed" itself. I mentioned it to the dealer when I was in for some minor service and they said they'd never heard about it and couldn't find anything wrong. It hasn't happened since, but I know it probably will as I'm striking out on a long roadtrip or picking Stacy Keibler up for dinner.