OK, my active steering just went out as well and restarting is not reseting it, Rudy do you still have the Active Steering re-initialization procedure?

 

Just found this from 2004:

Initializing system
1. Start the engine.
2. With the vehicle stationary, turn the steering
wheel from the straight-ahead position
to the left as far as it will go and then back to
the straight-ahead position.
3. Switch off the engine.
When you start the engine again, all the functions
of the active steering are available once
again.

This is what I got from the 2005 530i manual - Rudy any ideas when it would need to be initialized?

Edit - just found my own answer. From the owners manual -

Power failure
After a temporary power loss, the functioning of
some equipment may be limited and require
reinitialization. Individual settings are also lost
and must be updated again:
> Active steering
The system is deactivated and must be initialized,
refer to page 81. Until then, the
steering will react differently than usual.

 

Didn't work

 

This morning it was OK. I guess it just needed a good nights sleep.