The E60 really has a mind of its own. A few days ago I reported that while driving at 65 miles/hour my 545ia suddenly showed a warning on the I-Drive display "BRAKE SIGNAL FAULT" and the car almost immediatly began to buck and slow down on its own to a crawl. I pulled off the parkway, and since this was so unusual, that the car should react this way to a braking signal fault, that I wasn't going to fool with it and decided to press the emergency button for BMW Roadside Service. They notified the parkway towing company and they showed up promptly in a half hour.They towed it a BMW dealer 20 miles away. BMW told me a few hours after they were able to start the car right up and it drove fine, and no fault appeared on the screen. I still think I did the right thing by calling roadside asst. being that I was near a large BMW dealer, but if I was in a rural area elsewhere in the country and not near a BMW dealer, or in a dangerous area on a road where I was not able to get out of the flow of traffic, then I should probaly have waited a few minutes and started up again. I have corrected so many minor problems by turning the motor on and off and therefore RE-BOOTING the computer, that I should have thought of this in this instance. Not that I am recommending this as a long term solution for something this serious. It definitly has to be brought into BMW to find out why this occured,but in a tough spot, it is good to know. I guess we have to think of the car in a similiar way as we do our home electronic equipment and computers. I am not a handy guy, but when I have a problem with my stereo equipment or computer, I turn them on and off, and wala, they often start working properly again.
Anyway, the only thing BMW came up with is that the computer memory showed a traction control glitch occured, and that might have caused a safety shut down of the car, or that the softwear recall that was due needed to be performed, and that might have something to do with it, I checked with another BMW service manager at another dealer, and he never heard of the BRAKE SIGNAL FAULT showing up either. A bit of a mystery. Anyway, they updated the softwear to 13.2 and took care of the necessary recalls on the car and changed the oil(11,500 miles) , and it is terrific once again. I guess you have to take the good with the bad on the new computerized cars, but I must say the 545ia is worth it. First real problem with it, but still love this car. Thought it would be usefull passing this info. on to others on this informative board, thus the lenghty post.
YOU STILL HAVE TO LOVE THESE BMW's.
Netjazz

 

Thanks fo the info...re-booting seems to solve a lot of stuff. Windows...go figure.

 

I agree that rebooting is the first thing to try when bizzare things happen. Keep in mind that on nav cars, you don't need to turn off the car or stop driving to reboot!

 

same thing when my intrumentation just dropped out, pulled over, waited a couple of minutes and restarted the car. all's fine! didnt occur again for the rest of the trip. brouoght in to dealer and they really didn't find anything otehr than recommeding that if it ever happens again, just take it back and they'll replace the instrument panel. it would be nice to understand root cause and what's required to fix it.

 

Rudy - my 545 has a possessed i drive that has finally crashed (waiting for serivce appt). I have never found a way to force it to reboot - turning off the car only works if it is for extended periods. Is there a way to force the idrive with nav to reboot?
thanks

 

Rudy - my 545 has a possessed i drive that has finally crashed (waiting for serivce appt). I have never found a way to force it to reboot - turning off the car only works if it is for extended periods. Is there a way to force the idrive with nav to reboot?
thanks
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Ctrl+Alt+Delete. Push simultaneously on Volume, CD Eject and DVD Eject buttons.

 

welcome aboard, gs45206 ! hormazd is right but this method is only good for cars with nav and yours should be ok .

 

It was the same with my "transmission failure" I had.

My dad, who lives in Germany, spoke to his local service advisor (who is also his high school buddy) about the E60. This guy told him they have such issues all the time with the car and he recommends to all customers to take the error messages not serious at all!!! He recommends to turn off the car, wait, and then continue as if nothing happened... Only if the message comes again, he wants them to make a repair appointment...

Jochen

 

welcome gs45206

 

Welcome aboard, gs45206 !