wgrupp

I called my local dealer yesterday to take my car in for it's first service. I told them of the problems I was having and they told me that the new software should fix the problems. Unfortunately, I was told that the first appointment was June 6th. They said that they only have one machine to do the upgrades and that it takes about 8 hours. They told me that they are trying to get BMW to pay for a second programming station but it would be some time before they get it.

The good news is that they are going to do the upgrade for free and also enable bluetooth. I was worried that they were going to charge me, but the impression I got was that they were doing the upgrade on all of the cars when they come in for service - at least the 2004s.

I really haven't had any serious problems with the exception of the active stearing failing a couple of times at startup. I was always able to fix this by restarting the car.

Wayne

Bart001

With only one upgrade station they can't possibly update every car that comes in for service.

jsal

8 hours for a s/w upgrade - thats a bunch of Crap. There is no way it can take that long - one car a day! They typically charge 1-2 hours labor for a s/w upgrade.

Tell your SA, if they are backed up for doing downloads, that is fine - but not to give you a bunch of BS.

hinckley

What problems did you tell them that you had? I need an excuse!!

kmslo530i

I don't think it always takes 8 hours, but there seems to be a pretty high incidence of programming failure, which makes it take much longer. I know on a couple of occasions, my car didn't take the updates the first time through. That being said, it does sound to me like the dealerships have a fairly low-tech, and innefficient way of delivering the updates. I think one of the beauties of the IDrive system is the ability to update, but is shouldn't be so hard and take so long! I just mentioned in another thread that my car is on it's second day of service, for what was a software update, and few other house-cleaining items.....and I feel lucky that it was only 2 days based on some of the posts I've read here where it takes significantly longer!! And, I have always been able to get in for service within a week of when I call.......

Magneto

Have you every loaded a dozen songs onto your iPod? Ever burn a CD? Better yet, ever copy a file with the /v (verify) flag or upgrade the firmware on your home broadband router? Any of these tasks take you 8 hours? Neither does the CIP reload.

kmslo530i

I agree that 8 hours is excessive......but I'm not sure the $400 IPOD is the techonological equivalent of the $45K E60, and while not being the brightest bulb in the box, I'm still fairly certain the E60 is a wee bit more tempermental!!

bimmerj

If they have problems in loading in the software it can take 8 hours easily. The ccc software is layered, meaning they cannot simply do an update to the modules that require it. In many cases, updating 1 module requires that other modules and layers be updated first. I've had mine fully reloaded quite a few times now, and it has never taken less than 4.5 hours.

It is exactly like loading a pc. If something goes wrong with one of the layers or layers are loaded in the improper order - the only solution is to reload windows from scratch. It is essentially the same process here.

Your dealer should not be charging for software upgrades if there is a problem with the vehicle. That should be covered under the warranty. If you have voice activation then just tell them the voice activation is not working. Their only solution to that problem is to reload just about everything because voice activation I believe is on one of the highest layers which requires many layers beneath it to be installed. Sometimes, it may be quicker for the dealer to simply turn on a full reload rather than to figure out what you really need.

wgrupp

"What problems did you tell them that you had? I need an excuse!!"

3 times the active steering failed when I started the car
The audio would not un-mute a couple of times until later in the day.
Windshield wipers auto sensitivity adjustment doesn't seem to do anything.
Headlights stay on in fairly bright light.
Oil level warning came on but the level doesn't seem to be low.

I think the active steering is the one that got them. He hesitated on that one and told me if for any reason I felt unsafe in the car I should bring it in right away. He said that they would probably have to keep it for a week though. Since it only happened at startup and cleared when I restarted it I opted to wait.

Magneto

iPod, PDA, iDrive, they're all just computers with the ability to be reloaded with programming instructions and configuration information. The sophistication comes in writing the programs and testing them to insure they have no flaws before they are distributed to the masses (something that is marginally successful thus a need for reloading).

The time consuming part about downloading software is insuring that the download occurred without corruption. In eight hours you could check all the bits yourself manually.