kErb

I have an issue with my car not accepting the address book from my mobile (Nokia 5800), even though it is listed as a compatible for phone on the BMW website.

It transpires now, after the dealer recommeded the phone to me, that although it is compatible, it isn't with the bluetooth version on my car.

BMW Customer Services now say that a software upgrade on the car "may" work by bringing it into line with the latest version available. They won't guarantee it will work 100% though - i.e. its my gamble.

The dealer says they will do it, but have stated that during the programming it is possible that one or more control units in the car may fail. If this were to happen they say that they accept no responsibility and it would be at my cost to replace the affected control units. I'm gobsmacked really because I can't understand how coding the car with their equipment could cause a problem, plus if they break the car its down to me!? The dealer says its very rare for a control unit to go down, but warn that it can happen.

So they won't guarantee that the update will make the phone work properly, and the update might break control units on the car, which I will have to pay for as well.

Sounds like a cracking deal!

My car is a MY2005 E61 with the media pack option.

I'm not sure what to do here - is anyone aware of control modules failing when the car is coded?

545felix

you may have an entry in your address book with a character that's incompatible with the car. really, really old Nokias would attach a special character at the end of a stored name if you assigned a special category or ring to it. you can't see it on the phone, but if you save everything to the SIM and put it in a different phone you'll see it. I haven't touched a Nokia phone in at least 5 years, so I don't know if they're still doing this, but I do know that any special characters will affect the phonebook download to the car.

The dealers usually give that blanket warning so they don't have to replace anything if they screw it up or the procedure crashes a module. It was much more common back in the early E60 and E65 days, but it's much rarer now. They are still scared of the programming procedure though, as a result.

i'd check the address book first, then worry about the update, but if you still have special characters stored in the names you won't get them after the update either.

HTH

theXman

The dealer just says that to CYA in case something happens. Kinda like doctors statng what the risks are before performing a surgery. There is always a risk that something might happen. With that said, I had my BT activated by coding at the dealer and it went smoothly without any issues.

kErb

Thanks Guys

My old Nokia 6230i worked fine, hence why I went for another Nokia this time so I'm not sure about the exrta symbols.

I will get the coding done and see how we go.

545felix

by special symbols I mean anything other than a letter or a space, so any of the currency symbols, &, %, #, @, * etc. all seem to trip it. also, check the settings on the nokia for the bluetooth transfer to make sure it is set to do so, on some phones it's not automatic, others you can pick which groups of contacts get send via BT