e39 radio w/ no sound after flat battery

[oscar90 0]

Hey guys, just got my car back fromt he panel beaters, they let the battery go flat and now I cant get any sound out of the system and it won't read the CD's. I can still get TV picture etc but no Sound fullstop

Any ideas on what it could be?

It will be going back but if its quite common just for a particular fuse to blow after the battery has been charged I may aswell try it.... my thoughts aren't that interesting so I need my radio working haha!

Cheers,

Andrew

[JaseNZ 53]

Hey guys, just got my car back fromt he panel beaters, they let the battery go flat and now I cant get any sound out of the system and it won't read the CD's. I can still get TV picture etc but no Sound fullstop

Any ideas on what it could be?

It will be going back but if its quite common just for a particular fuse to blow after the battery has been charged I may aswell try it.... my thoughts aren't that interesting so I need my radio working haha!

Cheers,

Andrew

Hey Andrew try looking at the attached, a few posts I found on the problem suggests either the system has reset itself to zero or a dodgy potentiometer on the volume control. I would hazard a guess at the first one (make sure area is set correctly) as it was working fine when you went it.

They didn't take any panels off or anything at the shop did they as could also be they pulled a plug out ??.

radio_service_mode.pdf

Edited August 6, 2012 by M-Spec

[jochen 4]

Hey Andrew try looking at the attached, a few posts I found on the problem suggests either the system has reset itself to zero or a dodgy potentiometer on the volume control. I would hazard a guess at the first one (make sure area is set correctly) as it was working fine when you went it.

They didn't take any panels off or anything at the shop did they as could also be they pulled a plug out ??.

Volume control is not a potentiometer, it is a rotary digital encoder.

The steering wheel volume controls can be used the same as the radio volume controls. They produce the same data on the ibus.

[westy 614]

You did press the volume knob to turn it on, right?

[oscar90 0]

Thanks for those links Jason, I'll have a look tonight,

Yeah westy, I did turn it on haha got caught out by that when I brought the car Afew years ago!

[oscar90 0]

soo back to this topic

after much arguing and disagreement, the panel beater and insurance company wont wear this at all , and with quotes of upto $1000 for fault finding and investigating i'm going to have to attempt it myself,

1. I Cant figure out what the RDS button is on my stereo as it's pre 2000 so that link doesn't apply to mine and I can't seem to find the document it quotes for pre 00's... is there another way to reset it or whatever to get the volume knob reset??

2. The amp has been tested a second time and has the all clear. they tested the tuner and thats all clear... so my thinking is it must be something with the actual head unit/nav/screen whatever you like to call it not sending an output to the amp so the amp cant sent a signal to the speakers? as the orange light by the on knob lights up, and it reads cd's, shows the tv video. Just no bloody sound!!!

I know the bare basics with electronics. hopefully with a little direction from afew people on here I can sort this before I start calling in favours with mates

cheers

[hybrid 1043]

If it helps, I sold my old e39 TV 16:9 screen and nav system to a person on here. They already had the screen so it was just going to sit on the shelf .. he probably still has it. If not Im sure HellBM might have a couple laying around.

[oscar90 0]

Thanks for the response Hybrid. I don't want to buy a new second hand system and find it didn't fix the problem. Sort of a catch 22 haha! I'd like to find the issue. If it is the head unit then I'd rather spend the money and buy one of those new dynavin?? ones. They look cool as hell. Will try source one local to test.

Hopefully it's just a common fault like the volume thing zeroing out.

Any locals got some working e39 amps or dash units I can use to test?

[shaneg 0]

Have had exactly the same thing happen.

Solved it by unpluging the battery, leave it for 10+ minutes, hook it back up and stereo volume works.

This is a fix for a few electrical gremilns.

[matt45 1]

Have had exactly the same thing happen.

Solved it by unpluging the battery, leave it for 10+ minutes, hook it back up and stereo volume works.

This is a fix for a few electrical gremilns.

what he said ^^^

[Neal 545]

Thanks for the response Hybrid. I don't want to buy a new second hand system and find it didn't fix the problem. Sort of a catch 22 haha! I'd like to find the issue. If it is the head unit then I'd rather spend the money and buy one of those new dynavin?? ones. They look cool as hell. Will try source one local to test.

Hopefully it's just a common fault like the volume thing zeroing out.

Any locals got some working e39 amps or dash units I can use to test?

Would be worth putting an coder or similar on your ibus to see if the screen is sending commands to the tuner which does the majority of the switching.

I'd do the following.

Work out where your amp / tuner / video / amp modules are. Disconnect the battery. Take off and put back on all connectors on the modules.

Reconnect battery and leave the system for 10 minutes to self work out what modules it has.

Confirm that nav screen is sending commands to tuner module via nav coder . Someone in Chch should be able to help you with this. I should be able to find the hex data codes from the controls for you.

If it does then more trouble shooting of tuner module required. If it doesn't then it could be the screen or the work on the car has disturbed the wiring.

Unplug the video module , power off everything and disconnect the battery for 10 minutes. Power back on and see if the screen works via the tuner unit ( it should take over)

If nothing works then its likely to be an issue with the tuner module at this point.

If you do get something on the screen but still no sound then either the output stAge on the tuner is not working or the amp is not powering on.

Does your system have the dsp option ?

Btw. If it works out to be the tuner there are a number of repair companies in the uk that advertise on eBay that will fix common electronic component failures on the tuner. Roughly 100 pounds to do so. Many are regular posters on other bmw forums so you can check them out before hand

Edited October 13, 2012 by Neal

[oscar90 0]

Thanks for all that Neal, gives me a list of things to in the next couple of days!

Ive disconnected battery for 10mins, but will do it again and disconnect and reconnect all the modules and amp plugs this time.

Will also disconnect video module and see what comes up on the screen.

DSP - im unsure whats the easiest way to tell? it's a 1996 so one of the first E39's

Can anyone help with this nav coder business?? Jase/Mspec??

[JaseNZ 53]

Thanks for all that Neal, gives me a list of things to in the next couple of days!

Ive disconnected battery for 10mins, but will do it again and disconnect and reconnect all the modules and amp plugs this time.

Will also disconnect video module and see what comes up on the screen.

DSP - im unsure whats the easiest way to tell? it's a 1996 so one of the first E39's

Can anyone help with this nav coder business?? Jase/Mspec??

Hey Andrew for nav coder you need the software >>Here<< plus the hardware to run with it >>Here<<

[hotwire 352]

Thanks for all that Neal, gives me a list of things to in the next couple of days!

Ive disconnected battery for 10mins, but will do it again and disconnect and reconnect all the modules and amp plugs this time.

Will also disconnect video module and see what comes up on the screen.

DSP - im unsure whats the easiest way to tell? it's a 1996 so one of the first E39's

Can anyone help with this nav coder business?? Jase/Mspec??

Doubt very much it will have DSP, few E39's did & neither did early E38's

[gadgetman 0]

Hey Andrew for nav coder you need the software >>Here<< plus the hardware to run with it >>Here<<

Hi Andrew, I've pm'ed you regarding the Navcoder help.