Lost SAT NAV on E39 5 Series

[trimbo]

hello there, I'm wondering if anyone else has experienced this problem......

I have an X Reg 535i with the comms pack (nav, phone, tv, stereo etc), I've had the car 3 years and everything has always worked brilliantly. My wife was recently involved in a minor front end crash (all repaired), since then the Sat Nav option on the screen is missing and the text on the screen has changed to a much 'blockier' style (like Ceefax).

The DVD Sat Nav unit in the boot is now constantly ejecting the DVD. The main dealer have said that they don't attempt to repair these DVD units and only recommend replacement (at over £1000 plus fitting).

Firstly, is it worth trying to get one of these units repaired? Secondly, why has the text changed for all the other options?

thanks in advance

[Smartie]

the units are around on ebay (especially in Germany) for significantly less than £1000.

Dont know about repair though, sorry

[rassi]

You should ask your dealer to prove that the nav unit was damaged in the collision and then claim on the insurance. Alternatively, the MK4 unit can be had on ebay for around £400.

[Robertb]

Sounds like the on board monitor has gone to a failsafe mode- I achieved a similar "ceefax style no sat nav" effect on mine when the system crashed whilst installing the latest firmware.

Ask your dealer to try reinstalling the firmware- you can do it yourself if you know of a good source of 'backup' copies of the software (but beware, there are some fairly ropey copies about). When I did this, I put the firmware disc back in, and it took ages, 5 mins or more before it finally accepted the disc and started loading the software. After this, all well again.