F31 iDrive continually restarting and other faults

[basherX]

Not sure if it’s coincidental but I had a message on my iDrive this week saying there needed to be some sort of update which I ran and now I have problems.

Noticed this morning on the way to work that the radio wasn’t picking up any DAB stations at all. Normal radio was working. Coming home still no DAB stations and the system is just in a loop of restarts with about a minute of operating time in between. Also, although the parking sensors are working, ie beeping, the reverse camera isn’t displaying.

A quick google indicated two possible hard reset approaches: the first holding the volume on/off button down for 30 seconds; the second holding down that plus the Mode button until the display turns off.

Neither approach has worked for me.

Anything else that I can try before I seek professional help?

[jv021]

we had this on the wife's X3 (2017 F25 with pro nav) and the way I got it sorted was to remove personal data which does a factory reset - I found the steps on Youtube (you will need to be quick to start the process before it reboots). This took about 15mins and the iDrive has been 100% ok since then

[basherX]

Thanks. Gave that a go bit the looping is so short that I can’t get it to work. Looks like a trip to the dealer is needed.

[jv021]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3uOvsknUDK4

try this, i think this was the video i followed it shows exactly which menus to go to and after a couple of attempts, i got quick enough to start the process prior to rebooting.

[-TorqueR]

I own a 2016 F30 330d and had this issue last year. Annoyingly, it happened on the morning that I was driving from Cornwall to Sheffield.

I tried the YouTube video suggestions but to no avail so took it to Sytner BMW and they reset and updated the iDrive software. It’s solved the little blip and I’ve had absolutely no issues since. That dealer visit cost £100.

However, the guy at BMW did say that if it has been playing DAB stations for a while, the internal memory fills up with the specific station data and then crashes when it reaches the limit. He said it’s a flaw of this iDrive operating software.

I don’t know how true his reasons were but it made logical sense to me. I hope that helps.

[basherX]

-TorqueR said:

I own a 2016 F30 330d and had this issue last year. Annoyingly, it happened on the morning that I was driving from Cornwall to Sheffield.

I tried the YouTube video suggestions but to no avail so took it to Sytner BMW and they reset and updated the iDrive software. It’s solved the little blip and I’ve had absolutely no issues since. That dealer visit cost £100.

However, the guy at BMW did say that if it has been playing DAB stations for a while, the internal memory fills up with the specific station data and then crashes when it reaches the limit. He said it’s a flaw of this iDrive operating software.

I don’t know how true his reasons were but it made logical sense to me. I hope that helps.

Thanks, that’s helpful. I pretty much exclusively listen to the DAB stations so perhaps it’s that. My local BMW dealer tells me it’s £220 just for an hour of diagnostic. Somewhat annoying that they’ve wasted about 4 hours of my time this year for recalls (EGR, airbag) that are wholly BMW’s responsibility but, inevitably, they don’t seem to think that my time is as valuable as theirs.

Why I avoid the dealership network like the plague.