Aloha! First time post long time fan! Help help…there is a reason why I have avoided fully loaded cars for years! My nav started to act up a few weeks ago in my 04' JCW, showing non-related cities every few minutes. The pointer looked like it was flying mach 1 across WA State! I pulled the battery cable hoping it might reset, it then showed a stationary pointer with no activity…zilch...nada!
Dealer swapped out the antenna and tried a firmware updates…nothing zilch...nada! They of course wanted 4K to replace!! So…I sent it out to a well know independent back east for repair. Even though this is 2001 technology the manufacture (Phillips?) will not release any repair info yet for this unit…strike 3!!
Any ideas out there guys? Is it true a newer BMW DVD unit will just plug in…MK 5? Thanks for your attention!

 

Try looking at the diagnostic screens. Go into the settings screen, then press and hold the Menu button for 10 seconds. You should be able to navigate around various diagnostic screens. It may provide some clues about what is working or not. It displays info such as signal strength and the calculated position coordinates.

Mk 4 was the latest version of the Nav for 1st gen MINI, and in an '04 I think you already have it. Mk 3 could only read CD maps (not DVD).

The experts on Nav are on the X5World forum and you might also ask over there: http://www.x5world.com/navigation-system/

 

Well...here we go.Thank you for the "X5World" shove...man those guys know their stuff! It appears my head unit reset itself since it was removed from the car.It was so far behind on up-dates(9 behind) it crashed like a computer. After some advise from the BMW guys I ran a v32 update(CD) and BLAM my GPS is running again.
Called Mini USA during all this and recieved a call back in one day..they offered a new unit at warranty price and a split on the bill...not bad for a car out of warranty...so thank you for that too Mini!
Thanks again...

 

Glad to hear you're back up and running!