SKIP TO THE HOW-TO IF YOU DO NOT WANT TO READ THE STORY
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THE STORY
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It all started with THIS THREAD and I attempted to upgrade my nav software to v24. Well as I stated in the thread, my v24 cd (which I modded the language files on) not only made my screen go blank but also somehow corrupted the software to a point where the cd would not eject, no matter what I tried.
With that said, I in now way mean to blame the thread or members as what I did was already posted as a issue with MKIII and I did it understanding the risk .
So after trying everything (like disconecting the battery and whatnot) I brought my car in for service (it needed the 25k service anyways) to Hank Aaron in Atlanta, Ga. Well they said they could not fix it and would have to send it into BMW whom would charge 1,000 big ones for a new unit . At that moment in time, I decided it was time to get my hands dirty . So I took everything apart (explained below) and got the "bad" cd out and then partly reasembled the stuff and pluged everything back up to see if I could insert the good cd. Well no I couldn't. I am guessing that it still thought the cd was in there (since I forced it out) and it would not do anything when I hit eject. SO I took everything back apart and forced the good cd back in the unit and reasembled everything again, turned the car on, and with my heart literally pounding turned the car on only to see a blank nav screen BUT after a few seconds, my screen flickered and to my complete enjoyment it displayed "Software Update in Progress" . Everything updated and it all works now. I am SO SO releaved! You have to understand, I am 18 and did this "update" thing will at school at Ga Tech and my parents bought the car and my dad doesn't want me to do anything to it til I get out of college! Needless to say he was upset when I told him I screwed up my Navigation in my car!


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THE HOW-TO
THE "FOUR KNIFE" METHOD FOR REMOVING A CD
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LEGAL STUFF: THIS HOW-TO IS FOR REMOVING A STUCK CD FROM THE MKIII (CD VERSION) NAV UNIT. THIS IS NOT A OFFICAL BMW METHOD AND WILL VOID THE WARRANTY ON THE NAV UNIT. I TAKE NO RESPONSIBILITY FOR ANYTHING THAT HAPPENS IF YOU ATTEMPT THIS. DO SO AT YOUR OWN RISK

1st Step:
Locate the three plugs and wire clip under the passenger seat (see picture below). Remove those and weave the wire out of the way so that when you remove the seat it will not catch. FYI: I would not turn the car on when these plugs are not connected becuase they will set off the airbag light and I would think that the light would just go back off after they are plugged back up but it was not worth the risk for me atleast.


2nd Step:
Use a T-40 bit (it is the star patterned head) to take out the four bolts that hold down the passenger seat (sorry no pic). There is one on each corner that go through the slide mechanism.

3rd Step:
Carefully remove the seat.

4th Step:
Now use a T-20 bit to remove the 6 or so screws from the top side of the nav large nav bracket. I didn't count, but all the visible screw come out.

5th Step:
Coax the metal bracket (which still has the nav unit attached to the bottom side of it), out. To do to lift the driver-sdie rear corner up and get the bracket over the seat heat/air vent (the plastic thing beside the airbag wires) and then slide the whole thing towards the driver til the lip (part closest to the passenger door) is free from the carpet. DO NOT pull up to hard cause the wires are still attached to the nav unit.

6th Step:
Unplug the two clips and the antenna from the back side of the nav unit. The antenna just pulls off and the clips come off by pushing now the little stop the prevent the black arm from moving. Push the stop down and swing the black arm all the way down and thus removing the connector. See pics I took off Ian's MINI Circuit Install Page(it is the same type of connector)




7th Step:
Now remove the four nuts that hold the small nav bracket to the large bracket.



8th Step:
This takes two people or you using your feet or mouth as well as your hands. Whatever floats your boat. Push in the four spring loaded clips to slide the nav unit out of the small bracket.


9th Step:
THIS WILL VOID THE WARRANTY ON THE NAV UNIT!!!
Break the seal on the and take the top off the nav unit.


10th Step:
Now you take a moment and admire the inner workings off the nav unit. Oh um make sure you touch the metal frame before EVER touching anything that looks like a ciruit board (static electricity does bad things to electronics).

11th Step:
To access the cd in the unit, you have to take the cd drive out. Just use a T-9 (most tool kits only go down T-10, I had to buy a set of T-6,7,8,9 at AutoZone) to remove the four screws holding the drive in place.


12th Step
Gently lift the drive up and unplug the cable on the nav unit (easier than unpluging from cd drive). The connector just pulls straight up, no clips.

13th Step:
Note the location of the laser eye from the above pic. You do not want to touch it, it will stratch and then not work. To remove a stuck cd (as I had to, you are going to need 4 (yes, four) perferably plastic knifes, or similar objects. Look at the pictures for where to places the knifes. I must admit that I was afraid of scratching the cd with a knife between it and the black disc (it is a tight fit with four knifes and a cd but I was just very careful and nothing bad happened. I was not able to figure out how the mechanism ejected the cd, I would have had to further disasemble the cd drive and thus I just used the knife method.