Greetings all - old newbie stopping back for some help

(intro thread from 2003 - https://www.northamericanmotoring.co...ad.php?t=12613

Anyway, we've got a 2003 S with factory Nav (and H/K). The car now has about 80k miles on it.

Starting a year or two ago (but after she was out of warranty already), the Nav system started to slowly give us trouble.

The screen would stay blank for a couple of minutes at start up, and sometimes it would throw an error - "Trouble Reading DVD."

Usually it work after a couple of minutes.

As time went on, it got worse and worse.

And now, it's even ambient temperature dependent. I.E. if it's summer, it will probably work, but if it's 60F or colder out, it will probably NEVER come on the entire time we're driving (could be an hour or more in the car).

During that time the computer display will work, and we'll even have longitude/lattitude, but the GPS won't interface with the DVD to give us map or street info.

Being a total idiot when it comes to computers I figured I'd ask the dealership to look at it (not something I do easily). Their answer was - "either your DVD is delaminated and you need a replacement, or the whole Nav unit is bad and you need a replacement."

I asked how to test the DVD, they said "buy a new one"

They refused to try another DVD, even though they had a used car on the showroom floor with a compatible system.

Anyway, the price they quoted for a new DVD was bad, but the price for a replacement unit was INSANE.

So I'm looking for some suggestions.

1. Anyone local to the Philly burbs WITH NAV so we could get together and try your DVD to see if it works?

2. Any alternate sources for a DVD so I could test (swap known good part)? I don't want to spend $200 for a DVD only to realize that the unit is the problem and I'm screwed.

3. Any sources of aftermarket or replacement OEM units that would fit in the dash?

4. I HAD an idea to swap in a Speedo and eliminate the Nav, but I think that idea got trashed on another thread already as unreasonably difficult due to differences in the wiring harness. I'd still be willing to consider it, I mean, how much wiring would it take? Of course, it could be more expensive than buying the OEM unit unless I found all the parts in a junkyard or found someone who wanted the factory Nav screen and Speedo, maybe we could make it work?


OK, I know that's a lot of questions, but any help, guidance or suggestions would be appreciated.

It's a point where it's seriously souring us on a car we otherwise absolutely LOVE.

KevPS -

 

Just a question.. have you tried cleaning the nav? As in running a dvd cleaner? Knowing that mine is up under the passenger seat.. Im just curious as to how much dirt can get in there.. Just a thought

 

I have not tried that - see previous post about being "an idiot when it comes to computers" but you can expand that to read "an idiot when it comes to electronics."

So how would one go about cleaning the DVD unit?

Do electronic stores sell a cleaning DVD or something like that?

Kev

 

yeah i would imagine it would be the same as cleaning a cd drive or a dvd player.. you should be able to get a cleaner cd at any electornics store.. or walmart even. There could be dust on the lense that reads the cd... or have you really looked at the cd you have in.. are there any scratches that are deeper then the protectant on it..

 

If it were me, I would call your mini dealership. and ask them what suggestions they may have to actually clean the inside of the nav unit..

 

Considering I had the tech there actually look at the unit and all he could suggest was that either A. the DVD was bad or B. the unit was bad, I don't have a LOT of faith in anything they might say.

I guess I can look into some sort of DVD unit cleaner.

I'll pull the DVD out and physically inspect it, but I doubt I'll notice something the tech didn't.

I wonder if you can safely blow clean the unit with some low-pressure compressed air? I'd think you could. But I'm not holding any hopes out for it being that simple. Especially since it is so temperature dependent.

K

 

Well the worse you can be is back to square one... isnt there a bit of moisture in compressed air? im not sure if i would do that.. but a dvd cleaner is supposedly supposed to pick up the dust.. not just blow it around inside

 

Yeah, there's absolutely no harm in my trying your suggestion, that's for sure.

Although there is usually a tiny bit of moisture in compressed air, I doubt a blast or two would harm anything.

As for moving the dust around, again, you're right, but if it was as simple as dust on a lens then that could be enough to tell us if that was the problem... but yes, perhaps I'll get off my butt and find a cleaner.

I don't remain optimistic, but it would be nice to be wrong in this case.

 

If it improves with warmer conditions, there's a good chance it's just some moisture condensing on the drive's sensor lens that evaporates once the drive warms up a bit. Try putting some desiccants ("DO NOT EAT" packets) in there to pick up excess moisture.

 

It will occassionally work in the wintertime - but ONLY after the car interior has warmed up considerably and for a length of time.

Still sound like possible moisture?

I'll check for some desiccant packets to stick in there and see if it helps.

Kev

 

And by "in there" I meant in the compartment below the seat, not trying to fit it into the little computer or anything. Lots of auto parts stores carry desiccants- although the ones I've used in the past (stupid leaky Probe tail lights) were big enough they probably wouldn't fit.

 

Yep, we also have a Durango that we use for weekend hauling/large groups. If we leave a CD in the player during colder weather the drive won't work for the first few minutes. If you take the CD out when the car first starts it's covered in moisture like a foggy window. The drive is in the center stack though, and is wrapped by heater outlets, so it heats up pretty quickly and starts working right away. I'd imagine being trapped down in that little compartment yours isn't seeing much heat or air circulation.

 

I'll add it to the list of things we'll try this weekend.

But one thought, here in PA, the air seems to dry out in the wintertime and get humid in the summer, so if that's what it was, I would have thought it to be the opposite (not work in the summer)???

Then again, I'm easily confused.

 

Are you still on your original 2003 car battery? There have been posts from people who had trouble with the Nav starting up, and the problem was resolved by installing a new battery.

 

Well yes we have the original battery (and I read some of those threads when I did my search).

But IF it was the battery wouldn't the Nav system succesfully boot once the car was running.

Actually, we have no problem with the screen going blank or remaining blank, the Mini logo comes up right away, then we start the car and the Accept warning comes up. THEN IF we had it set to Nav and not computer, it will go blank for a while, then throw the "unable to read DVD" error.

But if we keep it on computer mode, there's no problem and the display comes right up. Including Longitude and Lattitude, but no address because it can't read the maps.

It's definitely a nav unit-to-reading the map info issue in that sense.

 

Not necessarily. If the initial boot-up failed, it could be stuck in a bad state and there may not be conditions that can trigger a re-boot. However, I agree that your symptoms would suggest disc reading problems.

You could try fully resetting the unit by disconnecting the battery for a few minutes.

 

I can add a fully reset to the list of things we'll try before spending money, can't hurt for sure.

However, IF it was getting hung-up, wouldn't it no just come on by itself once in a while in the winter?? I mean, it's rare these days, but once in a while it just kinda comes on after an hour or two...

if it was stuck, wouldn't it stay stuck until next time the car was shut off and restarted?

 

Kev thecompany that makes all DVD's for Car manufactures @ at least for all German Car is Navtech. call thew up or look @ there web site maybe they have a trouble shooting section.

A friend of mine has a Mini @ his Shop with the same. DVD fault. I would Def go to radio shack or bestbuy. By a DVD cleaning Disc. Try that 1st. If not
your most liketly going to have to get a new DVD.

 

We bought a DVD cleaning disc, but haven't tried it yet.

As the weather has started to warm, the system has started to work.

I'd sure like to at least borrow someone's DVD to see if that fixes it without shelling out the $200 for a new one.

But if cleaning doesn't help...

http://www.navigation.com/is-bin/INT...mpTo=OfferList

 

If you hace a 03 you have a CD based unit, not a DVD unit. By the way I never have a warning screen come up. Maybe mine is a very early one and never had it installed.

 

Does your unit display distances in yards (rather than feet)? If so, your unit had been reset into the default "no location" mode. USA mode displays distances in feet and the startup warning. "No location" mode displays yards and no warning. In the last few firmware releases, they updated USA mode so that the warning goes away automatically after 8 seconds.

 

That's incorrect.

Early-production 03s had the CD unit, late-year production models had the DVD unit. We obviously have a late-year model.

Sounds like we can use a firmware update.

Is that a dealer only install item or is that something we can download somewhere???

K

 

besides the yard/ feet thing whats the diff between no location and the USA modes? Better maps?

 

If I remember correctly, the other difference is that your MPG numbers will be way off (since it will switch to Imperial gallons instead of US gallons), and the "safety" alert at startup is gone.

Later revisions of the firmware automatically remove the safety alert after a number of seconds anyway, preventing you from having to "accept" it... so I don't recommend using no location mode, as there's absolutely no benefit to it for USA MINIs.

Your dealer should be able to reset it back to USA mode (for a fee), or if you can find someone with a IBUS-to-PC interface (or buy/make your own) and a laptop, they can reset it for you using Kiwijochen's NavCoder software.

I have an interface - are you coming to MOTD this year? I'll have my stuff with me to help people out with their OEM Navs (1st Gen only... 2nd Gen is an entirely different beast).

 

Here's where you can get v28 firmware: http://mini.mdsbrain.com/?p=200
Current version is v31, but actually v27 was the last to include changes that affected MINI (subsequent versions were released to fix bugs in specific models of BMW). I still have my burned copy which I no longer need. PM me if interested.

If you are still using your original firmware, you'll see these enhancements:

• Improved graphics and smoother/faster screen updating
• Perspective mode view option (looks nice but not useful to me because it doesn't show street names)
• Warning screen disappears automatically after about 8 seconds
• When combined with a 2007 or newer map disc, I believe there has some additional search capability such as by zip code.