Hey all,

If any of you with the factory Nav in a 1st Gen MINI are coming to MOTD, I'll be happy to help you update & tweak it. I even have the ability to permanently set your Nav to have the British voice... no need for "hacked" upgrade discs that swap voice files around.

I created a thread in the MOTD forum on this here.

 

As much as I'd love to have that British voice I'll be nowhere near MOTD. I'm on the west coast of Canada. Kudos to your generosity though.

 

All it takes is a laptop, some free software available online... and a Serial-to-IBUS or USB-to-IBUS adapter. That last part is the hardest. There are instructions online on how to make one of your own, if you're into electronic stuff like that. If not, you can also buy one online - I bought mine from a guy in Germany.

In any case, with the I-BUS adapter & software, you can recode many things on your Nav, including the languages. Lots of fun to tweak!

 

What's the most current version of the Nav Firmware? I think I have V29.1...

 

V31, which will show up as 4-1/00 (on MKIV systems).

It came out last month.

 

Where can I get it?

Any idea what's changed from V29.1?

 

Download it here. If you don't have Nero and want an ISO file, there's an NRG to ISO converter here. If you don't have a program to extract RAR files, you can use WinRAR.

There aren't any visible changes from V29.1, but some people have reported smoother/faster operation... so it's probably just bug fixes & tweaking. I've been running it for a couple of days now without any problems.

A word of caution though - the V31 disc linked above is a Mode 1 disc, instead of the usual Mode 2 discs. For the MKIV, that is no big deal... however, Mode 1 NavOS discs should never be used in an MKIII Nav system, because it will screw it up.

 

My car is an 06, so Definitely MKIV. I have a mac, so none of those applications will work for me . Any idea if Roxio Toast will read NRG files?

What difference does Mode 1 and Mode 2 make?

 

Hmmm... I'm not sure if Toast will handle NRG files, but it should be able to handle ISO files...

Do you have access to a PC that you can use to download the NRG file and convert to ISO?

The "modes" are different ways to store the data on a CD-ROM. Mode 1 is the most common, by far... but for some reason, the MKIII (and prior, I'd guess) requires Mode 2. With the MKIV, they fixed that problem, and it supports both modes.

Basically, in your case, since you have an MKIV - don't worry about it. I posted what I did as a form of disclaimer. It would be a shame for you to download and create the NavOS disc, upgrade your MINI just fine... and then help a friend out with an older MINI that has the MKIII... and screw up their Nav with the same disc.

 

My friends are far too frugal to invest in the MINI OEM Navigation .

Thanks!

 

Another download link has popped up for V31, one that is apparently Mode 2. I haven't tried it yet, but here it is. Seems it is also a .RAR file and will therefore also require a utility to decompress it.

 

will this work for an 05? Do you just burn the cd and then place it into the system door under the passenger seat?

 

The original link (the Mode 1 version) works in an 05... I already added it to my MINI, which is also an 05. All 05s are MKIVs (DVD-capable), so it's safe to do. The way to be absolutely sure your Nav is an MKIV and not an MKIII is by the version number that shows up in the Settings screen. If it starts with 4-, it's an MKIV. If it starts with 3-, it's an MKIII.

Anyway, the process - yes... you eject your map CD and insert the NavOS disc, then wait. The screen will go blank for a while at first... don't freak out, that's normal. Eventually you'll see an OS update message show up on the screen. Just wait until it completes and tells you to eject the disc. That's it - you can put your map disc back in.

The only other item I'll note is that you should only do this with the engine running, to ensure the Nav system doesn't cut off or lose power in the middle of the update. The entire process should only take 3 or 4 minutes, although the update screen says "up to 6 minutes". I've never seen it take anywhere near that long...

 

Thanks for your help..you are a value to the community. I will update when I complete

 

Bumpity bump