My car is a 2012 Clubman with the HK sound system, and the USB/Aux in connection. I have an official Mini iPod connection cable. Every now and then, when I plug my phone into the cable, the car does not recognize it as an iPod, and the selection menu only shows "Radio - Satellite - CD - Aux - USB" for options, even if the cable and phone are plugged in. It's totally random, too. I can drive to the store with my phone plugged in under "iPod" mode, then when I come out and plug the phone in again, it's not recognized.

Is this a glitch in the radio software, or is this an indication that the Aux port is failing?

 

It could be a setting with your iPhone. There was a security setting added with iOS 11(?) for using a USB accessory when the phone is locked. In settings, face ID and passcode, there’s a toggle to allow USB accessories when locked. If off, the phone will give a notification to unlock the phone when a USB accessory in connected.

On my phone it seems random when it decides to give the warning message, like it has a memory that times out on whether the accessory was authorized to use before or not. Maybe you plug in often enough and the connection is normal, but then you don’t drive the car for a few days and then it won’t allow the USB connection to the car unless you unlock your phone.

 

I don't think that's it, but I'll try changing the setting and see if that changes anything. Sometimes it will not go into iPod mode even if the phone is unlocked.

 

It could also be a bad connection. iPhone charging ports often get lint buildup which causes intermittent connectivity.

 

Or the cables often go bad...and work/don't-work depending on, well, anything....

How old is the cable??

 

The cable is the one that came with the car, but I’m not convinced it’s the cable either. I thought it was the cable, so I bought a Viseeo Tune 2 Air adapter, and it does the same thing with that device

 

I’m going to bring this thread back up and see if anyone has any more ideas. I have exactly the same symptoms as njaremka. I also have the factory lightning USB adapter AND the Tune2Air Bluetooth adapter. It is completely random on both devices. So frustrating! I have debated replacing the assembly in the console with the USB and Aux ports, I wonder if there is a defect inside that piece? I think I saw it listed at around $50 for a new one, and it is a unplug/plug installation.

2008 R55 with the HiFi option, but no NAV.

 

With the Tune2Air module, turns out I was not waiting long enough. I’ve not had any issues with it since my last post on this thread.

 

That’s awesome! Sounds like we may have different issues with the connection, because I am for sure waiting long enough. And my connection will just drop in the middle of playing. I can be driving and listening to a podcast on the Tune2Air (or the Mini wired connector) and it will stop playing and default back to FM. When I check audio sources to go back, iPod is no longer listed as a source.

it behaves, in many ways, exactly like an electrical short. Intermittent to fail, and intermittent to correct itself.

Screw it, I just spect $45 on a new usb/aux port assembly. It will be here Monday, I will report back.

 

Please post your experience swapping the port. If its simple enough, I might replace mine too.

 

Good news, bad news kind of thing here. I finally got around to replacing the AUX/USB assembly. Good news is that it is super simple, it is just held in by two tabs, one on each side (east-west), and came out pretty easily. Two connections on the back, and it's free, installation is reverse. The bad news, is that (at least for me) it solved nothing. I still have the same behavior of it sometimes recognizing that I have a device plugged in, and sometimes not. It is completely random. As I shared earlier in the thread, I have both the OEM wired adapter to an Apple Lightning plug, and an aftermarket Bluetooth dongle. Both behave the same way, so it's not the devices. I have also tried multiple ipods/iphones, and the device itself makes no difference.

Now that I think I know it's not the port assembly, I'm thinking about the software that drives the Mini head unit. Anyone know if that can be updated or reflashed in a 2008 R55?

 

I think it's the new tune 2air converting the data on the signal to the old bmw iPod interface

I have three states when it comes to audio in my non-nav model, all random no true rhyme or reason why but the music always works so I've come to accept it.

1) iPod - track data - steering controls (I'd call this perfect working and it's probably one in ten)
2) iPod - no track data - no steering (this is the more likely case 8/10, when the car turns on I notice it take a second before switching the data from aux to iPod)
3) radio - CD - aux - USB (rarely the car will start without the iPod data or driving it'll cut out so 2/10 but other than being annoyed at the more expensive cable not working as intended the audio still plays fine

I think it's just a by product of older factory things and modern devices

 

That very well may be part of it for some struggling with this problem, but that doesn’t explain why it behaves the same way when using the original MINI adapter that was original to the car. In my case, I’m getting the same frequent no-recognition result with both the Tune2Air device and the wired adapter that is made by BMW specifically for this usb/aux set up.

 

To be clear, the wired adapter plugged into an iPod with 30pin or modern iPhone?

I'd venture that tune2air uses the same exact logic as the wired cable and is thus prone to the same issues. My mom had an x5 back in the day with the same cable and it was just as finicky back then

 

Hmm, good point. I was using this device with the lightning connection with a modern iPhone (kinda modern at least, it is an iPhone 8)





But you reminded me that I have another "control group" I can try. I still have the original 30 pin adapter that came with the car in 2008, and I still have a 30 pin iPod floating around in a drawer. I'l charge it up today and see if the 30 pin adapter and a real 30 pin iPod make a difference to my car's ability to "see" that there is a source.

 

Okay, update with the last experiment. I charged up my 30 pin ipod ( Model MA147LL, 5th Gen upgraded to 500GB), and found my 30 PIN MINI dongle. Plugged the USB and AUX cables in and started the car. YAY, the iPod showed up in the sources menu on the screen. Was able to play a song, adjust volume, everything worked just as it is supposed to. Okay, this is all good, right??

Sooooo, I turned everything off, and came back 2 hours later. Started the car up, and ... NO IPOD available in the sources. It's back to not recognizing anything is connected.

So the 30 pin seems like it behaves about like the lightning adapter or the Tune2Air. With the Tune2Air and the lightning adapter, it was somewhere around 50% chance of the MINI recognizing an external device. Once it did not see the device, it will not "see" a device until the car is powered off for a few hours. Then, when restarting the car, again a 50% chance of seeing that external device. Ambient temperature doesn't seem to matter. I have the comfort access option, but it makes no difference whether I have the fob in the dash slot, or if it is in my pocket. I have not been able to identify a variable that makes it more or less likely to happen. So frustrating.

On the good side, I was reminded that I had this iPod in a drawer, so there's that.

 

I'm having similar issues with my 2009 R55S. No power to the USB and no static or anything when I plug into the AUX port. Already tore the dash apart, replace the AUX/USB assembly, and checked that all the wires and connections are clean and plugged in properly. I'm still not getting anything! I have a bluetooth Y-cable I am trying to use with it. Anyone have any ideas? I am considering going to pick-a-part and snagging a used head unit/gauge cluster but am worried that won't fix it either.

 

So, in the interest of building knowledge, I'll share an update. Since I posted the above, I "think" it is actually working much better. I'm not saying it NEVER goes wonky, it just seems t be happening much less often. I estimated it was doing it 50% of the time before I swapped out the AUX/USB module, now I would estimate it fails to recognize the device 10% of the time or less. I can live with that.