Yikes!

(MDSBrain, I posted a version of this on your blog too)

OK, so I downloaded the v27, used WinRAR to decompress, and Alcohol120 to burn, slowest speed. All went well in that process far as I can tell.

Followed instructions to install software. Inserted CD. Screen said "loading cd", and unit sounded like it was reading CD for a long time (more than 6 minutes), before I finally got the message that it was upgrading (is that normal? probably not). I was getting quite nervous at this point, but a little relieved once I saw the "this CD will upgrade your software" screen. Then it went really fast! But then it paused at the end (once the bar went from left to right indicating progress/complete)... and then I got a message "An error occured during this upgrade. Please consult your owner's manual. Eject cd and verify with ok" It then spit out the CD and I clicked ok (what else could I do?) <<heart pounding... visions of $1700 at the dealer running through my head>>

Sat there for a while looking at a blank screen and listening to the whirring of the NAV unit (is that normal? whirring when no CD/DVD inserted?). Thought well... if the upgrade failed, maybe the old OS is still installed... seemed to want to read a DVD... so I put the map DVD back in. NOthing. Still a blank screen. Hesitated, but did turn the ignition off at that point. Turned it back on to see if that "rebooted" anything. Nothing. Blank screen. OK... now really starting to get quite nervous. Trying not to panic!:impatient

Not sure what to do now??? I hope I haven't "fried" the computer. Egad. Has anyone heard of this issue during install before? Any suggestions? What should I try? Should I try to re-install? With the same CD? Should I burn a new CD? Do I need a different kind of CD (how do you know if a CD is "high quality" I used the same Philips CDs I use for everything else...)? Should I try a different OS version? Am I going to be screwed if I have to go in to the dealer for a repair? Are they going to know I did this? Will I be in trouble for doing it? I'd like to avoid the dealer if possible of course. I don't want to screw it up more than it is, but if it's already screwed up, maybe I can't hurt it worse at this point.. I mean if I am going to have to pay them to fix it anyway, then I might as well try something else myself first... I don't know... help!

 

I am going to go Zaino my car now for a little stress relief

at least he will be shiny when I get lost around Atlanta.

 

T0810, where are you located (geographically?). You mention Atlanta in your second post, but I just wanted to check. If I was in your shoes, I would try to get my hands on a "known good" upgrade CD, and try to perform the upgrade again, simply by putting in that "good" upgrade CD while the car is completely off and then turning the car on.

Note however that the Nav system "wakes up" as soon as you open the door, without even putting in the key. Ideally you will want the system to be completely off before inserting the upgrade CD to try to fix this.

I'm no expert on how it works, but it sounds to me like it's worth a try. Just open the doors, sit in the car, wait a full 5 minutes without opening or closing the doors... and hopefully then the Nav system will go back to sleep. THEN insert the "known good" upgrade CD, start up the car, wait and pray.

If that doesn't work, you'll probably need to buy a new Nav computer. Before paying full price for that (you can try the warranty method but your dealer may not honor it for this), search around and see if you can buy a used BMW/MINI DVD nav computer from elsewhere, such as a wrecked MINI.

Good luck - I'm very sorry to hear of your troubles!

 

Yes, I am in Atlanta. If this is the best solution, and anyone knows where I can get a "known good" DVD please let me know. I'd buy one if that is possible. (I already tried that once via eBay but that didn't work).

I would also be happy to pay for insured shipping both ways (here and to return it to you) to 'borrow' a known good v 27 CD... if this might work?

yikes.

 

I'm looking at the X5 forums and it's looking like someone else had a problem too in upgrading... appears he downgraded back to earlier version (v26) and was able to recover. Then he tried again to upgrade to v27 using a newly burned CD on different media (which at that point I would be too afraid to try, I think!) and it worked. I'd be happy to just recover anything right now... and stay with it.

However, I don't believe I have a recovery disc for any version. The OS version that came with my MINI was v20 (I just got the MINI in Jan 06, no upgrades had been performed by prev owner far as I can tell). I don't have any discs though, other than the map DVD. I have all the books, documentation, etc., but no OS CDs?

Still looking, but more ideas are definitely welcome... I'm really not sure what to do.

 

First try reburning a new v27 CD on different brand media, and if that still fails try on a different computer. Others have reported their Nav having problems with upgrading, and it turned out only that the Nav had trouble reading the burned CD. If you downgrade and then upgrade, you risk resetting the Nav from US mode into "no location" mode.

 

Oh- rks- didn't see your post until now. Probably a good thing.

So I browsed the X5 boards for a while and decided to try installing v26. Downloaded, decompressed, burned v26 (and v27 again, just in case).

Went back outside to my lonely, blank, black NAV screen and inserted the v26 CD. Relief! The "this software will upgrade your GPS" screen came on. Whew! At least I knew the unit wasn't dead

v26 upgrade (that was an upgrade for me) was successful. I know I said I'd be too scared to try... but I'm tempted to still try the v27 with the newly burned disc. Especially since it seems like the v26 will recover if v27 fails. But on the other hand, I don't want to push my luck

Looks like there were a couple people on X5 forums who did this back and forth install several times though before the newest upgrade "took" (I noticed this re-install previous version technique on both the v26 and v27 threads). Hmmm.

Also, one comment from the X5 boards was "as long as you can get the CD out of the drive, there is a high probability you can recover" That was encouraging. Not sure if that's true, so definitely don't hold me to that or anything, but just wanted to post that for any future MINI owners who have temporary moments of panic like I did...

 

OK, I'm back again...

After traveling around town tonight, my recover/downgrade/upgrade to v26 seems to be working fine, as far as the 'new' features described for v26. I'm pleased with those- and happy things are working!

However, I think I may be in "Euro" mode? My distances are in yards rather than feet and all of a sudden my MPG looks awesome! My MCS is getting 35.7mpg! lol

Other than these 2 features, which are a little weird, is 'euro mode' a problem? Is there a way to get out of it? Should I try the v27 upgrade again...? Various posts in X5 suggested either installing v27 or needing a dealer reset, but I didn't see where anyone posted they actually resolved the issue. What exactly is a dealer reset? Would that be something I'd have to pay for?

Thanks in advance...

 

Your failed v27 update probably went far enough to store the version in the Nav, so the v26 installation was handled like a downgrade, which reset the Nav into euro mode. The yard distances and mpg calculations are the only differences I've seen mentioned. You also eliminate the nag screen, a nice change for v26 but no longer an issue anyway in v27. If you'd rather have USA mode, I think it's worth a try to play dumb and tell your dealer that the distances suddenly changed to yards.

If you want the v27 features, personally I'd go ahead and try installing v27 again using a new copy. Either it will work, or if it doesn't you still have a known working copy of v26.

 

Thanks rkw. You are right. Sure is nice not to have the nag screen

Well, I'm not sure if I care enough about the v27 features (just bird's eye, right?) to risk the install if it's not something I'm supposed to have on there (?in case I do ever have to go to the dealer for anything NAV related?) or if I'm taking a chance that it might screw up the NAV in any way. Really all I wanted was to upgrade from the extremely outdated v20 that I did have which was just tedious to look at. Having come from using an Garmin iQue in my previous vehicle to the OEM MINI Nav (v20), it's been difficult to get used to (not complaining, it's just different), and I was just hoping to upgrade the MINI NAV to the 'most current' software to improve the views. So if v26 is what I'm supposed to have (?) I'm ok with that for now, except I really would like USA mode, so... idk.... not sure... try the naiive i-don't-know-what-happened dealer reset or try v27 ? Hmmm?

I'm surprised to learn (after reading way too many pages on this topic yesterday!) that the OS discs do not appear to be available to consumers through the dealers/Navteq? That seems so strange! I guess I just assumed 1) recovery discs of OS 4-1/XX would come with each NAV-option MINI in case the NAV did ever crash for any reason 2) we'd be able to purchase each OS upgrade disc/s for a small fee, just like we purchase map updates. I mean, it's like upgrading Windows software... you don't have to take your whole PC to the shop for upgrades...

thanks very much for your help