[tim916]

For some reason my iDrive has totally crashed. When I turn the car on the BMW logo appears for about a minute, and then shuts off for a few seconds and then reappears. I drove around for a while today and it must have done this 20 times. It seems as though it is unable to boot up.

I've tried the manual reset (mute, cd eject, dvd eject) to no avail.

Has this happened to anyone else? Should I take it into CompUsa for service? I'd really like to be able to listen to the goddamn radio again.

[lxapilot118]

CompUSA for service? No no...take to the dealer. I doubt compusa knows much about cars.

[LEDZEP]

Must be running Windows.

[Oz]

I hope the CompUSA thing was a joke. Just take it to the dealer ASAP

They might have to update the drivers or something. I hope everything works out for ya!

[tim916]

Originally Posted by Oz

I hope the CompUSA thing was a joke. Just take it to the dealer ASAP

They might have to update the drivers or something. I hope everything works out for ya!

Yeah, I took it to CompUsa and they told me to buy a Mac! Anyways, I'll just take it to dealer and hopefully it is an easy fix.

[ldpantoja]

That has happened to me a few times already. It pisses me off that this car has so many bugs. I'm starting to feel like Rachel!!!!!!!!!

[Big Foot]

Mine rebooted just as I was downtown in Quebec City at rush hour & lost.
The BMW Logo came on for about 2-3 minutes then the disclamer.
1st time this has happened.

[LEDZEP]

Figures, just when you really need it! Now I'm glad I didn't waste the $2,000

[garethpeate]

Jokes aside, iDrive does indeed run on Windows Automotive Edition (derived from Windows CE).

this used to happen in our 1 series - for some reason, ejecting and re-inserting the Map DVD used to kick it into life.

[JamieA]

Originally Posted by garethpeate

Jokes aside, iDrive does indeed run on Windows Automotive Edition (derived from Windows CE).

this used to happen in our 1 series - for some reason, ejecting and re-inserting the Map DVD used to kick it into life.

As I said on another forum, I hope that the annoying Office Assitant is lurking waiting to pop up at a bad moment, or I get the message "Windows has detected new Hardare - N52 3.0L Engine would you like me to install the drivers?" Then it says "Drivers not found please insert disk"

AARGH- whatever possessed them to use Windows!!!

[JamieA]

Originally Posted by tim916

Yeah, I took it to CompUsa and they told me to buy a Mac!

Great advice, best thing I ever did was go over to the "dark side" and buy my Mac PowerBook G4 everything just works, it is amazing... let's hope Windows Vista is a big step forward, and we can get an iDrive update... with a new set of bugs probably

[Mark]

Germans always make buggy electronics.. its the bane of my automotive experience.

Even in the days before idrive, BMWs had a way of going berzerk with their electronics for no reason. ie. my sunroof would like to open half way randomly and just sit there.. that was fun when it would rain. My stereo display would just disapear and then come back 30 seconds later, etc etc..

I've come to accept that BMW will never make a car thats perfect with the electronics; which is a small price to pay for a car that handles and performs as these cars do. However, if someone is buying this car just for the electronic gizmos, I think its a bad bad mistake (japanese cars are the way to go if you want a rolling computer). I consider them extra toys that are cool if they work, but I expect them to go crazy and do weird things eventually..

[JamieA]

Originally Posted by MarkE90M3

Germans always make buggy electronics.. its the bane of my automotive experience.

Even in the days before idrive, BMWs had a way of going berzerk with their electronics for no reason. ie. my sunroof would like to open half way randomly and just sit there.. that was fun when it would rain. My stereo display would just disapear and then come back 30 seconds later, etc etc..

I've come to accept that BMW will never make a car thats perfect with the electronics; which is a small price to pay for a car that handles and performs as these cars do. However, if someone is buying this car just for the electronic gizmos, I think its a bad bad mistake (japanese cars are the way to go if you want a rolling computer). I consider them extra toys that are cool if they work, but I expect them to go crazy and do weird things eventually..

I couldn't agree with you more. Computer always = weird behaviour, talk to an owner of a car of any other manufacturer and they will tell you about the specific quirks of their brand (especially if they own an early build example of their model) - kinda why we end up loving them I guess. I mean a Lexus may be more reliable, but is it more fun?

I guess cars are now complex systems and we should be more concerned about critical stuff like airbag and other saftety equipment having benn more thoroughly tested, and the occasional iDrive bug... though you would have thought that iDrive would be a mature system by now and stable.

[tim916]

Originally Posted by JamieA

Great advice, best thing I ever did was go over to the "dark side" and buy my Mac PowerBook G4 everything just works, it is amazing... let's hope Windows Vista is a big step forward, and we can get an iDrive update... with a new set of bugs probably

Same here. I went mac about 2 years ago and I will never go back. I wish iDrive ran on OSX.

I'm starting to think that if I could do it all over again I would nix iDrive. Its only real benefit is navigation, and I don't really use it all that much.

Just got back from another drive today and it's the same story. :mad:

[garethpeate]

Same here again. Went Mac a few years ago and everything's so damned easy and uncomplicated! I can't see the logic behind Windows at all... and knowing that iDrive is running Windows is just frustrating!

Long live OSX, even on the Intel platform

On a slightly more serious note, does anyone know what the iDrive OS and software is written in? I've got a feeling it's some web type HTML based language... it all seems to be hyperlinks and framesets...

[Costa]

Hmmm. Being in the Software industry myself (ex-programmer), I guess I can understand some people's frustrations. The main problem with software is that quality is quite often an afterthought, mainly because with software, manufacturers can get away with it.

Consider this - if the mechanical device that opens and closes your sunroof did not work properly - would BMW ship it ? No, because it is an obvious flaw. With software the rules are different - that line of "it works" vs "it doesn't work" is quite blured and subjective. The complexity is much higher, and in compressed timeframes people tend to skimp out on testing, or even worse, don't engineer the software properly to start with.

Given the trend of everything becoming computerised, it is getting pretty scary how many software bugs cars get shipped with these days. In the end it does not really make that much difference which operating system they use - it comes down to the discipline/capability and maturity of the engineers and their managers ...

The sorts of problems you are seeing are a symptom of a highly competitive market which results in very compressed timeframes for development resulting in lots of bugs. The IT industry has suffered because of this for some time now

[theclay]

I have two Macs and one bimmer with no iDrive. I refuse to run crappy Windoze software on anything I own.

My two cents.

[JamieA]

My finger in the air poll says that BMW owners have an above average representation of Mac ownership, which is interesting as this forum does not run properly on Safari!!!

If only iDrive was written by Apple, we would all be very happy indeed with the experience...



Costa - Who did/do you work for? I am also in the IT industry I know...

[theclay]

Originally Posted by JamieA

My finger in the air poll says that BMW owners have an above average representation of Mac ownership, which is interesting as this forum does not run properly on Safari!!!

Administrator, are you listening?

[Costa]

Originally Posted by JamieA

My finger in the air poll says that BMW owners have an above average representation of Mac ownership, which is interesting as this forum does not run properly on Safari!!!

If only iDrive was written by Apple, we would all be very happy indeed with the experience...



Costa - Who did/do you work for? I am also in the IT industry I know...

Hi Jamie

I work for Tenix ... I know

I have always been an admirer of the elegance/class of macs but have never got around to owning one - I never thought the extra $$ premium was worth it, and being an IT/Software person I was always able to sort the problems myself. Interesting that macs have gone down the unix path these days - are the MS days numbered ?

Anyway, I reckon you r assumption on mac vs PC owners might be some way off ... perhaps wishful thinking

I think we might need a poll on this one ?

[JamieA]

I think you are right Costa, a poll would be a good idea.

Macs were my "first love" at Uni, but then I have been using PCs all my life and can fix most PC problems, but came back to the platform when it started using Unix, because Unix is my fav OS of all.... Windows is looking tired and I was bored with it, and OS X is so fresh and the hardware funky, because I am a geek at heart (hence the attraction to all that technology in the BMW) I was like a moth to the flame.

My mac is a salary sacrifice, so it cost me 1/2 price in my view

[tim916]

Update:

I took it into the dealer yesterday. They just called me 5 minutes ago and said that the ""CCC Modulator" has to be replaced, and it's going to take until at least Monday to get the part.

Fortunately, I still have my E36 M3 to drive around over the weekend, so don't feel too bad for me.