2011 cic Idrive continuous freeze and crash

N54POWR · 07-28-2016, 10:23 PM

Car is a 2011 335is, earlier this week it started behaving odd.
First odd thing was a tps system failure warning that cleared on restart. That happened a couple times randomly. The next day the system started crashing and rebooting non stop as shown in this video:

I took it to an independent shop, I thought the battery could be dying. It was the original battery and I was getting some battery discharged warnings.
He tested the battery with 3 different tools, all said the battery was 100% healthy, just low charge.
We replaced it anyways with a brand new battery and hard reset the Idrive. No change.

I did a search here in the forum, lots of posts about crashes but not much continuous like this. One post said there was a fault with the Bluetooth in the telemantics unit, that unplugging the unit stopped the problem.
I tried unplugging the entire telemantics unit, no change.

Of course the cars cpo warranty just expired last month...
So next stop is the dealership.
Anyone have any advice?

ptpending · 07-29-2016, 03:57 AM

may be HDD gone

elbutio · 10-05-2016, 02:49 PM

did you sort this and if so how? just having similar thing happen

opjose · 10-11-2016, 08:11 PM

Typical dying HDD.

The iDrive boots off of FLASH memory, but it freezes when trying to access bad sectors on the hard disk drive.

After being unable to read sectors repeatedly it reboots.

N54POWR · 10-27-2016, 03:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by opjose

Typical dying HDD.

The iDrive boots off of FLASH memory, but it freezes when trying to access bad sectors on the hard disk drive.

After being unable to read sectors repeatedly it reboots.

That's exactly what it was.

I ended up taking it to the dealer and complaining about such an expensive repair so soon out of my warranty.
They petitioned Bmw to cover the repair on their goodwill program and they ended up replacing the cic unit for free.

opjose · 10-28-2016, 01:59 AM

Glad to hear you got it sorted out well.

murgins · 10-08-2022, 05:23 PM

Hi there, I know this was an old post but I’m having the same problem. I sent the CIC out for repair but they couldn’t figure it out. Turns out when I pull out the hard drive, it doesn’t crash. Though you replaced the CIC, did you ever get any answers as to what was the problem?

opjose · 10-10-2022, 01:22 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by murgins

Hi there, I know this was an old post but I’m having the same problem. I sent the CIC out for repair but they couldn’t figure it out. Turns out when I pull out the hard drive, it doesn’t crash.

You have effectively found the answer to the problem.

The HDD is dying and has developed bad sectors.

It can be replaced with another drive but you will need an image of a CIC hard drive to restore to that drive.

Even then the FSC codes will not correspond to your car and must be updated to re-enable all of the CIC functions.

BMW does not make any of this easy!

Having a backup of your original HDD helps a lot, but only a very few people have done that.

07-28-2016, 10:23 PM	#1
N54POWR Private First Class 52 Rep 165 Posts Drives: 2011 335is Join Date: Jun 2013 Location: Malibu, California iTrader: (0) Garage List 2011 335is [8.66]	2011 cic Idrive continuous freeze and crash Car is a 2011 335is, earlier this week it started behaving odd. First odd thing was a tps system failure warning that cleared on restart. That happened a couple times randomly. The next day the system started crashing and rebooting non stop as shown in this video: I took it to an independent shop, I thought the battery could be dying. It was the original battery and I was getting some battery discharged warnings. He tested the battery with 3 different tools, all said the battery was 100% healthy, just low charge. We replaced it anyways with a brand new battery and hard reset the Idrive. No change. I did a search here in the forum, lots of posts about crashes but not much continuous like this. One post said there was a fault with the Bluetooth in the telemantics unit, that unplugging the unit stopped the problem. I tried unplugging the entire telemantics unit, no change. Of course the cars cpo warranty just expired last month... So next stop is the dealership. Anyone have any advice?
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07-29-2016, 03:57 AM	#2
ptpending Colonel 456 Rep 2,749 Posts Drives: e91 Join Date: Dec 2013 Location: Poland iTrader: (1)	may be HDD gone __________________ E81 2007 130i 6cylinder Montego blue Retrofits: Harman Kardon, High-beam assistant, Removable tow hitch. Auto-dim folding exterior mirrors. Lumbar support. Perfomance Brakes.
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10-05-2016, 02:49 PM	#3
elbutio Private 7 Rep 91 Posts Drives: 335d F31 & 330d E91 Join Date: Mar 2011 Location: UK iTrader: (0)	did you sort this and if so how? just having similar thing happen
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10-11-2016, 08:11 PM	#4
opjose Major 242 Rep 1,354 Posts Drives: 335xi Join Date: May 2016 Location: Md iTrader: (0)	Typical dying HDD. The iDrive boots off of FLASH memory, but it freezes when trying to access bad sectors on the hard disk drive. After being unable to read sectors repeatedly it reboots.
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10-28-2016, 01:59 AM	#6
opjose Major 242 Rep 1,354 Posts Drives: 335xi Join Date: May 2016 Location: Md iTrader: (0)	Glad to hear you got it sorted out well.
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10-08-2022, 05:23 PM	#7
murgins New Member 0 Rep 10 Posts Drives: 2009 BMW Z4 E89 Join Date: Sep 2014 Location: Toronto, Canada iTrader: (0)	Hi there, I know this was an old post but I’m having the same problem. I sent the CIC out for repair but they couldn’t figure it out. Turns out when I pull out the hard drive, it doesn’t crash. Though you replaced the CIC, did you ever get any answers as to what was the problem?
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