[Star297]

I used this forum to find out how to change my Navigation DVD Drive on my E92 330d.
The instructions are very good, many thanks!

I have noticed that some guys have had problems after changing theirs, so I thought I would add some information here that would help should anyone else attempt this.

First of all I'm an electronics engineer not a mechanic so my approach will be very much different.

One observation I made in the write up I did not see a mention of removing the battery power to vehicle. This can be potentially catastrophic with this operation.
I'm not sure, perhaps one of you guys could comment on this, I would recommend to disconnect the battery before removing the chassis that holds the DVD/CD drives from the dash. I would imaging that the user memory settings will by wiped by doing this but assume nothing else will be affected when reconnecting.

At the rear of this chassis there is a power regulator block, dropping a screw or screw driver there would be expensive!
I did work on mine 'live' but do have the experience to do this but would not generally recommend it.

One very important aspect is Static electric discharge when handling these DVD drives, the flexy cable connectors and the controllers they connect to. Leather seats will give a certain amount of static protection, however sliding your arse around on synthetic material seats will allow a high static charge to build up. So use an anti-static wrist band connected from your wrist to the metalwork of the car, any point of the DVD/CD drive chassis will be good. This static discharge could be the cause of the other failures mentioned above along with allowing the white flexy cable connectors to come in contact with the metal around the DVD drive (if battery is still connected).

I fitted a DVD drive that came off Ebay, I was lucky mine cost £15 as the guy selling bought the wrong one. This was slightly different to the original with the white flat flexy connector orientated in a vertical position. No problem with this, take care with the connector locking clip, can be delicate and snap. Make sure the cables fit back nicely and not pinched when sliding the new DVD back into the chassis. Once screwed in place the 'static' issue is effective removed and you can power up and test before fully fitting back into the car.

If you follow this procedure it is unlikely you will have any other adverse problems.

I forgot to mention, AFAIK there is no special firmware loaded in the drive electronics that needs to be initialised with the cars computer, its very similar to a standard DVD drive found in most home DVD players. That also applies to the CD player module. Replacing with the BMW drives should simply work. I don't know if diagnostic would see a replacement drive fitted, there may be serial and version numbers in the flash memory of the drive that may show here but only as an indication of what is fitted.

And... the reason these drives fail.
The bulk of the laser assembly is hermetically sealed, however to read and track a disc there is a 'floating' lens assembly.
This lens clearly cannot be sealed so over time ultra fine particles in the air attach themselves to both sides of the lens. A bit like the fine film that builds up on the inside of your windscreen. A 'smoker' in the car will accelerate the process. This has an effect of scattering the reflected laser light returned from the disc not focusing cleanly on the photo sensor array in the laser unit. Hence the pick up will miss track and hunt across the disc more as the film builds up.
The other problems are the rubber/silicon lens suspension will deteriorate over time, hardening and deforming. The laser generating diode will also age that will produce a less clean laser beam. Its a combination of this that causes the problem. Don't try to clean the lens, doing so will almost certainly upset the mechanical alignment and you still have the other factors that you can do nothing about.

Beware of so called 'refurbished' drives. The mechanical alignment is very precise, unless special test equipment and set up process is used it is unlikely you will get 'new' factory set up performance from them. I used to do this for many years using expensive test equipment with a certain amount of success but never achieved the reliability of a new factory drive. Okay for the home DVD player but wouldn't want to keep ripping apart the dash in my car too many times.

[mylydiamy]

Hi all,

I started getting the common error of navigation not being able to read the disk. After checking out multiple forums, I thought it was the dvd player failure. Then I started looking for a new dvd player and found one. I was just about to order it ($150 + $200 for the core) but I saw a post mentioning that it might be due to the dvd disk itself.

The disk I am using isn't original one but it had been working fine for the last 5 years without any issues until a few months ago. Just to make sure it is the disk not the dvd player, I replaced the current one with the original one. Magic!!!! It started working again. I noticed that the original one is thinner than the burned dvd disk.

So those who consider replacing the unit should try the original disk. If problem persists then you may no choice but replace it.

[harmeet]

Replaced my DVD drive earlier using this guide. I had to remove the cd drive first as I couldn't access the screws that held the DVD drive in place, bar that it was straight forward.

Purchased the new drive from Harry Fairbairn, they had them on offer with additional discount.

[cdavi060]

Does any one know if I will have any issues if I completely remove the whole unit (not just the DVD drive) to make this replacement?

Also, if I replace this whole unit with one I found on eBay from another car, will it need to be programmed to the car or will it work no issues?

[Sensible_]

Originally Posted by cdavi060

Does any one know if I will have any issues if I completely remove the whole unit (not just the DVD drive) to make this replacement?

Also, if I replace this whole unit with one I found on eBay from another car, will it need to be programmed to the car or will it work no issues?

You mean replace the entire CCC HU?

Not much point in this in my opinion. If you buy a used one it may fail very quickly.

Better to repair your current CCC / DVD drive. Or upgrade to CIC or NBT.