Hi. Does anybaogy know how to reset, or recalibrate the navigation on my E39?
I drove my car few days ago and while on highway, sudenly the computer voice from the navigation said something like.... you are outside of the digitize map area. The screen looks blue, and although I can see the arow (which indicates the vehicle position) moving as I drive, I see no street signs nor indication of where am I. I tried ejecting and reinserting the CD, but no change. Can someone help me please?

bump .... any help yet?

Sounds like your your map CD does not covers your area. Where are you located and what map # is your CD?

Sounds like your your map CD does not covers your area. Where are you located and what map # is your CD?
It's map #6 on my CD. But that is not the case, since it was working fine until now. I live in NY, and this map covered this area. It started like this: You know how, when you drive fast on highway, the navi takes a second or two to load the new coordinates, where you are. Same thing here. It strted by taking a second, then two, then three, and then it displayed a blue screen whit no street markings on it. It looks like I am driving in the middle of the ocean. Although I am still in middle of NY, I can still hearing sometime saying "you have left the digitized mapping area", or something like that.
Hope this explains it better.
Thanks in advance for any help.

I know a way to find out if your navigation is working properly or not. It could be the gyro is damaged, or it could be some other internal problem. You must perform this diagnostic check to see if your nav unit is damaged. By this, I mean the unit in the trunk, not the monitor.

-From the "Menu" screen, highlight the "Set" option and click it.
-When in the "Set" mode, press and hold down the "Menu" button until you enter an option mode that looks unfamiliar. This is the "NavService" mode.
-When in here, you can check your gyro, wheel sensors, and GPS tracking functionality. You can also do other neat functions such as input your car's color and license plate number. Scroll through the options and look at the different categories that relate to the GPS module. If there is indeed a problem with your ROM drive, you will see an error message that will read "GPS malfunction". This is when you will know your ROM drive needs to be replaced. :( Hope this is not the case, and maybe some other minor problem. Try unplugging the GPS and plugging it back in again, allowing time for it to reset. Let me know if you have any luck. Hope this helps.

Fast5, thanks for your tip. I did what you suggested and I saw under GPS module that i have receiver error. Right now, the map with the streets came back on the screen out of the blue ski, but it shoes that I am in a tottaly different place than the actual one. For ex, I am driving in the city (Manhattan) an it shows that I am located in Long Island, (about 50-60 miles away). Strange isn't it? Can I correct this? If so, how? Weird thing is that it still shows every turn that the car makes and how the arrow on the screen moves as I am driving. Hmm... I am stunned.

tivic, you should be happy to hear that there is nothing major wrong with your GPS system. Since it is reporting a "receiver error", there could be one of a few things that need to be checked. It may be a little difficult, but is a whole lot better than replacing a $2000 ROM unit. "Receiver Error" simply means that the GPS unit isn't receiving an adequate signal from the gyro and wheel sensors. It can be as simple as un un-plugged sensor wire. Since the streets are showing up and the gyro on the screen is moving with your every turn, it sounds as if the sensors are a bit screwy, which could simply lead to something minor, such as a disconnected sensor wire. I had this problem when my GPS system disconnected itself from one of these wires under hard acceleration and cornering. :D Since it is going to be a huge debacle in trying to figure out which wire it is via the forums, I would recommend that you remove the rom unit and bracketry, and look for an unplugged wire; it should be black with a brass fitting at the end. Another thing might be your CD is damaged or scratched. Look at your wheel sensor reports under the service screen that I described to you earlier. See if they are both reading the same numbers while you are driving. It sounds to me like you have a sensor problem, a CD problem, or a disconnected wire. I am positive that it is not your GPS ROM. Do not let BMW, or any other person tell you to purchase a new one. The one you have now is fine. If you saw "GPS malfunction", the story would be quite different. I hope this helps; wish I was there to diagnose it myself. Let me know if you have any luck.

Fast5, after reading your experience of what happened to you, I realized that this is how it happened to me too. I was driving somewhat fast on the highway (doing 80-90) when it started to give the blank screen. As sson as I get home I will try to look for that wire to see if its disconnected. Thing is that I unplugged my bule and yellow plugs from the GPS ROM a couple of time thinking that it may solve the problem, but it didn't. The wire that you talked about, is it on the GPS ROM case, or is it part of the plugs that gets connected to the ROM?
Anyway, I will see what I could find. Thanks again, you've been very helpful.

I agree with opinion that it is probably a receiver problem. When my ROM drive failed at 47K, it was replaced under warranty. In my case, the whole damn thing simply stopped functioning and the drive would auto-eject the discs repeatedly.

??Re: NavService Mode. What does the nav computer do with information such as license plate and car color?

Fast5 and Guaph....
Thaks for your info.
I checked the sensor wire and it was indeed disconnected. Now it works fine.
Thanks again.

sorry to rehash old post but i'm having the same problem. would a bad wheel sensor (which is kicking up ASC and ABS error light) cause this problem as well?

if i was to disconnect and reconnect my nav like suggested, don't i have to wait for it to unwind... something like 2 minutes. yes? thanks for any updated help.

sorry to rehash old post but i'm having the same problem. would a bad wheel sensor (which is kicking up ASC and ABS error light) cause this problem as well?

if i was to disconnect and reconnect my nav like suggested, don't i have to wait for it to unwind... something like 2 minutes. yes? thanks for any updated help.


A wheel sensor? Is this the speed sensor which operates our e39 speedos you are talking about?

A wheel sensor? Is this the speed sensor which operates our e39 speedos you are talking about?

the ABS wheel sensor. front driver's side.

so what causes the nav to work so sluggish? when 'menu' is pressed, it takes a while to go to the nav. also when the nav finally loads, the I have to wait a couple of minutes while it says 'please wait a moment' as it's trying to read the CD I guess.

from the set up menu the nav is working great with all the numbers changing rapidly, it's just not translating into the screen from the CD.

thanks