Sat Nav

A

andicole0

Active member
 Tunbridge Wells
My sat nav has started rebooting after about an hours use, then, when restarted, seemingly losing track of where the car is. Is this likely to be a unit fault or a damaged CD?

Andi.
 
Mine used to do the exact same where I can use it to get somewhere so it gets about an hours use and then when I go to enter another address, it freezes and I get a message saying something like "Map Disc Not Found".

Spoke to Rusty (goggle him for his details - not hard to find) and he said as I am not using an OEM 2012 disc and it is double sided (hence why v.32 upgrade needed), my laser could be weak so after a while it is not picking up data correctly.

Bought the 2013 disc from him that is single sided and never has a disc read error problem since.
 
i would follow the above and check if you have a genuine disc in there. There are reported cases where copied discs have ruined the drives :o

If you genuine disc give it a good clean, and maybe try the good old, unplug the battery trick!
 
123BillyB said:
Spoke to Rusty (goggle him for his details - not hard to find) and he said as I am not using an OEM 2012 disc and it is double sided (hence why v.32 upgrade needed), my laser could be weak so after a while it is not picking up data correctly.
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Are you sure he didn't say double/dual 'layered'?

You'd need more than a firmware update to enable double-sided reading, as a standard single-sided reader wouldn't be able to read the double-sided disc without you manually flipping it over, and you'd recognise a double-sided disc as it would by necessity have no (or lightscribe) label - otherwise it would obscure the data.

However, I've had the same issues with genuine discs, so don't bother anymore and simply use a TomTom.
 
It's got the V32 firmware installed, but the disc thing hmm, I'll have to go and check :roll:

Might have to get a TomTom as my wifes new one is incredible.

Andi.
 
Did mean dual layer not double layer.

There is nothing illegal with the maps disc I got from rusty as it is not a copy of BMW OEM disc. If anything it is a lot better as it allows you to do full postcode search and has speed cameras and poi's but the main advantage is as it is single layer disc, it is less prone to problems if your laser is showing it's age and it was only cost about £20.

As I said, my unit was showing the same symptos you described but with the 2013 discs I have had no issues.

You will as usual get many opinions here but I am confident that a 2013 single layer disc will solve your issues if it is innatally working fine but problem starts after an hour or so of use.
 
123BillyB said:
There is nothing illegal with the maps disc I got from rusty as it is not a copy of BMW OEM disc.
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Where do you think Rusty got his map data from? It's not like he pays a mapping company millions for the use of their data.

All he does is rip the BMW DVD and then add some custom stuff into it.

It's as illegal as me ripping a CD, adding a new track and then trying to sell it as my own work :P
 
andicole0 said:
Might have to get a TomTom as my wifes new one is incredible.
Click to expand...

Exactly, the Z4 nav is 10+ year old technology. The same is/was true with the old 5 series I had - everybody said sat nav was 'essential' but the reality is it's crap compared to anything made in the last decade, is expensive/impossible to fix if it breaks, and now that the analogue TV signal is no more it's 50% useless too.

Don't waste your time/money trying to fix something that's old hat. If your 21" CRT TV broke, you'd buy a nice new 50" LED TV (the modern standard.) Do the same with your navigation! I just use my iPhone these days, it's brilliant.

Give it 5 years and we'll start seeing 'smooth dash mod' threads instead of 'sat nav retrofit' ones :lol:
 
Here we go again...

Someone asks for a solution to a problem and rather than help, ppl have to throw moral dilemmas and other things in as if everything they have ever done is whiter than white.

The original poster had a problem so if you are going to reply, please try to be a help and not a hindrance. :headbang:
 
Worth doing the battery reset just in case. Also might be worthy checking your battery as when they start to fail they cause all manner of strange behaviours.

If you're unlucky and your nav computer is failing then you'll probably be able to find one on eBay or a breakers. If it fails with read errors it can be the laser and you can repair these.

As to the performance of the unit, they are blindingly fast. Sure the graphics are basic but it calculates routes far faster than my much newer Ford system (blaupunkt) or either of my handhelds (TomTom and Garmin)

I think it's pretty good.
 
Andy, I can't remember where you live, but if you're nearby, I'm happy to plug the laptop in and see if we can pick up any codes from the unit's memory.

I can't speak for the others, but guessing others would help too.
 
Thanks for all the suggestions and comments. I'll let them all sink in while I get my disc/bearing problem resolved.

Andi.
 
Turn of the TPMS traffic.

Sometimes if there is allot of TPMS messages it crashes the Nav and reboots often, so just turn them off.

I know my way around most places and the diversions are crap anyway so when mine did this I turned it off and never rebooted since.

It only did it from time to time anyway but when I most needed my Nav.

see if that works
 
I don't see how any of these posts are unhelpful - I'd say that recommending spending £100 on a new Tom Tom rather than wasting £400 on a second hand, decade old nav DVD drive is sound advice personally.
 
Sorry, been away for a while. Brake calliper is now fixed and I've tried some of the suggestions, including new and old map map discs. In the end a reinstall of the V32 firmware (from a different source) seems to have done the trick.

However I have not been able to take it on a reasonable trip, that will be happening on Friday this week. So I'll reserve final judgement until then.

In the mean time the system is OK, unlikely to be stolen from my car and gets me to where I want to go, mostly.

If the solution had been a £400 replacement unit I don't think I would have bothered.

Andi.
 
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