"ALARM" written on MID

So strange thing happen... I was in my garage, cleaning something and I was listening music from the CD on the car (6 cd changer). After an hour of listening, the music has change to radio by it self, and after a minute or so again to CD (the engine was not working). Next day while I drive my car, same thing happen again. From CD to radio and again to CD, but this time I saw "ALARM" written on the MID screen. Does somebody know what is the reason for this? Thanks
p.s. the car is 525d 2002 with DSP and 6-cd changer

If the engine wasn't running, then more than likely you ran the battery down by leaving it on for over an hour. Not only is the radio running, but so are all other electronic modules etc. When the battery's voltage gets low...all kind of crazy electronic gremlins can occur. It's kind of like a boxer that gets hit in the head real hard and becomes disoriented.

On the next day...the electronic gremlins were probably still occurred until the car's charging system built the battery back up to acceptable voltage. Running your car battery to a deep state of discharge is not a good idea because it causes concealed damage...and kind speed up the untimely death of the battery. BTW...do you know if this is the car's original battery? Looking at your model year...it could be the original BMW VARTA battery...or you could be on the 2nd battery for the car. A car battery usually has a 4-6 yr life-span under average usage...but depending on battery brand (especially the original VARTA batteries) they can last from 6-12 yrs. Either way...you fall into a window where battery issues can appear.

Originally Posted by QSilver7

If .....

Thank you for the explanation, what you say it make sense. I hope I will not have any problems later on. About the battery, it's the second one. I bought it last year (exactly one year). The brand is "TOPLA" TOP 95 Ah / 900 A (made in Slovenia). I don't have any problems with starting the car or any other... Thank's again and happy holidays to all.

Originally Posted by tazzboy

Thank you for the explanation, what you say it make sense. I hope I will not have any problems later on. About the battery, it's the second one. I bought it last year (exactly one year). The brand is "TOPLA" TOP 95 Ah / 900 A (made in Slovenia). I don't have any problems with starting the car or any other... Thank's again and happy holidays to all.

No idea for sure, but would understand if the changer has a problem...either a disk not seated, a drawer not in straight and the car is letting you know their is an issue with the changer cartridge which would seem to make sense if battery turns out not to be culprit. I found early on that even listening to car radio while say washing car is long enough to take battery below minimum level. This is why our cars have 140 amp alternators and 1000 amp batteries. When car is just on, HVAC blower can be running, all modules active, etc. just as Q-man said. I could see the car's audio system continuing to try and run CD if it thinks something is jamming-up changer.

Maybe something is shifted - not in line with the cartridge or it's bad disc ... I'll check that also. Thanks And for discharging the battery while listening music w/o engine running, I think that the ECU is stopping the music to prevent the battery to drain more than it should. It is some kind of protection from the ECU. (NOT sure)

Just out of curiousity, I looked here for the message, to no avail:
- List of all possible BMW E39 instrument cluster 20-digit alphanumeric display warning/information messages (1)

Maybe the MID has different error messages than the cluster?
Or, maybe the song was sung by The Alarm?

Originally Posted by bluebee

Just out of curiousity, I looked here for the message, to no avail:
- List of all possible BMW E39 instrument cluster 20-digit alphanumeric display warning/information messages (1)

Maybe the MID has different error messages than the cluster?
Or, maybe the song was sung by The Alarm?

Maybe it was the RDS showing band or song name something with "ALARM" in it, but I don't think so. I mean what are the chances the music to change from CD to radio by it self, and in that time on radio to play song with name "ALARM" ? Anyhow I will keep an eye on that and I'll write.

This is a good one, for sure. I have an 01 525, and didn't think the MID had that capability.