DIY Coding your BMW...so simple it is available to all!

I have a Dell D630 for mine, exclusively for diagnostics & coding. I have 4 Gb of RAM in that one, its useful to have as much RAM as you can for the VMWare machine.

That is good advice, even with 2gb the VMWare crawls. I haven't tried it since I got my new memory module in and it is 1.5gb.

Luckily the coding portion of the software does not require VMWare to operate, NCS Expert is perfectly snappy no matter what.

Good... Im going to do complete wipe (DOD 3 pass) followed by a partition and format, and then load a clean XP OS... I'm really looking forward to this. I can see it saving me a lot of money in diagnostics. And Just one battery program and its paid for.... Plus when I take my car into the shop I think it will help with them knowing they can't BS me....

Just ordered mine can't wait to get it and start hacking!!!
I love hacking!!


Thanks guys

Originally Posted by tampamark

That is good advice, even with 2gb the VMWare crawls. I haven't tried it since I got my new memory module in and it is 1.5gb.

With regard to VMWare, it will run slowly no matter how much RAM you have. A tip for using DIS in VMWare is to move your mouse slightly after clicking anything on the screen. It would seem as though your click doesn't get registered without the movement.

My tip is dont use dis. I have it installed on a seperate hard drive and in the past 2 years ive never had to use it. Just use winkfp, ncsexpert, inpa, and tool32 and thats all you need. A whole lot faster also.

Well I got my used computer (IBM ThinkPad) from eBay yesterday....
Im going to do a complete wipe and reinstall Windows XP so I know there isn't any viruses or malware on it... Don't plan on using it for anything else then coding.
Ill show the install of the software and then my first action will be to remove the welcome/disclaimer pop up on starting. Hopefully that will be easy enough
But first I'm off to Hawaii for two days.
Wish me luck...

Good deal, enjoy your trip!

Man I can't get passed step #2 I got the driver installed but that's it.... using my toshiba netbook running win 7 with 1.67 g intel atom, with 1 gig of ram, and 150 gig of hard drive space.
won't install after the driver?? don't know why ?? Also uninstalled the virus software and disabled the firewall, still nothing!

Suggestions???

Originally Posted by Nitrogen

Man I can't get passed step #2 I got the driver installed but that's it.... using my toshiba netbook running win 7 with 1.67 g intel atom, with 1 gig of ram, and 150 gig of hard drive space.
won't install after the driver?? don't know why ?? Also uninstalled the virus software and disabled the firewall, still nothing!

Suggestions???

Which driver won't install???

After the usb driver install next step #2 fails. On the install list. Don't know why???

Originally Posted by Nitrogen

After the usb driver install next step #2 fails. On the install list. Don't know why???

Have you got the cable plugged in to your laptop to continue with the install? I think you need to have the cable attached to install the software.

I bought a cheap eBay cable back in late November, and had spent 2 months trying to get it to work properly, with no success.
After seeing this thread, I bit the bullet and went with the BM Technic kit at the end of Feb. the cable arrived today, I downloaded their software (onto a MacBook Pro running Windows 7 in Bootcamp), and about an hour after that I had TV in motion, no annoying disclaimer screen at startup, and indicators in my HUD.
Absolute piece of cake - very happy. Thanks to the OP for pointing this option out.

Originally Posted by Nitrogen

After the usb driver install next step #2 fails. On the install list. Don't know why???

Not sure if you followed the coding thread but in our cars one pin (I believe it's pin 8) on the large ODB connector must be disconnected to work.

Originally Posted by rebel.ranter

Have you got the cable plugged in to your laptop to continue with the install? I think you need to have the cable attached to install the software.

Yeah I did have it plugged. Chris from the company sent me new programs he thinks mine are corrupt.

Originally Posted by roseng

Not sure if you followed the coding thread but in our cars one pin (I believe it's pin 8) on the large ODB connector must be disconnected to work.

They send a cable already working, the cable is specific to the model year

Sent from my SCH-I510 using Bimmer App

It was corrupted files Chris sent me 2 new ones and it solved the problem!!!

Originally Posted by Nitrogen

It was corrupted files Chris sent me 2 new ones and it solved the problem!!!

There you are! One of the reasons I started this thread and even recommending BMT is that they are known for very good Support.

If you have an issue save yourselves some hassle, don't post here, send it to Chris at BMT. He has seen it all probably.

Once your up and running and have specific coding questions about our car this is a great place though. We have some closet-coders that have been doing it for a while...

Originally Posted by tampamark

There you are! One of the reasons I started this thread and even recommending BMT is that they are known for very good Support.

If you have an issue save yourselves some hassle, don't post here, send it to Chris at BMT. He has seen it all probably.

Once your up and running and have specific coding questions about our car this is a great place though. We have some closet-coders that have been doing it for a while...

I appreciate you recommending them Chris is the best he responded right away. Resolved my problem till I got to Step 7 and another error I emailed him and he is sending me a new flash drive with all new files. Best Customer service in my opinion. Good find Mark Cheers

Why don't someone makes a video tutorial for this thing. It will be a lot easier.

Great job tampa! I was entertaining the thought of coding myself. Mostly for the dension function. However I saw all the zip files that were posted on the M5 board and gave up. However I followed your link for the ncsexpert install and it worked like a charm. Now I might need to update the bin file (i think that is the file extention). Nevertheless the install was seemless. I am going to try to update my car when I pick it up from ATL next week. Spring is coming gentlemen and it is time to drop the top.

Sent from my SPH-D710 using Bimmer App

What do you mean when you say "update"? If it is just making a few coding changes then fine. However if you're talking about doing a software update (using Progman or WinKFP) then I would advise against it. A software update can take hours, you need a strong (60A) power supply hooked up to the car as any dip in power can result in a bad software write, this can result in a "bricked" module.
While the software & cable set up being discussed here is very good, it has limitations compared to the original system it is based on. So a software update will take much longer.

Finally it is important to understand the difference between programming & coding. Coding is simply changing the settings of parameters within a module. For example "not active" to "active". (nicht_aktiv -> aktiv). Programming is changing the version of software running on a particular module, this will either be done to make module more stable (eg due to a software bug in original SW version), or to add further features/parameters to the module. One example of new features is when the MASK/CCC (iDrive screen) is updated in an earlier e63 is that the background changes from a brown colour to a silver/grey colour.

Rebel.Ranter,

Thanks for the clearification. I want to add the ipod line in the bin file so that my dension can be properly configured. I read on the M5 forum that this reqiure you to check what version of the Idrive SW you are using. However I did the whole up, down, left right procedure on the idrive and was unable to determine what #'s to go by because the instructions I read on the M5 board said one thing and my car said another. Hense I could not determine what #'s to go by because the #'s they refered to did not exist on my car. However i do have the silver and grey background so I think I'm good. Oh and also when I said "Update" I was refering to the Daten files on NCSEXPERT.

Originally Posted by rebel.ranter

With regard to VMWare, it will run slowly no matter how much RAM you have. A tip for using DIS in VMWare is to move your mouse slightly after clicking anything on the screen. It would seem as though your click doesn't get registered without the movement.

try installing VMware tools

Originally Posted by castercorey

Rebel.Ranter,

Thanks for the clearification. I want to add the ipod line in the bin file so that my dension can be properly configured. I read on the M5 forum that this reqiure you to check what version of the Idrive SW you are using. However I did the whole up, down, left right procedure on the idrive and was unable to determine what #'s to go by because the instructions I read on the M5 board said one thing and my car said another. Hense I could not determine what #'s to go by because the #'s they refered to did not exist on my car. However i do have the silver and grey background so I think I'm good. Oh and also when I said "Update" I was refering to the Daten files on NCSEXPERT.

I have the Dension installed in my 2006 e63 with the original software version still on the car. You need to add +IPOD in to the VO of the car. I posted a link to a DIY on how to do that on the previous page of this thread. You also need to make three changes in the CCC (or MASK if you don't have Nav). These changes are related to enabling MP3.