Newbie questions: E-Sys and what NOT to do...

[dazed1970]

Hello,

Yesterday I wanted to revisit BMW coding on my current F11, as I already had done in the past with my E61: the goal was to activate "Video in Motion", for no other reason than using this as a challenge.

I downloaded E-Sys and the parameter pack and after some struggling I was able to connect to my car and read out the ECU and the NBT section. However, instead of seeing text descriptions of each parameter, allowing me to follow the instructions that tell which parameters to edit to get Video in Motion active, all parameters were listed with just a "."!

After reading alot of confusing posts on different forums, it seems that starting 2014/2015, BMW changed the way E-Sys shows the parameters and some kind of Loader Tool is required to convert the truncated parameter names into meaningfull ones. This Loader, though, needs "tokens" to run, which basically represents a credit based licensing system.

Question: I am correct so far? Can someone tell me if I am missing something? I did find some cracked tool that generates the token file, but I could not test if it was working, because of a new problem, which I would like to advise others like myself, new to coding.

What I did was to bring my laptop to my garage and set it up on a table next to my car. The ethernet cable was long enough to be connected to my car, while I was using the laptop. I turned the car on (without the engine running). I forgot about the automatic light settings and I definitely did not notice the time flying by.

As a result, after 2-3 hours I drained the battery of my car to a point where it would not start again and the on board displays were showing all kind of problems (battery low, handbreak faulty, etc.).

Because I did not have a battery starter cable, I ended up having to call travel assistance! The car started and I drove it about half an hour to charge the battery. It seems all is ok and this morning I went to purchase a battery starter cable - this will not happen to me a second time.

Anyway, the recommendation is this: when messing around with cables and coding, do NOT leave your car switched on! You will drain the battery really quickly. I guess the same is true for updating the navigation maps, which takes forever, too.

At least keep the engine running and make sure you switch the lights of, instead of leaving them in the A(automatic) setting.

Cheers,
vma

[Qsilver7]

When updating the nav maps with a thumb drive…as long as you leave the thumb drive plugged in. You can start and stop the car and the updating will pickup and continue where it was last stopped until the system is completely updated. So, if you don’t get the nav maps updated within the time you’re driving around. Don’t fret shutting down the car….just leave the thumb drive plugged in and map update will continue upon restart.

If coding…I highly recommend using a battery charger or running the engine (for modules that can be updated with the engine running) if you’re going to be doing a session longer than a couple of minutes…2-3 hours with no additional power source is a recipe for disaster.