# iPod classic freezing up using USB connection and idrive



## MasterYoda (Apr 4, 2013)

Let me start off by saying that I've been searching for a fix for this issue for awhile and there doesn't seem to be one. My iPod classic 160gb randomly freezes up while connected via USB to my 2011 e92 335is. We've had multiple BMWs and have not had this issue until this car. The Y cable was used on a couple of our other vehicles with no problems whatsoever. Our other car an F30 335 with my wife's 160gb classic has been working flawlessly. The iPod will just randomly not be recognized by the vehicle and will have to either be reset or disconnected and reconnected by unplugging the USB.



This is very annoying and has been happening more frequently. Ive checked the settings and gone into the system on the iPod and it is in fine working order. It seems that people with all different series of BMWs have been having this problem for years now and apple/BMW just point the finger at each other without alleviating the issue. 



The software is up to date on the iPod so thats not the problem. I would rather not go back to the Y cable as I like having all the album art on the drive screen. My music library is extensive (almost have the 160gb filled) so a nano, touch, or uploading music to my annoying small hard drive in the car is out. 



I Figured I would start a thread to see if any one has found a fix for this problem.


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## Fish23 (Apr 24, 2012)

Did you try a separate USB cable and a separate microphone cable to see what result there is so as to eliminate the Y cable as a source of the problem?


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## MasterYoda (Apr 4, 2013)

Fish23 said:


> Did you try a separate USB cable and a separate microphone cable to see what result there is so as to eliminate the Y cable as a source of the problem?
> 
> Sent from BimmerApp mobile appo


I stopped using the Y cable in this car because I wanted album art on my idrive screen and BMW updated the e9xs so they would be able to use the apple (oem) USB cable. I purchased a new USB apple cable but that hasn't solved the problem. I'm not sure what to do? I can go back to using the Y cable but that annoys me because apple and BMW have a partnership and these things should work seamlessly. I researched this issue and it's been going on for years with the 3 and 5 series.

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## Fish23 (Apr 24, 2012)

I have a 2011 535 GT and a 2013 335 (both AWD) and both stereos have worked flawlessly with external players (one a SONY MP3 player and one an Apple iPod). I have yet to import the music on to the hard drives. I have not experienced any trouble at all. 

I have some other questions: 

a. Does your iPod work correctly on its own so it can be elimianted as a problem source?; and

b. Have you updated your MX/TX software to the latest version to eliminate that as a problem? The BMW website will contain information as how to determine what the latest version is that you can compare to the version in your vehicle that you can find on the iDrive. Then you can update, if necessary, and see if that resolves the problem. 


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## flavius99 (Nov 18, 2013)

It happens with my 2014 F25 like once a month (USB cable connection).


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## MasterYoda (Apr 4, 2013)

Fish23 said:


> I have a 2011 535 GT and a 2013 335 (both AWD) and both stereos have worked flawlessly with external players (one a SONY MP3 player and one an Apple iPod). I have yet to import the music on to the hard drives. I have not experienced any trouble at all.
> 
> I have some other questions:
> 
> ...


My iPod works fine on its own at this point. They do get finicky over time and I've had them crap out after years of use but this one is only a couple years old. My wife has the same exact iPod (bought together) in her F30 335 and it works perfectly, not one issue or freeze up.

I've been debating about going to the dealer to try and rule out the software as a problem but in doing the research on this issue people kept saying that the dealerships couldn't solve the problem.

I'm away on Vacation right now. When we get back ill check out the software as you recommended. I wasn't aware the I was able to do that.

Can I update the software on my own if need be? Or do I have to take in to the dealer?

Thanks for your help and replies.

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## Fish23 (Apr 24, 2012)

You can se that based on your responses to my questions that we are eliminating possible causes outside of the car itself. If the same ipod model works prefectly in your wife's vehicle ten that is good to know. To be on the safe side, once you return could you test your ipod in her car (and hers in your vehicle) just to see if the symptoms appear in either car? If the problem were to follow to her car then I would suspect your ipod. If her ipod froze up in your vehicle then it looks like a problem with your vehicle for sure. What I don't know is if her vehicle and yours have the same version of the TX/MX software which may be linked to what you are experiencing. My wife's 335 had a different version than my 2011 (before I recently updated). Updating is easy. First go to this website:

First, watch this video:

http://www.autofixinfo.com/sH6SjHoWVR_MW2/BMW-Software-Update.html

It will show you everything you need to do.

http://www.bmw.com/_common/shared/owners/bluetooth/pdf/Readme_UPD01004_ENG.pdf

Once you have updated, re-connect your ipod and see if the problem has been resolved. I am hoping that if there was a software issue before in your vehicle, then updating the software will clear the problem. If it does not then, there is almost certainly an issue with the vehicle's electronics that you may wish to have addressed by your dealer under warranty (of which I hope that you still have some left).

Enjoy your vacation......


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## MasterYoda (Apr 4, 2013)

Fish23 said:


> You can se that based on your responses to my questions that we are eliminating possible causes outside of the car itself. If the same ipod model works prefectly in your wife's vehicle ten that is good to know. To be on the safe side, once you return could you test your ipod in her car (and hers in your vehicle) just to see if the symptoms appear in either car? If the problem were to follow to her car then I would suspect your ipod. If her ipod froze up in your vehicle then it looks like a problem with your vehicle for sure. What I don't know is if her vehicle and yours have the same version of the TX/MX software which may be linked to what you are experiencing. My wife's 335 had a different version than my 2011 (before I recently updated). Updating is easy. First go to this website:
> 
> First, watch this video:
> 
> ...


Thank you Fish for your help. Much appreciated. I'll update this post when I get back and have time to mess around with the cars.

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## Zeichen311 (Mar 31, 2011)

Not to rain on the parade in advance, but ... the latest MX/TX drivers are not going to fix the problem. I experience the same random lockups, despite having updated my media drivers whenever a new release was available (at least twice since delivery). Like you, I searched (on and off) for the fix for years and never found a definitive cause, let alone a solution.

As you have observed, incidients are more or less random. It may happen several times in as many days, then may not recur for weeks on end. There *may* be a correlation with certain songs/albums (damaged/sub-standard files?) but that is not consistent either. Songs that caused a freeze on multiple occasions will, more often than not, play without incident.

The usual dance steps I follow to reset playback have been: Mute car audio, reboot iPod, select different album/track (through iDrive), start playback, unmute audio. Simply rebooting or reconnecting the iPod will usually cause an immediate freeze when iDrive tries to resume playback. I've found that forcing it to change tracks increases the chance of recovery on the first attempt, although sometimes even that does not work.

I have an original iPod Classic, 80GB, which pretty much lives in the car. It runs the latest available firmware. Apart from lockups in the car, it has always functioned properly, either alone or when connected to any of several PCs over the years. I have never used any connection to the car except a genuine Apple USB cable and have used at least three different ones (two brand-new). It *might* be temporarily better with a brand-new cable but the correlation, if any, is weak. I had the iPod inspected at an Apple store; they confirmed the dock connector is OK and it's otherwise healthy. I let the dealer investigate several times while under warranty but as the damn thing would never freeze while in their possession, there was of course nothing they could do.

Basically, I've grudgingly accepted this as some quirk of the iPod Classic that iDrive cannot tolerate. The iPod was already 3-4 years old when I picked up the car so minor compatibility issues would not surprise me. I've talked to a few other people about the problem and, while my sample size was admittedly tiny, it seems newer iPods are not plagued by this--just the Classic. Oh, joy. 

One of These Days (TM), I'll either buy a new Nano or Touch or something, or find a friend willing to lend one to me for a couple of months. Then...we'll see.


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## Zeichen311 (Mar 31, 2011)

Oh, just to throw it out there: I did have one wild speculation as to the cause. (This is *speculation*--I have nothing but general engineering knowledge to back it up.) The iPod Classic models are the only ones that use a spinning hard drive for media storage. All the rest use flash memory of some kind. I couldn't help but wonder whether the variable current drawn by the HD sometimes produces voltage fluctuations that the car's USB interface cannot tolerate.

Note that BMW did explicitly state (back then) that USB hard drives were *not supported* for external media--specifically due to possible excessive current demands, IIRC. The iPod Classic is fundamentally an external HD, albeit a small and efficient one, so perhaps my speculation is not so wild after all.


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## Fish23 (Apr 24, 2012)

Zeichen has provided valuable insight with the information about BMWs and USB Hard Drives. I was not aware that the iPod that you have had a HD. Still, your wife's works flawlessly in her 335. Why not try taking hers into your vehicle and see if the problem appears. If it does, then I would say your vehicle has an issue. Also try your Ipod in her vehicle. If your iPod then works flawlessly like hers does, then you have most likely eliminated the Ipods themselves and you are back to a 'your vehicle' issue. The randomness of the occurrence suggest that maybe there is a voltage or current issue where the iPod state reacts to a momentary change below the minimum value in either one that it needs and does not like it. 

Zeichen has experienced everything you ave and has tried to epxplore all sides of the issue to no avail. Between what he has done and my suggestions, I am at a loss for an explanation.


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## MasterYoda (Apr 4, 2013)

Hey Guys, Just got back the other day and wanted to post an update. Thank you for your replies. Zeichen I can see that you have done a bunch of research on this "issue" also and are having the exact same issues that I have. I downloaded the new software and installed it on my e92 and within 5 minutes the iPod froze up. I am going to do an experiment where I use a new nano in my car, my iPod in my wife's etc etc.. just haven't had the time. What I did the other day was swap out the USB apple connection (new one purchased because of this) for my old Y cable and amazinginly haven't had a freeze up since (no album art but at this point who cares). In researching this problem I have also seen it mentioned that the classic and its hard drive could possibly be the cause. In all honestly this shouldn't be an issue in a $60,000 when new BMW. We just got back from New Orleans and had a rental Subaru Legacy for a bunch of days, my iPod worked flawlessly in that car. If the iPod touch had more space (80gbs) I would just buy one but I have an extensive music library. 

Ill update this post when I have some time to swap some things around between vehicles. Thanks


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## MasterYoda (Apr 4, 2013)

Quick update. It's been 2 weeks using the Y cable vs the apple USB connection and zero issues. 

Album art isn't that important anymore!

Thanks for everyone's replies and help/suggestions 




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## John SD (Jul 19, 2014)

Thanks This was helpful. I have a 2008 335i and will verify what software I have.


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## bjornand1 (Jan 28, 2015)

Hi, I realize there haven't been any posts in this thread for a while, but perhaps somebody is still working on this?

I have the same issues as everyone else, including confirming that iPod Nano/Touch work well (but have too little memory). I see that on eBay, I can buy an iPod Classic upgraded with a 256GB SSD. Would this solve the problem, I wonder?


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