# Bluetooth woes...



## snalliah (Mar 24, 2005)

I've seen several discussions on this issue but havent been able to get a definitive answer though.

Last weekend I purchased my 2005 E46 M3 with the competition package and was quite excited to find out that it had built in bluetooth support. As soon as got home I first looked for docmentation in the stack that the dealer gave me and there was no mention of this anywhere! So, I dig around the Nav (which is quite unintuitive BTW) for some clue as to how to pair up with my phone and once again came up empty. I eventually found the bluetooth passkey in a sheet of paper in the BMW stack and proceeded to pair it to my phone.

I dont think anyone has tried this phone yet, its an Audiovox SMT5600 SmartPhone. I was actually able to quite easily discover and pair it with my phone. However, I cannot make any outgoing calls, I dont even have the buttons the instructions talk about - the competition package removes all but one button from the steering. I can hear an incoming call ringing but cannot pick it up. I dont think the problem is with phone, does anyone know what I may be doing wrong here...I have only one button that seems like it could be used for the phone.


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## doeboy (Sep 20, 2002)

You'll have to answer and make calls from your handset I believe....

the BT capability is limited to being a hands-free once you initate a call or answer one.

A lot of the functionality seems to be unusable without the rest of the steering wheel buttons.


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## TD330ci (Dec 29, 2001)

doeboy said:


> You'll have to answer and make calls from your handset I believe....
> 
> the BT capability is limited to being a hands-free once you initate a call or answer one.
> 
> A lot of the functionality seems to be unusable without the rest of the steering wheel buttons.


Can you retrofit the regular M3 steering wheel to the Competition pkg and have a the regular capabilities without track mode. I could care less about that feature, but like all the other bits that come with the Comp pkg.

I have a left over M wheel from my old 330. :dunno:


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## snalliah (Mar 24, 2005)

Yes, I am not impressed with them getting rid of all the other buttons from the steering wheel when you pay more $ for the competition package. They should have put more buttons in there instead 

Would it be possible to retrofit the regular steering wheel?


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## doeboy (Sep 20, 2002)

TD330ci said:


> Can you retrofit the regular M3 steering wheel to the Competition pkg and have a the regular capabilities without track mode. I could care less about that feature, but like all the other bits that come with the Comp pkg.
> 
> I have a left over M wheel from my old 330. :dunno:


Hmm that's an interesting question. I don't know the answer to that though. I agree it might be nice to at least give you guys the option of having the buttons that are on the left side of the wheel since that is really all you need for that. Don't know if the button that turns on "track DSC mode" sends the same signal that the cruise control power button sends (I believe that's what the button is on most of the other wheels?). Then there's the issue of the wiring connections behind the airbag that the button bar attaches to. Are the other contacts even there to begin with? Those are some things you might have to look at.

If you have am M3 wheel sitting around from a previous car, I suppose you could try swapping it and see if the buttons work. The results would be interesting and probably very helpful for the other people who may wish to do the same.

But I guess their approach was to try and create a minimalist approach and have a car oriented towards people who want to drive it like it was meant to be instead of having people yapping away on cell phones or playing with their radios. Kind of funny since there is still AC and a radio even. Are the seats power too? I'd think it should come with manual seats but it borders on being too "hardcore" for the average consumer. But I digress...


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## Technic (Jun 24, 2002)

snalliah said:


> I've seen several discussions on this issue but havent been able to get a definitive answer though.
> 
> Last weekend I purchased my 2005 E46 M3 with the competition package and was quite excited to find out that it had built in bluetooth support. As soon as got home I first looked for docmentation in the stack that the dealer gave me and there was no mention of this anywhere! So, I dig around the Nav (which is quite unintuitive BTW) for some clue as to how to pair up with my phone and once again came up empty. I eventually found the bluetooth passkey in a sheet of paper in the BMW stack and proceeded to pair it to my phone.
> 
> I dont think anyone has tried this phone yet, its an Audiovox SMT5600 SmartPhone. I was actually able to quite easily discover and pair it with my phone. However, I cannot make any outgoing calls, I dont even have the buttons the instructions talk about - the competition package removes all but one button from the steering. *I can hear an incoming call ringing but cannot pick it up. I dont think the problem is with phone, does anyone know what I may be doing wrong here... I have only one button that seems like it could be used for the phone.*


Are you sure that you are actually pairing the phone? Because, according to this you will need the R/T phone button in the steering wheel for pairing, which your car does not have.

If for some special BMW configuration only for M3 ZCP's you can actually pair the phone with some magic pairing passkey that does not require any initial button press, here are two ways to _answer_ the phone in the ZCP that I can think of, notswithstanding the missing phone buttons in the steering wheel...

1. Pressing the button below the EJECT; that is the *phone button*. 
2. Your Nav screen *should* display the Caller ID, or at least a screen with a phone button should be shown, once a call is received with the phone button already hightlighted to be activated. Just press the right knob to answer.

If any of these two ways of answering the phone are not working in your car then there is no phone preparation software activated in your car; one way of checking that out for yourself is to see if you have the *Telephone* option as part of the Nav once you press the MENU button, i.e. you should see On Board Computer, GPS Navigation, Telephone, Settings, Emergency, Monitor off as your menu selections. Making a call thru the Bluetooth in your car requires you to have your phonebook loaded and access to the Telephone feature in the Nav Menu to see your entries. If you do not see Telephone as one of your menu selections then your car do not have the phone preparation activated (no answering or making call capability), you should take it to your dealer for this feature to be activated.

This should be done under warranty because, according to BMW's own press materials, to have phone preparation (hardware) in a ZCP, NAV and Assist has to be included in the order. Thus, the software has to be included too by definition because the car also has Bluetooth thru the Assist... but it seems that it isn't.


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## doeboy (Sep 20, 2002)

Technic said:


> Are you sure that you are actually pairing the phone? Because, according to this you will need the R/T phone button in the steering wheel for pairing, which your car does not have.
> 
> If for some special BMW configuration only for M3 ZCP's you can actually pair the phone with some magic pairing passkey that does not require any initial button press, here are two ways to _answer_ the phone in the ZCP that I can think of, notswithstanding the missing phone buttons in the steering wheel...
> 
> ...


On newer BT enabled cars there is no center console pairing button any longer. And no you cannot pair a phone using the R/T button on the steering wheel if you have it.


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## Technic (Jun 24, 2002)

doeboy said:


> On newer BT enabled cars there is no center console pairing button any longer. *And no you cannot pair a phone using the R/T button on the steering wheel if you have it.*


Click on the link included in my post for clarification on the R/T button and 05 Assist TCU, and let's wait until this person clarifies how this "pairing" happened with his ZCP to really understand what is the problem.


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## doeboy (Sep 20, 2002)

Technic said:


> Click on the link included in my post for clarification on the R/T button and 05 Assist TCU, and let's wait until this person clarifies how this "pairing" happened with his ZCP to really understand what is the problem.


Yeah I was confused by that because I clicked on the link and it does mention an R/T button but it sounds like maybe they just made up the procedure from playing with it and it happened to work for them. :dunno:

I clicked on the link to the TSB on that page and the official pairing procedures don't mention a pairing button. So I was like "huh?"


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## Technic (Jun 24, 2002)

doeboy said:


> Yeah I was confused by that because I clicked on the link and it does mention an R/T button but *it sounds like maybe they just made up the procedure from playing with it and it happened to work for them.* :dunno:
> 
> I clicked on the link to the TSB on that page and the official pairing procedures don't mention a pairing button. So I was like "huh?"


I thought the same as you until I found that link by reading one member of the M3Forum having problems pairing his phone with his 05 M3, trying that procedure and finally pairing. But this was in a regular M3 and not in a ZCP... so I am wondering how the pairing actually happened in this member's ZCP, and if it actually happened what is the real issue behind not seeing the Caller ID in the screen while receiving a phone call and not being able to answer it by pressing the phone button in the Nav.

If the phone is really paired, a receiving call should show in the Nav screen (at least in my V23 Nav software it does) or Telephone should be part of the nav menu... don't you think?


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## doeboy (Sep 20, 2002)

Technic said:


> If the phone is really paired, a receiving call should show in the Nav screen (at least in my V23 Nav software it does) or Telephone should be part of the nav menu... don't you think?


Yeah that's a good point... if it's paired I think it should show in the NAV screen... I guess another question is... how compatible is the phone that he's using?


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## snalliah (Mar 24, 2005)

I know the phone was paired successfully for all these reasons:

- My phone prompted me to enter pass key and I did
- The phone displayed using the BMW as a handsfree device
- I was able to hear an incoming call on the car speaker
- The Nav displayed something to say it was downloading my address book but this never completed

To answer someones else's quesion, yes, the Phone is activated and I can see a Phone option on the Nav screen. What doesnt work is pusing the phone button - nothing happens. I cannot pick up the call or make an outgoing call, but I can hear it ring though.

Tonight I plan to use a phone that is on their compatible list (T610) and see if that behaves any different so I can eliminate the phone as the culprit. I'll post a reply tonight as to how that goes...

BTW, this is my first M3 so, no, I dont have another steering wheel to try out 

Thanks for all the responses...


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## doeboy (Sep 20, 2002)

Welcome to the blunderful world of BMW electronics integration...


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## JST (Dec 19, 2001)

snalliah said:


> I know the phone was paired successfully for all these reasons:
> 
> - My phone prompted me to enter pass key and I did
> - The phone displayed using the BMW as a handsfree device
> ...


How long did you give it? It took mine a solid 10-15 minutes to download the three entries I had in my (new) phone when I paired. The next morning, it took about 10-15 minutes for it to download another 25 or so entries. It seems, in other words, to take longer the first time, for reasons I cannot fathom.


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## Technic (Jun 24, 2002)

snalliah said:


> I know the phone was paired successfully for all these reasons:
> 
> - My phone prompted me to enter pass key and I did
> - The phone displayed using the BMW as a handsfree device
> ...


:thumbup:


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