Any Ideas? iPod Classic freezes with new BMW 5-Series

Yes, I agree with Squizzleming, your iPod Hardisk is in good condition, so the iPod wont give any problem now, my main suspicion is the Stereo system on the BMW. But then the BMW dealers, dont have a clue on the technicalities of their Car Stereo iPod connection..

I am now on my 2nd BMW X5 (2009 and now a 2013) and have had this problem since day one with both vehicles and numerous (3-4) iPods. My current combination of the 2013 X5 and about a three month old iPod classic is by far the worst. The iPod freezes several times a day when connected to the BMW. No rhyme or reason, no repeatable steps, winter, summer, windy, highway, city, whether I am wearing pants or shorts. Nothing I have tried alleviates the problem. At least the 2013 has Sirius and it's own 8gb hard drive to which I can load SOME of my 150gb of music. Love the BMW, absolutely HATE the BMW controller for just about every function.

Hi Jose Ricardo, just to update you, yes the BMW Y-Cable may help you.

Read thislatest post by jCox902

Exactly same annoyance for me, with a recent iPod Classic 160GB in a BMW F10, last firmware updates for both.

It freezes from time to time (but not very frequently; one or two times a month).

I need to reset the iPod at least 2 consecutives times, and finally it reconnects to iDrive.

Another rare issue : some mp3 does not play on car (but does well with iPod alone or iTunes). How to fix : mp3 conversion in iTunes (even if the original file was already mp3, same bit rate).

Just to add fuel to an old thread, I have a 2011 520d F10 and have been having issues with my Ipod Classic 120Gbyte ever since I've had the car. Once or twice it's battery has gone flat, but the main problem is the ipod locks up randomly while listening to music. Usually it happens when a new track has just started playing, I hear a couple of notes and then it stops; ipod is not connected to car, BMW logo is stuck on the display even when you disconnect it, and ipod has to be reset.

Here is my disc drive smart info:

Retracts 2544

Reallocs: 13

Pending Sectors: 0

PowerOn Hours: 91

Start/Stops: 2517

Temp: Current 27c

Temp: Min 4c

Temp: Max 45c

I certainly don't believe the PowerOn hours or temperature info, the ipod has been in the car overnight at -11C during the 2011/12 winter.

Another feature is that sometimes the ipod plays silently. On start up the ipod carries on where it left off, but sometimes I get no sound. The track time display counts up as usual, but no music is playing. If I switch back to Radio I get sound form the radio, switch back to the ipod and it works again. So that is definitely a fault with the car!

I used to use this ipod with a Harmon Kardon iDrive system and never had any issues for two years using that.

I'm going to do a hard reset of the ipod today to see if that makes any difference, but have low expectations!

Your problem is apples ****** ipod software. I've had this problem with several different decks and with several different ipods. Apple is the only person to blame here because all their software *****. I'v had this problem for years and theres nothing you can do, you just have to deal with it.

Did you get this sorted Sqizzleming? I'm having the same problem with a 6th Gen ipod nano and a 2014 3 series touring. :-(

Hi all,

I finally got rid of these problems (iPod Classic 160 + BMW 5 series F10). Not sure if was a bug from Apple or from BMW, but the fact is that if all your files (mainly mp3's for me) are properly encoded and tagged, the problem never occurs. I have checked all my files with the freeware mp3val (mp3val.sourceforge.net). Some problems were detected, most of them fixed, and I deleted the others. All tags were also checked and eventually converted with mp3tag. From that moment, I never had any freeze again. Hope this can help most of you...

I hoped this was the solution also for me and i repaired all my mp3s with mp3val. In the end there were no warnings or errors thrown by this tool anymore but sadly i still have the same problems in the car.

In my case the ipod hangs up shortly after it starts a new song and then reboots. After rebooting it directly hangs up again and the procedure will repeat. I always have to remove the ipod, start a new song on it and reconnect it. Then it works again normally. The problem occurs in different intervals.

Sometimes it also freezes completely and has to be manually rebooted. In sum it seems to be the same issues like malkie3108 has.

I have same problem on a Mercedes CLA with a classic 160Go.

I hade same problem on a Fiat with an old ipod photo. I think problem come from apple ipod's firmware 😟