P38A Sat Nav Question

Hello to all just a question about the fun and games with the P38 sat nav.

I had a original, what I would call mk2 p38 sat nav that worked for almost 4 months before the white screen of death. I then bought a second hand replacement mk2 unit that lasted almost a year, but too many short journeys led to that packing in. Although it was quite amusing seeing what would come up on the screen, I'm sure I got space invaders on it once ;/

Anyway I have now purchased what I know as the mk3 sat nav unit from an E39 5 series BMW. I believe this is the last one that used the 4:3 aspect ratio to match the P38 screen.
But this unit has a separate aerial in socket, with it just plugged into the 2 standard connectors it doesn't find its location. I have unplugged the aerial/similar connector from a silver box located above the sat nav unit and plugged that into the mk3 sat nav aerial socket but it still can't locate itself.
The only other fitting of the same type goes into the blue box under the o/s rear panel marked as an fm transmitter. Enough waffling on but has anyone any experience of this?

I have the exact same issue since disconnecting mine. I pulled the aerial wire too hard & may have damaged the connection / cable somewhere. Mine cannot locate itself now. I'm hoping to get onto this later this week so will keep you posted as to where the cable comes from (RAVE suggests the GPS Antenna situated under the OS plenum).

I must admit I'm still having difficulty with my navigation, after getting my original nav computer repaired, it lasted a few days and now cannot find its self, but I cannot get into the set menu as its got the wrong firmware on it... I have since put my E39 Mk3 unit back in which works fine, but if you can get into the set menu guys old the menu button for 10 seconds and it will let you into the service section of the navigation computer, in there you can look at the GPS status and how many satellites it can see etc. As shown with me, the navigation computer that was repaired will not see the satellites but the E39 Mk3 will so that proves the GPS antenna is OK and its the computer at fault.

I did eventually manage to get into the service settings (seems a bit random with the menu hold for 10 seconds on mine). Mine is saying RF interference & zero satellites so pretty sure it's my aerial connection.

Well my stock loom doesn't feed the antenna into the sat nav unit. As the OEM sat nav unit only has the two electrical connections whereas this new mk3 unit has the same electrical connections but also an aerial connection. Let me know how you get on pal

Where are you getting the aerial feed from in your mk3 unit and is it plugged directly into the unit? Cheers

Had a quick look again yesterday & the aerial feed seems to run through a loom to the front indicating this comes directly from the antenna under the front plenum & not connected to anything under the parcel shelf panel? RAVE is not much help as it appears to be for the mkII system as there is no mention of an aerial directly into the sat nav drive. No doubt i'll be delving further.

Mk3 nav computer included the trimble device which was seperate on the Mk2, when upgrading from Mk2 to Mk3 the normal practice is to find this trimble device under the right boot trim and remove the small round aerial lead and and plug it directly into the Mk3. According to my copy of Rave the aerial receiver is under the plenum

quavey said:

Mk3 nav computer included the trimble device which was seperate on the Mk2, when upgrading from Mk2 to Mk3 the normal practice is to find this trimble device under the right boot trim and remove the small round aerial lead and and plug it directly into the Mk3. According to my copy of Rave the aerial receiver is under the plenum

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This is exactly what I've done but it doesn't find a signal still. Also tried holding the menu button down for 10 seconds and longer doesn't seem to work on mine :/
I may just go back to a mk2 unit although I'd read the mk3 doesn't suffer the issue of killing itself if the vehicles turned on and off to many times between power downs.

PastyMuncher83 said:

This is exactly what I've done but it doesn't find a signal still. Also tried holding the menu button down for 10 seconds and longer doesn't seem to work on mine :/
I may just go back to a mk2 unit although I'd read the mk3 doesn't suffer the issue of killing itself if the vehicles turned on and off to many times between power downs.

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If your Mk3 is from an L322 I'm not sure the firmware is compatible with the data feed from the P38's system as I have exactly the same problem with my original Mk3 thats now got L322 firmware on it. I have a normal BMW mk3 which works ok apart from having BMW on it, and the set menu becomes inaccessible a minute or so after start up

My mk3 does have a few 'moments'. If i do a short journey ie, drive 1 mile to the petrol station, the sat nave drive can sometimes give the blank screen & take out the volume controls. A switch off for 2 minutes until the sat nave drive light goes out always cures it though.

I've got a sextant and a slide rule. I do struggle on cloudy days though.

Grrrrrr said:

I've got a sextant and a slide rule. I do struggle on cloudy days though.

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You need a map book to go with them.

Oh I have a map. North of Birmingham it is blank with "Here be dragons".

Grrrrrr said:

Oh I have a map. North of Birmingham it is blank with "Here be dragons".

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And Tomcats I couldn't tell you what mine says about what exists south of Watford Gap.

Well I had a fiddle with it this morning whilst sat in traffic en route to the daily grind and manually selected vehicle position, it thought about it for a second and then found itself! Worked fine after that, amazingly!

Good news, I think I've found someone who can install the P38 firmware on my original P38 navigation drive thats now got L322 firmware on it... Ahh why do we bother?

quavey said:

Good news, I think I've found someone who can install the P38 firmware on my original P38 navigation drive thats now got L322 firmware on it... Ahh why do we bother?

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A question I find myself asking far too often......!

On the quest to achieve a complete resolution, almost pointless in a LR I know!
But since installing the mk3 unit for the first time in 2 years my P38 has finally opened up and started talking to me.
The sat nav voice is a welcome change from the regular beep beep beep Fk&£ beep of this that and the other!
But is very quiet even turns up to the maximum. I have the HK system and the sat nav voice only comes out of the drivers side speaker inboard of the wing mirror.
Anyway to make it louder?

PastyMuncher83 said:

On the quest to achieve a complete resolution, almost pointless in a LR I know!
But since installing the mk3 unit for the first time in 2 years my P38 has finally opened up and started talking to me.
The sat nav voice is a welcome change from the regular beep beep beep Fk&£ beep of this that and the other!
But is very quiet even turns up to the maximum. I have the HK system and the sat nav voice only comes out of the drivers side speaker inboard of the wing mirror.
Anyway to make it louder?

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Having read back through again, i think your MK3 is from an E39? If so I have been told that:
"L322 firmware & Bmw
Use low level output for Nav & in the blue plug
Hence no sound or very low
Plus as you know set menu behaves oddly & turns off via Ibus message because the screen up front p38 recognises it after a while as alien

The p38 yib00110 has high level Nav output on the purple plug & also if mk2 was installed the purple plug has host of wires"

So the reason why the sound is very quiet is that its using the wrong wires and is a software issue related to the OS installed on that particular MK3. If you check the HW version, if its 1.1 apparently the P38 OS can be installed on it for a small fee. I have found a guy who can get this done.