Bricked radio, possible? Correct code doesn't work anymore.

[lockeed]

Hey guys, this is my radio in my 87' 325is... Took the car out of storage, entered the original (good) code for the radio and couldn't get it to work. I admit, I tried multiple times, probably too many....I removed the battery for 2 days, tried again, still nothing. Left the ignition and radio ON for over an hour, then another time for an entire day, didn't work...Tried for 4 days with radio ON, nope.

I think I've tried everything I could think off but nothing work. Can a radio be bricked after trying multiple times ?

[nevr2L8]

I have the same problem, so I found this post and will try this tomorrow
Originally posted by intuitivejohn View Post
Here is a real answer to the CODE problem. It comes from experience.

1) Open Hood
2) Disconnect Battery Cables
3) Touch the Positive and Negative Cables together. For at least 30-- 60 seconds.
4) Reconnect and then try the code
5) Should work now.

Why does this work?

The "Hey, Someone Stole Me" programming is stored in the car computer controls.
Touching the cables together removes the fault codes from the the main "computer"
or ECU. So now your car has a blank slate to work from. And you get three more try's or
magic wishes.

It was surprising to me how many different radios were available in the E30's. But
this should work for any of them.

[uturn]

I believe the radio user's manual says something about three tries. Then you have to wait 1 hr before you can attempt again.

[lockeed]

I have the same problem, so I found this post and will try this tomorrow
Originally posted by intuitivejohn View Post
Here is a real answer to the CODE problem. It comes from experience.

1) Open Hood
2) Disconnect Battery Cables
3) Touch the Positive and Negative Cables together. For at least 30-- 60 seconds.
4) Reconnect and then try the code
5) Should work now.

Why does this work?

The "Hey, Someone Stole Me" programming is stored in the car computer controls.
Touching the cables together removes the fault codes from the the main "computer"
or ECU. So now your car has a blank slate to work from. And you get three more try's or
magic wishes.

It was surprising to me how many different radios were available in the E30's. But
this should work for any of them.

This does not work in my case.

[nevr2L8]

Did not work for me either

[car13]

In this situation it would be easier to connect it on the bench, so you dont need to wait with ignition on in the car.
Yes, disconnecting battery wont help here, either you will have to wait for it to have access again for code input or you will have to give the unit to someone who know how and can read/clear code from eeprom itself (in the unit, soldered on pcb) or just write new dump in it.