[jcmtyler]

Hi all, I just received my new T-Mobile 8900 (thanks to the "All Tmobile Users Can Order Curve Now" thread here!) and have updated to v4.6.1.133, but it will not pair to my BMW Bluetooth (06 E90 w/o iDrive). My wife's 8310 / v4.5.0.110 works perfectly including address book transfer, but when I try to pair mine (I put my phone in Listen mode) it just never finds the car.

Has anybody else had any problems pairing their 8900 with any Bluetooth devices?

Cheers,
John

[EEB]

I have the Samsung WEP 200 and it wont pair with it either.

[jcmtyler]

Ok so I figured out what I had been doing wrong. As far as I can tell there are two options for pairing with a bluetooth device from the BMW:
"search for paired devices" -- to switch between already paired devices (only one can be connected at a time)
"search for a device to pair" -- to add a new device -- select "BT" on the radio display (non-iDrive) and select "Search"

On the BlackBerry there are also two discovery modes in the Set Up Bluetooth dialog:
Active Search -- to find a device for pairing
Passive Listen -- to wait for another device to find the BlackBerry

So the magical combination for me was:
BMW: search for a device to pair (MENU..PHONE..BT..SEARCH)
BlackBerry: Active Search (Set Up Bluetooth..Add Device..Search)

On my BlackBerry I was prompted to enter a passcode, so I made one up and entered '0000'. Then on the BMW I was prompted to accept the incoming connection, and then enter the passcode again, so I again entered '0000'.

All good.

Hopefully somebody else will find this to be useful.

[coldconfession13]

Wirelessly posted

That's the process for ford sync. Just didn't it was the same. Bluetooth audio might have some quircks.

[hiep92657]

I paired my co-workers 8900 perfectly in my 2008 BMW, but when he brought it back to his Mercedes it wouldn't pair.
Hopefully when I get my 8900 in a few days it will pair as easily

[laverne2516]

Originally Posted by jcmtyler

Ok so I figured out what I had been doing wrong. As far as I can tell there are two options for pairing with a bluetooth device from the BMW:
"search for paired devices" -- to switch between already paired devices (only one can be connected at a time)
"search for a device to pair" -- to add a new device -- select "BT" on the radio display (non-iDrive) and select "Search"

On the BlackBerry there are also two discovery modes in the Set Up Bluetooth dialog:
Active Search -- to find a device for pairing
Passive Listen -- to wait for another device to find the BlackBerry

So the magical combination for me was:
BMW: search for a device to pair (MENU..PHONE..BT..SEARCH)
BlackBerry: Active Search (Set Up Bluetooth..Add Device..Search)

On my BlackBerry I was prompted to enter a passcode, so I made one up and entered '0000'. Then on the BMW I was prompted to accept the incoming connection, and then enter the passcode again, so I again entered '0000'.

All good.

Hopefully somebody else will find this to be useful.

jcmtyler,

Hi there, thanks for your post on BMW and Blackberry Curve 8900 compatibility! I have a 530XiT (love that car!) and a T-Mobile RAZR that work in perfect harmony but I'm about to Upgrade to a T-Mobileized Blackberry 8900 Curve. Whaddya think of the Curve and are there any other glitches I should know of when it comes to BMW compatibility?

Again, thanks for your original post, feel much better about upgrading.

Regards, PW

[jcmtyler]

Hi laverne2516/PW, the Curve 8900 is a phenomenal device and a great match for the BMW. I have had no real problems with the two working together, the car downloaded the phone's address book with no issues and pairs without a hitch. It also pairs to my wife's Curve 8310 and, if both are in the car, will sometimes switch from the actively-paired phone to the other phone if it receives a call, which is a pleasant surprise. I would recommend changing your phone's Bluetooth profile name (in Bluetooth settings, the default is something like BlackBerry Curve 8900) before pairing for the first time to something shorter so the entire name will show up on the radio display. If you have more than one phone paired to your car, you can set the pairing priority in the car's Bluetooth settings. Actively switching between phones when both are in the car is sometimes tricky and I don't yet know a foolproof way to make it happen. If my phone is paired and I want to make my wife's phone active to make a call, I will set her phone to the higher priority in the car's Bluetooth settings and that sometimes will activate her phone once the call is connected.

Here's a great piece of software for your phone: GPSed: GPSed for Blackberry: version 0.961 beta | GPSed Blog. Turn it on while you're cruising down the highway and it will show you how accurate your BMW speedometer is (my car reads about 3 mph higher than the GPS reading).

Good luck and enjoy your toys!

[laverne2516]

John,

Thanks for responding, I got my 8900 in the mail today. If it wasn't gonna pass the BMW pairing test it was going straight back! After about 30 mins of titting around in the garage I finally got them paired. Subtle differences in iDrive software, owner's handbook instructions and memory block had me worried for a while but it's all good now.

Yes, you're right about the phone name, I expect changing it will mean pairing it back up again but no biggie.....hmm, Curvaceous sounds good!

This is my first Blackberry, nearly bought an 8320 until I realized T-Mobile had the 8900. After reading numerous reviews of the 8300s, 8900 and the Storm there was only one winner.

All I've got to do now is customize the phone to how I want it....there's a day in my life I won't get back! Thanks also for the GPS app.

Good luck to you sir!

[cupcake of bahrain]

I have a 2008 E60 with iDrive, and still cant get my 8900 to pair.

[scalgal]

All,

I have a 2005 BMW X3 and just got a 8900. One first glance it seemed to pair fine, but now the connection stays on the whole time. Which means, once I get in the car and sync up, my stereo does not work, where before it only stopped stereo when on a call. Also, the buttons on the steering wheel do not work now. I am going to remove the connection and try the sequence listed above but anyone else see this behavior?

Alison

[jimroe]

2006 E60 with iDrive.

8900 paired and works perfectly.

As noted upthread - pairing to the car is slightly different than pairing with a BT headset but the process described works perfectly.

[vinmontRD]

Originally Posted by scalgal

All,

I have a 2005 BMW X3 and just got a 8900. One first glance it seemed to pair fine, but now the connection stays on the whole time. Which means, once I get in the car and sync up, my stereo does not work, where before it only stopped stereo when on a call. Also, the buttons on the steering wheel do not work now. I am going to remove the connection and try the sequence listed above but anyone else see this behavior?

Alison

I'm driving a 2006 X3 3.0i and have it paired with my 8900. Took a bit of experimentation, but in the end it paired fine. Once paired, I find that the 8900 and the X3 connect very quickly when the phone is in range and car is on, disconnecting immediately when the car is shut off.

BMW's bluetooth implementation has been awkward and glitchy for a while now. Read some of the BMW forums (e.g., bimmerfest or bimmerforums) to get a sense of this. BMW service folks apparently also seem to generally take the view that if your bt phone isn't on the "approved list", you may wind up "damaging" the BMW's bluetooth unit -- resulting in an out of warranty repair charge in the neighborhood of $700. As far as I can tell, though, this is bunk. Turns out that when a car is brought in with non-responsive bluetooth, the first thing they do is unhook the power to the unit and to a cold start -- and this "fixes" most issues. Well... it's not that hard to do the same thing yourself, depending on where your BT unit is located in your BMW.

In the X3, I can get to the ULF from the back hatch. Standing behind the X3 with the hatch open, I can see a removable panel on the left side of the interior, just inside the hatch door. Once that pops out, the view is similar to this:




...and the ULF is the silver box at the bottom. The red arrow points to the power connector. Apparently, you can simply unlock and remove the connector, wait 30 seconds and replace it, and this "fixes" a myriad of BT issues that BMW's suffer. When my BMW BT becomes unresponsive, this is an instant fix for me. On the other hand, if this continues to be necessary, it may be worth having BMW replace the unit (assuming you're still under warranty).

The link for the article is here:
Bluetooth Died... - Page 2 - bimmerfest - BMW Forums


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