[DBShiznit]

I have been looking everywhere through countless searches and I cannot find a diy or video on how to upgrade the CIC unit from C10 to C1A or anything in between. Can someone point me in the right direction? I'm in the process of doing a retrofit and I'm trying to get all my ducks in a row to make it as smooth as possible.

[smass]

Originally Posted by DBShiznit

I have been looking everywhere through countless searches and I cannot find a diy or video on how to upgrade the CIC unit from C10 to C1A or anything in between. Can someone point me in the right direction? I'm in the process of doing a retrofit and I'm trying to get all my ducks in a row to make it as smooth as possible.

Do you already have an ICOM? If not, buying a $200 CIC with C1A is easier than flashing one.

[DBShiznit]

Originally Posted by smass

Do you already have an ICOM? If not, buying a $200 CIC with C1A is easier than flashing one.

So anything past C10 will upgrade without ICOM but to upgrade from C10 up you need ICOM?

[DavesZed]

Originally Posted by DBShiznit

So anything past C10 will upgrade without ICOM but to upgrade from C10 up you need ICOM?

That's not what he said! He said you need an ICOM to upgrade. If you don't already have an ICOM unit (expensive) then it would be more cost effective, and a lot less hassle, to just buy a replacement headunit that is already up to C1A. Then you sell the headunit you already have (if you already have it!).

Or, if you already have the headunit, then there are places that will do the upgrade for you, I had mine done from an eBay ad. I'm in the UK, so no point giving you any links from here.

[DBShiznit]

Originally Posted by DavesZed

That's not what he said! He said you need an ICOM to upgrade. If you don't already have an ICOM unit (expensive) then it would be more cost effective, and a lot less hassle, to just buy a replacement headunit that is already up to C1A. Then you sell the headunit you already have (if you already have it!).

Or, if you already have the headunit, then there are places that will do the upgrade for you, I had mine done from an eBay ad. I'm in the UK, so no point giving you any links from here.

I wasn’t sure that to update from C10 needed all of the additional hardware or if anytime you update the firmware you need the hardware regardless. However from doing more research although vague, it seems that you need most and icom to upgrade to any firmware. I have purchased a unit from a 2013 328 and from research, that should have C1A.

I’ve been gathering all the software to make the retrofit possible but can’t find the patcher from intel123. The mega link is dead. Any ideas where I could find that?

[DavesZed]

Originally Posted by DBShiznit

I wasn’t sure that to update from C10 needed all of the additional hardware or if anytime you update the firmware you need the hardware regardless. However from doing more research although vague, it seems that you need most and icom to upgrade to any firmware. I have purchased a unit from a 2013 328 and from research, that should have C1A.

I’ve been gathering all the software to make the retrofit possible but can’t find the patcher from intel123. The mega link is dead. Any ideas where I could find that?

For a CIC unit, with that age, then yes it should be C1A already, so that should be OK

As for the patcher, not sure which one you mean.
And assuming this is for FSC's, I used this method....
https://app.box.com/s/jk65bz6brc6o1uw776tew31si5fwtgu1

I tried all other ways and found this to be the most accurate
(Disclaimer; It's not my work, I just collated it all together)

[DBShiznit]

Originally Posted by DavesZed

For a CIC unit, with that age, then yes it should be C1A already, so that should be OK

As for the patcher, not sure which one you mean.
And assuming this is for FSC's, I used this method....
https://app.box.com/s/jk65bz6brc6o1uw776tew31si5fwtgu1

I tried all other ways and found this to be the most accurate
(Disclaimer; It's not my work, I just collated it all together)

I was using this thread as a guide

https://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1649066

If you look at post #3 and step 5, it says I need "BMW CIC Patcher v2"

From what I've read a lot of people have had success using FaxData's walkthrough and I was going to use it however I can't fid the patcher software. This would allow me to unlock all the features within the CIC unit.

[DavesZed]

Originally Posted by DBShiznit

I was using this thread as a guide

https://www.e90post.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1649066

If you look at post #3 and step 5, it says I need "BMW CIC Patcher v2"

From what I've read a lot of people have had success using FaxData's walkthrough and I was going to use it however I can't fid the patcher software. This would allow me to unlock all the features within the CIC unit.

Here you go

https://app.box.com/s/x8eulznmu4z0tcs3ifg8e3cy0m68cn4j

[DavesZed]

The biggest issue for me was being able to change the VIN in the headunit. All the normal "ways" to do it just didn't work on my unit, no idea as to why though. But once I found that way, in my link in post 6 above, it worked perfectly. It was more work involved but it did work, so in my eyes was worth the work.

[DBShiznit]

Originally Posted by DavesZed

The biggest issue for me was being able to change the VIN in the headunit. All the normal "ways" to do it just didn't work on my unit, no idea as to why though. But once I found that way, in my link in post 6 above, it worked perfectly. It was more work involved but it did work, so in my eyes was worth the work.

Ok so from what I understand I’ll do this;

1. Wire everything up and install hardware.

2. Follow his walkthrough to code everything in.

3. Come back to this thread and use your link to unlock all the features, maps included.

Let me know if I missed anything. I have the doner cars VIN too. I heard that saves a headache as well but not sure if it would apply in this case.

[DavesZed]

Originally Posted by DBShiznit

Ok so from what I understand I’ll do this;

1. Wire everything up and install hardware. YES

2. Follow his walkthrough to code everything in. YES

3. Come back to this thread and use your link to unlock all the features, maps included. YES

Let me know if I missed anything. I have the doner cars VIN too. I heard that saves a headache as well but not sure if it would apply in this case.

As you'll be changing the VIN to yours anyway, using Tool32, you wont need the doner VIN.
With changing the headunit to your VIN you are tying the headunit, car and the FSC's all together so that it'll all work properly. This will give you Nav, Voice, Connected Drive (iPhone, if you need it), Satellite Radio and Arabic language (again if you need it). But you don't have to put all of them in, just what you'll use. I never bothered with Satellite Radio, as we don't have it in the UK, or Arabic as I don't need it.
So do the VIN change first (you have to, otherwise the rest wont work), then apply the FSC's, and then you are done. Then all you'll need to do is to update the maps, and there are plenty of threads about that here. Always handy to have the l;atest maps, even if you have an MMI box installed, you never know when you'll loose phone signal. You'd loose Google Maps, but at least you'll still have BMW Maps

[DBShiznit]

Originally Posted by DavesZed

As you'll be changing the VIN to yours anyway, using Tool32, you wont need the doner VIN.
With changing the headunit to your VIN you are tying the headunit, car and the FSC's all together so that it'll all work properly. This will give you Nav, Voice, Connected Drive (iPhone, if you need it), Satellite Radio and Arabic language (again if you need it). But you don't have to put all of them in, just what you'll use. I never bothered with Satellite Radio, as we don't have it in the UK, or Arabic as I don't need it.
So do the VIN change first (you have to, otherwise the rest wont work), then apply the FSC's, and then you are done. Then all you'll need to do is to update the maps, and there are plenty of threads about that here. Always handy to have the l;atest maps, even if you have an MMI box installed, you never know when you'll loose phone signal. You'd loose Google Maps, but at least you'll still have BMW Maps

Thanks for all the info. I can’t thank you enough! I’m currently waiting for all the parts to arrive and I sort of built my own kit if you will. Screen/harness kit/CIC. If all goes well, Saturday I’ll be taking a crack at it. (Fingers crossed)

[DavesZed]

Originally Posted by DBShiznit

Thanks for all the info. I can’t thank you enough! I’m currently waiting for all the parts to arrive and I sort of built my own kit if you will. Screen/harness kit/CIC. If all goes well, Saturday I’ll be taking a crack at it. (Fingers crossed)

Well if it's any help, I appreciate mine is an E89 so panel-wise it's different, here is the video I made of my retrofit....

[smass]

If you get stuck on the cic patcher things, consider retrofitting the CIC, plugging in a Mr12Volt and calling it a day. All my CIC retrofits have Carplay now and I never use any of the BMW features that I spent many hours activating . US CICs will probably never get another map update, so they are stuck on 2023 data.

[DBShiznit]

Originally Posted by smass

If you get stuck on the cic patcher things, consider retrofitting the CIC, plugging in a Mr12Volt and calling it a day. All my CIC retrofits have Carplay now and I never use any of the BMW features that I spent many hours activating . US CICs will probably never get another map update, so they are stuck on 2023 data.

That has been a thought however I'm not looking to add Mr12Volt just yet. The end result would be adding it but I wanted to do the retrofit first so the display is better quality for Carplay. I do however want to explore BMWs apps and maps so it'll hold me for a while until I add Mr12volt, just out of curiosity for what BMW had as "top of the line" for that time if you will.

[DBShiznit]

Hey everyone I followed the process as per DavesZed recommendation and everything works as it should. Will be doing the combox soon. So far I'm extremely happy with the outcome! Thanks for your help DavesZed!!

[DavesZed]

Originally Posted by DBShiznit

Hey everyone I followed the process as per DavesZed recommendation and everything works as it should. Will be doing the combox soon. So far I'm extremely happy with the outcome! Thanks for your help DavesZed!!

No problem, happy to help

On mine I've now got everything that was available for the entertainment packages (well everything that still works, so no Internet, no emergency call, no assistance etc). So all FSC's for Nav, Voice and ConnectedDrive, I've got DAB radio (digital radio here in the UK), Combox, Bluetooth calls and streaming music, USB album art, and now it all goes through the 677 Professional amplified system. All of this has been retrofitted to OEM standard. And I've got the Mr12volt mmi box as well.
I do use the USB as well as I've got a 32gb memory stick with loads of music on it. And I keep the Maps up to date. All just so I've got everything available if I want it.
I've even got Gracenote* up to date (well almost, as it's 2019 and not found anything newer yet).
*Gracenote, is a database that is built-into the CIC headunit that gives you album information for CD's. Alas it was abandoned by BMW and the last official update was 2015. Most people don't even know about it, so the chances are that it will never have been updated since the car was bought. My 2019 version was created from a later version for some other car and converted to the CIC system.

I do do a lot of stuff "because I can!" and not because there is a real need to.

Oh, as for BMW Apps (ConnectedDrive) I believe the only ones that'll work for you, and assuming you have an iPhone, would be Spotify and Pandora. I don't think anything else is working anymore. And if you have an Android phone, then nothing as it doesn't work with Android. You'll also need the Combox for this to work as well.

Hope that helps