Accepted Answer

Hey thanks for the question,

To prevent the radios from being stolen out of many of todays modern cars, the car makers made radios with "codes" that require a numbered code to make them work. They made it so that if the power supply was unhooked, then the code needs to be entered to make the radio work again, that way if the radio was stolen and the battery voltage, (power for station presets and memory) was disconnected, when removed from the car, then the radio is worthless, unless you know the code.

The original owner of the car when sold new, got a radio card with the numbered code on it, so that if the battery went dead, or was replaced then they could enter the code and the radio would work. Naturally that may have been lost or misplaced over the years, so the only way to get the code now for the radio, is to take the car to a BMW dealership, so that they can take the radio out, find the serial number, call BMW headquarters with the serial number and get the code for that radio.

BMW does this so that they can see the car and the owner and get them the code. BMW will not do this if you just call with the serial number of the radio, otherwise the people that steal the radio would just call BMW with the serial number.

The factory radio is easy to remove and get the serial number, so the BMW dealership should not charge much for this work, but do expect to pay something. Naturally once you get the code numbers, save for later, in case you need it.

Click ACCEPT if this helps, if not let me know, all bonuses and feedback appreciated.
Thanks,