bought a 05 e500 off lease from a reputable dealership which specializes if off lease benz a year and a half ago
right before leaving with the car I noticed the nav wasn't working, checked the trunk dvd and there was no disk
dealer supplied me a burned 06 nav dvd which worked fine and I was on my way

later I realized the cars computer had not been coded for nav because there were no roads displayed in the instrument panel lcd

took it to dealer, paid the $100 to have computer coded and again all was well

out of curiosity I obtained the orignal data card for the car and determined it was not shipped with factory nav. There is a line on the data card that says:

so apparently the orignal owner had somehow added factory nav after buying the car, this possibly explains the missing OEM nav dvd

fast forward to now ... a few weeks ago the nav started acting strange, sometimes the screen would be stuck on 'activating navigation' for 5 minutes or so then say there is no nav dvd please insert in dvd ( trunk ) or similar
I checked the disk and it appeared scratched so I burned a new copy and again all was well for a couple of days. Then it did the same thing and once again the disk appeared scratched or more accurately scored, not a random scratch but a little circle very close to the center about a millimeter in width around the circumference of the dvd about 3 millimeters from the center hole. Tried another copy and it worked a couple of times then the same thing again. Now I can't get it to work at all. It always either says activating dvd or no dvd.

This weekend I was determined to find a solution. Here are the things I've tried so far:

• double layer dvd from sony
• memorex dvd r+
• dynex dvd lens cleaner
• disconnecting battery for 10 minutes in hope the dvd rom reader in the trunk would realign automatically upon power up
• several more dvd burns using different burning software

How can I tell if I'm required to use a DL dvd? I would have swore I had a regular no DL work in the past but lost track in all the shuffling around so can't be 100% certain.

nothing working so far, still stuck on activating navigation for several minutes then no disk message. when disks are removed they still appear to show scoring on the surface as described above.

I'm guessing the dvd rom reader in the trunk must have been jarred by cargo and gotten wickedly out of alignment.

Does this sound possible?

Any ideas on how to correct other than taking the car to the dealer? I simply don't trust the dealer to not rip me off when it comes to esoteric things like this.

A replacement dvd rom reader is notably expensive so that's a last resort.

Lastly if I do find myself with a dvd rom reader that is no longer functional what are my options to upgrade the entire system with something that will still integrate with the MOST ring so steering wheel controls still work? Will the 08 hard drive based comand plug in without issue?

Going back to dealer where I bought the car monday as I happen to be visiting the city where they are located, hoping they have some insight.

Thanks in advance

tr2ride

 

I would think that if you've got less than 4.6 GB's you don't need a DL disc. In fact I would guess you'd get a better burn on a single layer disc than a dual if you're data is less than the disc's capacity.

As far as could something jar the nav unit enough to make it out of alignment? Yeah I'm sure it could. That's what it sounds like to me. I mean if it's chewing up disc and you're getting reading errors to me it sounds like the culprit. If you can take it back to where you got it they might be able to add more insight but it might be a case where you're either going to buy a new nav or take it to a MB dealer (which will probably come to buy a new nave). I'm not sure what their (the MB dealer) stance would be using a burned disc. I'm sure officially it's frowned upon. But I just got my disc this week and I made a copy of it which I'll use in the car just because I fear a situation like you've had where something goes astray and it ruins the disc. I don't want to buy a whole new nav DVD.

Something tells me if you were brave enough to tear into it and didn't notice a gross problem you'd probably not know whether it was out of alignment or not. I"m sure we're talking about minute measurements.

 

I thought that I read somewhere that the original Navteq disk is a little thicker than the normal DVD disk. The thickness may have something to do with your unit reading the disk. I do not believe that someone would a thicker DVD just for this application. Try an original disk from someone. Good luck in your research.
Mike T.

 

confirmed DL dvd is not needed
took one of the signal layer burned dvds and put it in my dads 06 e320 and it worked fine so obviously nothing wrong with the dvd itself
tried the working dvd from my dads car in mine and got same result so I can now be 100% sure the problem is with the dvd unit in the trunk

so .... how do I get the unit serviced?

any ideas for locating possible replacement?

found a new one in the uk for 800 euros but that seems retarded for a dvd rom reader

ugh .... think this thing can be repaired?

 

For burning a backup copy, you do not need a DL DVD. You need a regular DVD-R. A friend used a TDK and had the same problems as you did in hot weather (odd). He then burned a Sony DVD-R and has worked fine ever since. A quality DVD did the trick, try a good brand.

As far as the unit is concerned, you have the good luck of having a spare W211 to test, so take out your DVD unit and hook it up in your Dad's car, if it works, then the issue is not the drive itself.

Lastly, I believe that MB dealers will sell you a replacement DVD drive for $250-300 with a core replacement.

Good luck

 

I think tashakes may be on to something. I had a burned dvd +R in my unit that was working perfectly. Then one day, it just stopped when I was visiting family in another state. I ran to the nearest store and purchased dvd -R. I burned the disk and put it in, and it has been running good now for over 4 months. I forget the brand of DVD +R, but the -R is TDK brand.

 

..

I had the exact same problem several months ago. My original disk had somehow been scratched, and I had been running from a backup of a backup. I went through most of the iterations that you've gone through re-burning from my backup with limited success. Ultimately though, I stumbled upon a solution. My NAV unit and disk have been working fine since.

Here's the scoop:

• The NAV did not seem to like Windows 7 burns. The discs would often not work at all, or just cause the NAV to hang trying to read the disc. So I tried burning on an XP box that I had lying around and that seemed to work.
• Burn the disk at the slowest speed possible (1x if available)
• DVD-R works best
• I also upgraded the NAV firmware to the latest available for the w211 (and lost DVD-in-Motion as a consequence). Not sure whether that step was necessary, but, oh well..

Again, my NAV has been working fine since (with the occasional "can't read DVD" message at the same destination [probably just a bad burn]).

GL.