[Computerist]

I opened the .hex file like you said and the 3rd section has the A625351 writing in place which is not my VIN, will this affect it? all other writing are more numbers and a lot of weird looking characters

[meyergru]

As I suspected, the VIN in your nav unit seems not the one from your car. If that 1B file does not work for activation, the firmware on the unit is probably a modified one for which another private key is needed to generate an activation code.

On a side note: currently, BMW chooses to use very high numbers for the release code. For the european map (0x28), the code for 2025-2 is 0x86. They started at 0x00, then went on in small increments starting from 2008. In 2020, they started to make bigger steps. Why do I tell? Because back in 2012, everbody believed that a release value of, say, 0x80, would be a "lifetime" code, because it is higher than anything that was anticipated back then. With 0x86 needed for 2025-2, that "lifetime" code would need to be renewed.

Ask me how I know? After 13 years, I needed a new code just today...

IDK how to proceed from here - AFAIK, you cannot reprogram the nav unit because you need a - pricey - activation code from BMW. The price for that is more or less the price for the unit itself (I remember it was ~2400€ back then). This is the main reason why that path wasn't taken in the first place and a CAN bus blocker is most probably installed to keep the car from shutting down the nav unit because of the VIN mismatch.

So, you need to contact your guy...

[Computerist]

WOW, you're not too lucky either by the looks of it. I won't pay that much for a code, I'm sure the car isn't worth that much ) seems like I'm stuck with the 2014 version unless the guy will actually reply, which is highly unlikely. Thanks again for your help, at least now i know where i stand