[Satalite]

UPDATE!! 2/11/2013

After taking my car in for the last service before my warranty expires, I decided to again complain about my stupid "white noise" which can be explained below... This has been a persistent issue that has plagued my car for over 2 years. All of which I have gotten the cold shoulder from BMW saying that it's normal or that there is no fix and the issue has been noted...

Needless to say, my dealer called me today and the technician working on my car said he got confirmation from BMW that they have a new head-unit out that replaces the old faulty RAD2 system. Apparently this gets rid of the persistent white noise that appears to be always on (even with the radio off).

Okay so after my previous thread of the problem... I decided to finally post the verdict to that problem.

It all started with the car not making the white noise at all. After the car went in for a routine check-up, oil change, recall inspection they decided to update the cars ECU. After the update the dealer apparently did not follow the correct protocol and blew out my entire head unit... Needless to say after a week of my car in the shop I was ready to have it back!

The new head unit arrived in sufficient time for me to pick my car back up on Saturday (March 19). After picking my car up and driving home, I noticed a faint but noticeable white noise coming from the front 2 tweeters. Trying to diagnose the problem I tried turning the car on/off, radio on/off, resetting the radio etc... nothing worked. The noise was still coming out of the front 2 tweeters even when the car wasn't even turned on! And to add it was even noticeable with some music on a low volume setting!

Needless to say I decided to keep my car for another week then called the dealer up again. This time having one of the service reps drive with me in the car to hear the problem. They decided to go ahead and reset the head unit... which I already tried, and then proceed to replace it. After replacing the head unit the sound seemed to have disappeared long enough for the service rep driving in the car with me to give the car the OK to leave. Driving home the noise started up again... So I immediately scheduled an appointment for my car to be picked up the following week and checked out. (This was this past week).

After having it in for a couple of days, my service representative had apparently confirmed with the SC production facility technicians that this is an isolated case (08-09 model year 128-135) with the RAD 2 head-unit radio... The cause of the noise is apparently a combination between the amplifier and the electronic system that controls the power current to the speakers - is not functioning correctly and is thus transmitting power when you open/close the door and not turning off at the right time. This is why you hear the white noise which is the feedback that is caused by the speakers.

Answer: What this means for people with this problem? There is no current fix or solution to solve this problem currently. According to my service representative they are working on a solution to hopefully fix this issue sometime in the near future via software update. The entire audio system is perfect, and is thus an electronic system malfunction that cannot be fixed by putting new parts into the car, only updates.

Hope this helps people with the noise...

A simple determination if you have the noise...
1) Hop in the car
2) Close the door
3) Listen for 'any' high frequency noise coming from the driver/passenger door lower speaker (under the sail).
4) The radio does not have to be turned on in order to hear the noise which usually stays on until you exit the vehicle or the electronics turn off in the car.