BMW 1 Series DAB Radio Dead, Help Needed!

Hey there! I have some experience working on cars and had a very similar issue with my 2016 BMW 2 series last year. The symptoms were exactly the same, no DAB reception and the infotainment system kept showing errors. Turned out the antenna was indeed defective and needed replacement. My trusted mechanic diagnosed it pretty quickly with their diagnostic tools. The whole repair, including parts and labor, cost me around 255 Euro. Since then, everything's been working perfectly. Before I can share more specific details that might help, could you let me know if you've had any recent work done on the roof area or if you've noticed any physical damage to the antenna? Also, are there any specific error messages showing up on your screen?

Thanks for sharing your experience! I had my last service about 3 months ago at 61775 KM, and no work was done on the roof area. The main error message I keep getting is "Audio System Malfunction" followed by a system restart. The antenna looks fine from the outside, no visible damage that I can spot. My infotainment system occasionally freezes completely, and I have to restart the car to get it working again. Did you experience similar freezing issues before your antenna replacement?

Hey again! Yes, I absolutely experienced those same freezing issues with my BMW before getting the antenna replaced! It was super frustrating, the system would freeze, show that exact same "Audio System Malfunction" message, and I'd have to restart the car to get it working again. Sometimes it would work fine for a few hours, then suddenly act up again. Even though my antenna looked perfectly fine from the outside too, it turned out there was an internal fault causing all these problems. The connection between the antenna and the head unit was intermittent, which explained the unusual freezing and system restarts. When my mechanic did the diagnostic, they found multiple error codes related to the antenna module communication. After replacing the antenna assembly and doing a system reset, all these issues disappeared completely. I've had zero problems for the past year now. Given that you're experiencing literally identical symptoms to what I had, I'd bet good money it's the same antenna issue. Just make sure your mechanic does a proper diagnostic scan before replacing any parts, better safe than sorry! Let me know how it goes when you get it checked out. Always happy to share more details about my experience if you need them!

Thanks so much for all that detailed information! It's really reassuring to hear that you had the exact same issues and got them resolved. Your experience definitely makes me more confident about what might be wrong with mine. The intermittent antenna connection you mentioned makes perfect sense given how my system's been behaving. I'll schedule an appointment with my mechanic next week and make sure they do a thorough diagnostic scan, just like you suggested. It's good to know that replacing the antenna assembly completely solved the problem for you. I really hope my repair bill stays around the same range as yours! Thanks again for taking the time to help me out with this. I'll definitely update you once I get it checked and fixed. Really appreciate all the insights!