Well, the black Bavarian bomber has been running smoothly up until yesterday...in the Costco parking lot, no less... *sigh*

1995 540i/6, build date 10/94, EWS with the 3 button (large roundel, and smaller unlock (left) and panic (right) buttons) rubber key fob.

Symptoms: whenever the battery is hooked up, the alarm sounds and engine won't turn over. After the 30 sec "silence" (four ways still flashing), any attempt to start the car (key in posn 1 or 2) will re-trigger the alarm.

When it first happened: After I unlocked the car normally with the key fob (usual double chirp) and then attempted to start the car -- car wouldn't start and the alarm triggered as soon as I moved the key to "1".

Attempted actions to reset alarm:
- pulling 32, 33, 34, 37 and as a last resort, the GM -- all to no avail, only disconnecting the batt neg terminal stopped things.
- I had the car towed home, left the battery disconnected overnight (neg and pos veh leads connected), then tried things again this morning -- no joy, alarm triggered as soon as I hooked up the battery.
- No number of tries with the lock, unlock or panic button on the remote would de-arm the alarm.

I have not pulled the alarm system's fuse (the blue fuse visible in Shogun's post here) and don't know if that would help...all the other fuses don't stop the alarm.

The key fob is #18 per the key diagram on RealOEM's parts listing, even though it indicates it should be #7 (I recall #18 was for 1/95 production date and later, but I think my Cdn-spec, 10/94 production veh may have been equipped with the later model EWS key system, I definitely have the #18 3-button fob.) I tried to re-synch the key using the ign pos 0-1-0, hold button 3, press button 1 three times, method, but again, no joy on that.

At this point, since I am travelling and have other transportation, I will call on Otto's BMW in Ottawa (closest dealer to me in Kingston) and see if there is either (re?)programming of the key fob, that may be required to solve the problem -- since the car is quite immobilized, I can't bring it to the dealer (without getting a car dolly and towing it to the dealer -- hoping that's not required) and am hoping that they should be able to work something with the VIN. I was considering removing the alarm module and bringing it with me, but something tells me that if there is something that needs to be done to it (programming-wise) that it would have to be in the car anyway (for interaction with the rest of the EWS system)

If anybody has any tricks or hints, I'd be rather grateful. I've run through about 10-12 searched posts here about other systems, (including Rockyfella's horror story...*ugh*) and there is nothing that solves my specific problem.

Thanks guys, in advance.

Cheers,
Duey