Flat battery - can't unlock doors!

[pundit]

BMW did think of this and there is a much easier way to get into your car if your battery dies. The following is from BMWe34.net, it worked for me when my battery died.

My battery is dead, I am lock out, how do I unlock the doors?
• To unlock the passenger door, turn the key past the normal unlock position while raising the door handle. Release handle and lift again to open the door.

That was the problem. It didn't work. I tested this procedure when I got the car and had the battery disconnected. Insert key, lift handle and then turn key fully clockwiseand VOILA! ... door unlocks. After flattening the battery due to leaving my parkers on overnight, I thought oh well I'll just use the standard 'No power' unlock procedure. But for some reason both doors wouldn't unlock. When I tried using the key the button moved up slightly but I was unable to turn the key a full 90 degrees clockwise. I think what may have happened is the door actuators may have moved very slightly when I first tried to unlock the doors (with the flat battery) but obviously not enough to unlock the doors. My feeling is they stalled in that partial position and that caused the locking mechanism to 'lock me out' from using the emergency unlock procedure.

[bondheli]

TY guys, thought I was going to have to use AAA this morning. The bmw key trick worked charmingly. Once again, this e34 community saves the day.