Quick start

From "in my hand" to "reading fault codes" in five steps. Roughly 3 minutes if it's your first time.

1. Plug into the OBD-II port

The diagnostic port on a BMW lives:

• E36 / E34 — under the bonnet on the right inner wing (round 20-pin socket). You'll need a 20-pin-to-OBD-II adapter cable.
• E38 / E39 / E46 — driver's footwell, usually behind a small flap on the lower dash trim. Standard 16-pin OBD-II.
• E60 / E83 / E90 and later — driver's footwell, OBD-II.

Ignition to position 2 (or engine running). The dongle's status LED should pulse blue.

Power expectations

The box runs off the OBD-II port's permanent 12 V (pin 16). It powers on the moment the cable is plugged in — ignition doesn't gate the dongle itself, only what the ECUs will respond to.

2. Join the dongle's Wi-Fi

On your phone, tablet, or laptop:

• SSID: BimmerzBox
• Password: bimmerzbox (change it after first connect — see /admin/ below)

The dongle is an AP-only device. It doesn't connect to your home Wi-Fi or share internet. Your device temporarily drops off its usual network while you're connected to the box — this is normal.

3. Tap OK in the welcome screen

Modern phones and laptops detect that the Wi-Fi has no internet and pop a captive-portal window. You'll see a welcome screen with the bimmerz box logo and a single OK, got it button.

Tap it. The screen updates with a "you can dismiss this window" hint — either it closes by itself within a few seconds, or you tap Cancel in the corner to dismiss (don't worry — you stay connected to the dongle).

4. Open the dashboard

In your browser, go to:

http://172.16.7.1/

You should see the bimmerz hub — a grid of tiles for each installed app. Tiles are dimmed for apps that aren't yet uploaded to the SD card.

5. Pick a tool

• EDIABASX — diagnostic jobs. Browse the SGBD catalogue, pick an ECU, run jobs like IDENT, STATUS_MESSWERTBLOCK_LESEN, FS_LESEN (fault codes).
• INPAX — live values. The BMW dealer-tool experience, in a browser.
• NCSX — coding. Plain-English option labels, tick the box, write the change back to the ECU.
• NFSX — flashing. DS2 direct-mode and Bosch C167 bootmode paths.
• TUNEX — edit ECU firmware images.

Read first, write second

Reading from your car is safe. Writing — coding changes, fault clears, flashing — can brick an ECU if you do it wrong. Always read the per-tool guide first and back up before you write.

Next steps

• User guide — deeper walkthrough of each tool, the admin page, and the file browser.
• Troubleshooting — when the box won't power on, the captive portal won't appear, or the ECU doesn't respond.
• Updating firmware — push a new firmware build via the dongle's OTA mechanism.