Instrument cluster suddenly died

[Kristian Lima]

A few weeks ago my instrument panel on my 2004 e61 stopped working properly, the only thing that worked were the two small screens in the middle so I opened it to check what was wrong and then there was a path in the circuit board that had blown on the way in/out from the processor, so I ordered a new one. It arrived in the post today so I installed The new one and everything worked fine the first drive, but on the second drive it was broken and only the two small screens in the middle worked. Has anyone experienced this before or know what could be the cause?

When the car is moving either speed, rpm, fuel efficiency etc does not work and the two small screens are much brighter than they should be

[Greydog]

Morning Kristian

Welcome and Seasons Greetings

If you repaired the fault by changing the board and the fault has repeated then my thinking is the fault is with the power feed to the instrument panel overloading it,could be Junction box related or Footwell control module related.

A diagnostic scan is needed to try and track it down 

Dave

[Kristian Lima]

12 hours ago, Greydog said:

Morning Kristian

Welcome and Seasons Greetings

If you repaired the fault by changing the board and the fault has repeated then my thinking is the fault is with the power feed to the instrument panel overloading it,could be Junction box related or Footwell control module related.

A diagnostic scan is needed to try and track it down 

Dave

Okay, I have a friend who has diagnostic tools so i will ask him for help. 
Thank you for the reply Dave!

[christophercharlesgreen]

This fault seems similar to what I've expirienced with the 1989 525i.My  auto electrician friend thinks the board is powered by an independent small battery but does not know where it is located. Does anyone have any idea ? I've contacted  Greydog a few weeks ago about this and although his advise was helpful, the firms did not get involved with older cars. Many thanks in anticipation of any suggestions.