Here's the solution (archive)

Hope it's the same thing with my E34 525i. Anyways, if you guys have already poked around on the radio more than 3 times and it's beeped at you, it means the radio's locked out until you reset it. After resetting it, you get another 3 tries (or beeps) before it does the lock thing all over again.

If you haven't been locked out yet, just punch in the 5 digit code into the pad when it says CODE on it. If you mess up entering the CODE, finish the 5 digit sequence even if it is incorrect, and begin entering the 5 digit code again after it beeps.

If you HAVE been locked out (and this happened to me) you have to leave the radio ON with the CODE message being displayed for ONE hour. That means you have to either leave the car running for an entire hour (go on a nice trip somewhere ;) ) or you have to leave the key in position 2 I believe. Then (without shutting off the car) put in the code again. Just for good measure, you might try leaving it on for a bit longer before trying. I'm not sure if it's exactly one hour so don't be impatient. :) Tell me how it works out.

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