F20 iDrive problem

[jas025]

Asking on behalf of a friend - he's got an F20 116i with a dead iDrive - essentially it won't boot. Reading round, there's a possibility that replacing the head unit would solve it.

My question is - is it as simple as that? I took the dash apart to get to the unit and check the part number.

20200704_121957.jpg

Having a look around on ebay, there's not many that come up with that exact same part number but there's one that's come up this week:

s-l1600.jpg

As I read it - it's the same unit but 2 months newer.

Can I just get this and swap over the head unit or will it need some kind of coding.

Thanks in advance as always.