Hi BigCol, this may sound like a daft question, but do you have a Voice Recognition unit fitted?

NavCoder (you do have the latest version) will indeed allow you to activate VR, but only if your car has the SES module fitted. As far as I'm aware NavCoder will not throw up an error message if you don't have the SES module fitted, so when you get a message saying it's been recoded this may lead you to believe you have SES when in fact you don't.

The best thing is to post your question in the latest NavCoder v2.5.20 thread, and Jochen will surely give you an answer.

If you input your VIN into the BMW Online Parts Catalogue you will be able to pull up a diagram of the SES unit to see what it looks like.