Can't establish connection with the code reader

[BJoe]

Hi everyone,

Yesterday night I was driving my car when suddenly the "service engine soon" light came on. The car feels ok though (nothing out of the ordinary). Anyway, I know that when it comes down to the SES light, the first thing that should be done is to hook a scanner up to the car and read the codes...so, today I stopped in one of this Autoparts shops (like autozone) to do the scanning of the code for free.

The surprise is that after several attempts, they could not establish connection with the vehicle. They told me that they usually do not have this type of problem with other BMWs. One of the guys told me to check the fuse box.....He had a similar problem with a non-bmw vehicle and after finding the "fuse", the scanner worked!

Probably what I should do before visiting the dealer ($$$), is to look for some other place and try to read the code with a different device.

Has anyone gone through a similar situation? any suggestion?

NOTE: Only one device (can't remember the brand name) was used.
I own a 2003 z4 2.5.

Thanks and have a good week!