We were contacted by a workshop who was doing some bodywork on a BMW E90 and upon reconnecting the battery, it was found that the windows, hazards, turn signals were inoperative and the headlights stayed on.
As we have dealt with 100s of cases with the same symptoms and the fact this happened upon reconnecting the battery, without any diagnosis on vehicle, we requested the workshop bring us the FRM module which is located at the driver footwell (an illustration has been posted below).
This happens because the FRM goes into a short-circuit protection mode where it becomes inoperative and diagnosis is not possible.
The dealers and others tend to replace the module but there is absolutely no need, we can recover the protection mode without replacement of the module.
Once the module was in our hands, without further ado we removed the covers in preparation for soldering and programming on bench.
Upon modifying the data of the FRM, desoldering and reassembling the covers, we sent back the module to the workshop who reported back positively.