When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
Please tell me that I didn’t completely screw up my early PCM 3.1 with Nav (Boxster 2013) today; just trying not to panic here.
Thankfully the PCM unit itself boots and it’s not a brick. However, it now throws a "Loading Maps…” error message when you select Navigation — which points to a hard drive problem per the forums here. The same error message happens when the internal hard drive is disconnected, so I’m guessing that the original 40GB drive (It’s IDE and not SATA in the early PCMs) is toast, and possibly the flat ribbon cable that connects it to the PCM is also damaged.
Basically, I figured the “upgrade your PCM’s hard drive now with an SSD before it dies” was a smart move. Although I’m very facile with computers, I made the stupid mistake of accidentally crumpling the Flexible Flat Cable that connects the IDE laptop drive to the PCM. I can’t tell if the cable is internally damaged (I see some crumples but don’t see any actual breaks when using a magnifying glass), but I’m going to assume it is — as that’s the only obvious damaged piece — and a replacement cable will arrive in 2 days. Taking some measurements, the FFC appears to be: 50 Pins, 0.5mm, Pitch 150mm, Type B (where the blue inserts are the opposite sides of the cable. Hopefully it’ll be just as simple as that.
Meanwhile, what worries me and complicates things is that that the original 40GB IDE hard drive appears to have died today — possibly due to the damaged ribbon cable. Now, I can’t physically feel or hear any vibration from the hard drive when inserting into the PCM, when inserting it into my Wavlink stand-alone drive cloner, or when connecting the cloner to my Mac via USB. In fact, a second hard drive in the cloner will not mount on my Mac when the 40GB is connected in the other slot…but will mount once it’s removed. Again, I think it’s toast.
Hopefully I was able to make a few life rafts over the past few days. I cloned the 40GB drive to a 64GB SSD (mSATA to IDE -- the intention of this whole project) using the standalone Wavlink cloner, but don’t know yet if the cloned drive works — as it didn’t work when installed into the PCM — and I’ll try again once I get the replacement ribbon cable. I also used the standalone cloner to clone the original 40GB IDE drive to a large 640GB 3.5” SATA drive that I had kicking around, so ideally that is a solid backup. Finally, I was able to image the cloned 64GB SSD drive onto my Mac using Disk Utility as an image file — although the Mac can’t actually mount/use the drive itself and the Apple utilities will not copy the image back to another drive. At the command line, I can see the 3 QNX partitions as backed up — so there’s hope there that I still have the actual raw data.
Any thoughts and suggestions, I’m all ears. Again, hopefully I've got a solid clone with the 64GB SSD that I created...the 40GB drive was somehow just shorted out...and it's really just something as simple as replacing that flexible flat cable.
Bummer, we've all had days like that. I'll bet your 64GB SSD clone is OK, given that the source drive obviously hadn't failed entirely at the time you made the copy. The new FFC will likely get you back in business. Bear in mind that FFCs are not always easy to seat properly, especially if you don't have much experience with them. It may look like you installed the cable correctly, when in reality it's not quite right.
One thing I noticed when I cloned my PCM drive was that it took a while for the system to rebuild the index for the Jukebox songs. It looked like the Jukebox had been wiped out at first, but fortunately that condition fixed itself over the next few minutes. I didn't notice anything like that happening with the maps, but I suppose it's possible.
Worst case, you can probably fix the faulty original drive by purchasing an identical one on eBay and transplanting its PC board. I doubt you damaged the PCM itself (and if you did, it's probably still repairable.)
Thanks, @Noah Fect - I also guess (and pray) that the clone went okay to the SSD, as the simple "clone operation complete" light came on the Wavlink cloner, so hopefully that life raft was okay.
FFC was a disheartening fail. Turns out that there are small tabs on the edges of the OEM FFC that center it into place exactly, and the aftermarket ones just plug straight in - so I couldn't line them up. Can't find any similar replacements to try as of yet.
Interesting thing per the maps, and maybe I'll give it a try. Key thing is that I'm concerned that the original cable is in fact damaged and may have shorted out the 40GB IDE drive. I quickly tried it this morning and no dice...but I didn't leave it on for a while.
An entire PCM replacement ($600) would be terrible, but I don't see any other viable options as of yet. I think the next step is to find a replacement FFC somehow (with tabs) or a known good cable just to test. My sense is that the PCM itself isn't toast, as I doubt that even if the HD shorted out -- the PCM itself was fried.
Any other thoughts, I'm all ears. Given that I spent a ton of time over the past two weeks installing both a JoyeAuto unit (which works great for CarPlay) and a rear camera, this was a real bummer to end all my wrenching.
Thanks, @Noah Fect - I also guess (and pray) that the clone went okay to the SSD, as the simple "clone operation complete" light came on the Wavlink cloner, so hopefully that life raft was okay.
FFC was a disheartening fail. Turns out that there are small tabs on the edges of the OEM FFC that center it into place exactly, and the aftermarket ones just plug straight in - so I couldn't line them up. Can't find any similar replacements to try as of yet.
Interesting thing per the maps, and maybe I'll give it a try. Key thing is that I'm concerned that the original cable is in fact damaged and may have shorted out the 40GB IDE drive. I quickly tried it this morning and no dice...but I didn't leave it on for a while.
An entire PCM replacement ($600) would be terrible, but I don't see any other viable options as of yet. I think the next step is to find a replacement FFC somehow (with tabs) or a known good cable just to test. My sense is that the PCM itself isn't toast, as I doubt that even if the HD shorted out -- the PCM itself was fried.
Any other thoughts, I'm all ears. Given that I spent a ton of time over the past two weeks installing both a JoyeAuto unit (which works great for CarPlay) and a rear camera, this was a real bummer to end all my wrenching.
Can you post a close-up photo of one end of the FFC cable? I can probably point you to an off-the-shelf replacement that will work.
Hmm, I don't see anything like that for sale from any of the usual (US) distributors. Lots of cables with convex 'ears' but not with concave notches. You can't just visually center the replacement cable?
I found some compatible locking connectors, but they don't sell the cables or specify where to get them.
Edit: Also, I'm not seeing the damage to your original cable. Can you post a shot of that?
Thanks, @Noah Fect -- Yeah, agreed per my own search as I couldn't find a replacement cable quite like it. I sent an email to Sumitomo USA corporate and that's a long shot. Then again, something wider and with "ears" might center itself into the slot. The aftermarket cable I got was thinner than the other one by just a few millimeters, so I couldn't quite exactly ensure I was centering the pins correctly.
I have a major fear of shorting out the cloned drive (given the original 40GB IDE drive died last week). Plus, I may have misaligned the aftermarket cable in the process yesterday - so I quickly removed it when it did not work. Something weird may have happened when I installed the aftermarket cable (misaligned) where the PCM didn't turn on, but that may have had something to do with the fuse (B10, driver's fusebox) not fully seated correctly? Just don't want to take any chances and fry the SSD drive.
The key thing is that the cable may or may not be actually damaged -- but that seemed like an obvious possibility in my problem solving - given I accidentally crumpled it in the first place. Nothing looks cut or the like. If you look at it carefully, you'll see a little wrinkling at the edges (I smoothed everything out) in the middle of the cable. Half tempted to order two of these today:
I figure I could connect both ends to the original cable...and painstakingly check for continuity and shorts between adjacent pins. Logically, that would help rule out if the original cable is still good or not. If a replacement cable was easily sourced (which I figured was the case), that might have been the obvious solution.
Given that the PCM is behaving the same whether or not a drive is connected (Loading maps...), my thought was that the connection to the drive was bad -- and the slightly damaged ribbon cable seemed like the obvious culprit. Key thing is that I don't want to fry my remaining good drive by just popping it back in there.
The more that I think about it, the cable itself may actually be fine. Problems remain... (1) What caused the 40GB to die? (2) Why won't the PCM recognize the cloned drive, when my Mac can "see" the drive when connected? (3) If we determine that the cable is okay...is it safe to just pop the cloned drive in there...and hope that it will just "take some time" per the "Loading maps..." to actually load? Just didn't want to leave it "on" in that situation.
Agreed that your cable is probably fine. Worth checking, but it seems plausible that it's OK.
The fact that the original drive prevents the cloner from recognizing any other drives may be a useful clue. Are there any tantalum capacitors on the PC board that you can see? If so, check for continuity across them with an ohmmeter, one of them may have shorted.
1) Good to know about the cable. I think I may just order the two of the PCB Converter Board Couple Extend Adapters might not be a bad idea -- just to be on the safe side and test it out before reinstalling it. Seems very difficult to replace the FFC cable with the right notches -- which seems ridiculous.
2) Haven't removed the PCM motherboard yet. I've tried chasing tantalum capacitors before on older '80s gear and came up with nothing...so that's a last resort?
3) One long shot may be to order the Abelconn mSATA to IDE adapter, as apparently it worked for 2012 Cayenne peeps with IDE drives -- as it has the Marvell controller that plays well with the PCM 3.1. What do you think? The adapter that I used seemed fine with the cloner and the Mac...but maybe the PCM just doesn't like it? Apparently a Zheino™ SSD IDE drive was another candidate, but that was discontinued a year or two ago and can't be purchased anymore.
My reasoning this afternoon is again -- slowly stepping through all this -- as the PCM is working okay with or without the hard drive -- but can't see the maps -- something is wrong somewhere en route from the PCM to the hard drive. So stepping through this here:
1) I agree that the PCM is likely fine; maybe the original HD gave up the ghost when plugging it back into the cloner (I had to use SATA/IDE adapters to do it)...and the PCM probably wasn't the culprit that shorted it out. (Then again, I originally did the reinstall stupidly WITHOUT disconnecting the car battery or removing fuse B10?)
2) Cable is likely fine upon close inspection (a little crumpled at the edges - particularly in the margins and not the actual internal wires), but is worth testing before reinstalling back into the PCM just to be safe.
3) I want to assume that the clone is okay, given that I can see the 3 QNX partitions and the blind cloning by the Wavlink cloner seemed to complete just fine.
4) So again, ruling things out here -- maybe it's just the generic PATA to IDE controller that the PCM doesn't like?
I've extensively read the PCM 3.1 Emergency Loop thread here, which really makes me think that something is screwed up (albeit minor) at the software level:
I can't say that it's for certain, but per my independent Mac consulting I've done for 25+ years -- dollars to donuts it's not a hardware failure. (If the original IDE didn't die in the process, I'd have no pause in making this statement.)
Two things that I do wonder about from that other thread, is:
Maybe I just need to plug the clone in (after checking the cable)...and drive around a while to see if the GPS picks up a signal...let alone maybe it really WILL take a long time for the maps to load? That seemed to work for one person.
I could run the DVD update disk (I downloaded the ISO from the forums here), but I'm afraid of bricking my PCM altogether. Apparently it runs utilities when you do so. Meanwhile, I'm already at the latest version (v3.43) for my older PCM 3.1.
Hard to say. When I backed up mine, I was careful to buy a compatible drive rather than experiment with adapters. But I do agree that there is unlikely to be a real hardware issue, with the possible exception of a shorted cap that would be easy enough to replace once located.
I would have easily grabbed a compatible SATA drive...but it was IDE and there were no SSD (IDE) drives available. I'm kicking myself that I just didn't order the Ableconn that was a known working IDE adapter in the first place.
Per the cable, I just used a loupe and did a super-close inspection. None of the damage looks like there's any clear shorting anywhere..and I did a rough continuity test of the pins (my leads aren't that fine per cable) and there was continuity per the leads (assuming 2x at a time per adjacent pins). That's giving me enough confidence that the cable is in fact okay...that it's safe to reinstall the cloned drive back in and just see if the maps magically load after a good long while, let alone out while driving (where there's a GPS signal)...as I doubt anything will short out. If that doesn't solve it, I think I'll just order the Ableconn adapter and see if that helps. I doubt it will, but maybe I'll get lucky. Again, I think it's a software problem and maybe the IDE just died per the adapters needed per the cloning process - who knows.
Will keep you posted per how the afternoon drive-around reinstalled shakes out.
UPDATE 1: Just installed the cloned drive...what a PITA to reinstall that ribbon cable on the PCM side...hope it is locked securely? It looks good but I'll recheck that connection next by removing the entire PCM and very carefully reinserting it. Closed it up and "Maps loading" still comes up as expected. But will see if things change after going for a 25 min drive...
UPDATE 2: Interestingly enough, the "CY" brand adapter I put in uses the JMicron JM20330 SATA bridge chip controller...and the other thread for the Ableconn uses a Marvell controller. Really beginning if the PCM just doesn't like this controller -- which could be the "break in the chain" here.
UPDATE 3: No luck in leaving the drive connected while out driving for a while. Another user reported tonight that they had the same exact problem with a bunch of IDE adapters...but that went away with the connection of a Zheino SSD drive! So maybe I will be in luck after all if I can use the right adapter. Just ordered the Ableconn (Marvell controller) and I guess that's next step...fingers crossed!
Okay, gang - Mystery is FINALLY solved. Maps are restored and the stupid “Maps loading…” message is finally gone.
A HUGE thanks to @kari and @dan_189 for their help on this!
The key detail is that if you have an IDE drive (mine was out of a 2013 Boxster), DO NOT PASS GO. Just order one of the ~$35 Ableconn mSATA to IDE adapters (I used a Transcend mSATA like one of the earlier users did…64GB) and be done with it. Mine looked used and prepackaged (bent pins), but whatever. Remove the jumper on the IDE pins as you won't need it.
The answer is definitively that the Ableconn adapter uses an old-school controller that the PCM can recognize, specifically a Marvell 88SA8052 chipset. The one that I tried was a ~$15 “CY” brand controller, which used a JMicron JM20330 SATA bridge chip controller which the PCM didn’t like. This seems like the only viable option these days, given that the Zheino SSDs have not been available for quite some time.
Next, do NOT remove the FFC ribbon cable that comes the PCM and goes to the IDE drive, be sure to treat it VERY gently, and don’t do the stupid thing that I did - was to mash the PCM back into the dash temporarily while leaving the FFC hanging idly. I contacted Sumitomo and they cannot replace it, as it was manufactured as an OEM part.The problem is that a standard ribbon won’t squarely line up - as the OEM cable has special “ears” at the end to help it lock into place into the connector.
Why did the OEM HD drive? Not sure. But the “lifeboat” clone looks okay for now — to the point where I may in fact clone that and put a spare away somewhere. Just don’t want to deal with these headaches ever again.
What caused the dead hard drive? Maybe the cheap PATA to SATA adapters I used with the Wavlink cloner. Not going to worry about it too much.
Again, mystery solved and let’s hope there are no reboots or other issues. Thanks, everyone!
04-09-2021, 02:05 AM
"Loading Maps" error on older PCM 3.1 unit?
I'll bet your 64GB SSD clone is OK, given that the source drive obviously hadn't failed entirely at the time you made the copy. The new FFC will likely get you back in business. Bear in mind that FFCs are not always easy to seat properly, especially if you don't have much experience with them. It may look like you installed the cable correctly, when in reality it's not quite right.
