Highpox1

I have a 2010 911 C4S cab, 61K miles, daily driver. This morning on the way in the radio powered off to a black screen for about 3 seconds, then the Porsche logo popped up, then back to normal. About 20 min later it cycled again. Clearly something is starting to go. I have read about other issues with PCM sound and power on this forum, didn't find this exact one but I suspect a failing PCM has many varieties. From other part date stamps I can tell my car is physically about 9 years old, even though I have had it only 7.3 years (from new). Not sure how long a PCM lasts but I suspect 9 years is right there. Should I consider a straight replacement or switch over to a whole new setup? What kind of bux are we looking at here? Thanks!

caitov

Unfortunately, I think you might be right about the lifespan of the PCM. Mine has also been acting up in the same manner. I don't know if it's a precursor to complete failure, or it will just remain glitchy.

Funny that on my '88 the only issue I currently have is also with the original radio. It's not really a worry since I rarely ever turn it on. Maybe I'll start doing the same with this one.

GSXR750

Hi Guys,
I just went for a drive yesterday up ACH and as soon as i finished the exact same thing happened.
I was on the phone and the screen went black and the unit rebooted.
Is there a fix besides replacing the whole unit?
2010 997.2 base carrera 35K miles

thanks
mike

larrysb

There are companies who fix the PCM's. The nav systems have a physical hard disk drive in them - and realistically it will fail at some point. Life limited component.

GSXR750

I wonder if the spinning disc could be replaced with a solid state drive

96Tiger

doclouie

Highpox1

96Tiger
Your link was very helpful- thanks. One topic I saw develop in those threads was Apple software being an issue....I think this may be very relevant. When I got in my car yesterday morning- with my new Iphone X, software version 11.3- the re-boot of the PCM first occurred after about a minute, which is the same time it took my old phone to Bluetooth pair. What I noticed about 15 min later was that my phone was NOT paired (it showed the slash thru the phone symbol), so I went to Bluetooth on my phone and clicked on PCM pairing. That's when it re-booted the PCM again. I never suspected it was the attempt at pairing that was causing the issue. This time it did pair. After that no reboots occurred. Coming home later it paired right away w/o a problem. This morning the software updated to 11.3.1, but I did not drive in. I can't say definitively that's the culprit, but it sure could be. I will experiment w and w/o a phone to see.

Tim_Perley

Highpox1

Tim

Do you think it was a pairing issue w your phone? Next time it does it look at your signal indicator on the lower left and see if you are paired or have a slash/phone..I'll be this is a pairing issue w/ old PCM software and new Apple software...

dgjks6

So before my warranty ran out was doing it every third time I started the car. Took to the dealer and no problems found. It has not done it now in months.

I have an iPhone hooked up through the PCM and a bovee through the iPod adapter.

Sometimes everything is connected perfect, sometimes does not see the phone, sometimes does not see the iPod.

I consider it a quirk

larrysb

Yeah, first thing, disconnect anything from USB and unpair your bluetooth devices. See if it normalizes. If it still does odd things, go to the reset screen and reset all the data. As a last step, pull the fuse to the PCM and force power-reset it. If it is still does weird stuff, then consider repairing or replacing the PCM.

Frank996

I may be wrong here, but wouldn't a SSD require an OS that supports SSD's?

While on the subject, what OS does the PCM 3.0 run on? Some obscure MS version I could imagine...

larrysb

If the drive is a standard interface type, like ATA or SATA, then the OS wouldn't be able to tell whether it is rotating media or flash media. It just looks like a HDD, responds to all the same commands. Modern OS's have additional features that detect and optimize for SSD's, but older OS's work with them fine, just see them as any other hard disk.

It is really hard to find ATA (also called PATA or IDE) SSD's. Mostly, you can buy SATA SSD's these days, right off the shelf. I haven't open it up yet, but given the age of the PCM3, I'd bet it was older ATA interface.

The other hurdle is whether the drive is "locked". In the ATA and SATA command sets, are commands that lock the disk, so it can't be accessed. There are ways around simple locks if you have an ATA analyzer and can watch the lock/unlock commands and keys get passed. But if the drive or files are encrypted, you might not be able to copy the drive over to an SSD, assuming you can find one that will physically drop in.

ManoTexas