PV997

Thanks scadams. I was playing around with the "coding adaptations" function for the various systems last night and was pleasantly surprised with how many things can be changed. I didn't actually change any on my car (not that brave yet) but seeing they were there was encouraging. Regarding the software speed it actually seems to run a little faster when hooked to the car when compared to simulation for whatever reason. It's still not very fast though. The software came preset for the VM to use 1.5 GB of RAM and two processors, that can be changed in the VirtualBox settings menu. It might be worth playing around with it.

I'm going to try and capture the PDK solenoid current values in each gear today, I should be able to use that data to construct a solenoid truth table (i.e. maps solenoid positions to gear selection). I'll add that to the PDK post as it's a key missing item needed to t-shoot transmission problems. I'll post some screen shots if it works out. The fact that Porsche makes none of this info available (and has ZF bound to a confidentiality agreement) really stinks to high heaven. It does make me wonder about some of the flack I got when I started this thread. I'll be happy when folks openly laugh and roll their eyes when some dealer claims the car needs a $20k transmission because a $30 part failed.

If you haven't done so, check out the thread from stjoh linked above regarding his 987. He did his own calibration of a 987 PDK which is certainly encouraging and shows how these devices can be used to break dependency on the dealers.

NuttyProfessor

I'm following this thread PV. And admittedly, I am cheering you on from the stands even though I'm still apprehensive about the Chinese PIWIS knock off.

ALEV8

So just get the hardware and run the virtualbox in Win 10 or Mac OS 10.13? Pretty easy for a fairly experienced Mac user to accomplish? I'm using Durametric on the Win10 partition on my Macbook currently.......

PV997

Thanks my friend, it's pretty amazing the passion these cars bring out on all sides isn't it? I'm apprehensive too FWIW. From the ability to modify settings and the sketchy online module business, it's clear one could do some real damage if not careful.

PV997

It is very easy if you follow the link in comment #7. The software needs to run in Windows XP so just use VirtualBox to run an XP VM in whatever your native OS is. Download the specific VirtualBox files for your OS (free from Oracle) then run the software image file using it. You don't need a separate partition unless you want to do that. I'm running Ubuntu Linux as my OS (doesn't even have Windows) and it works fine, no reason it shouldn't work using a Mac OS.

stjoh

If you save your settings prior to making changes I think you're pretty safe. I've used these PIWIS clones (a couple different models/sellers) to do a variety of tasks such as PDK calibration, PDK fill, Airbag module reset, Seat belt sensor override, TPMS disable on several models (986, 996, 987, 997, 981) with no issues.
Likely identical to the OEM parts. Great tool to have if you're working on these cars.

PV997

That's good to read but how do you save your settings? I'd love to make a logfile that reads the ECU and saves the set value for every modifiable parameter but have not been able to figure out how to do it. Something like a restore to factory defaults file would be nice.

I agree that these are likely identical to factory but apparently without the program from scratch option enabled. My concern is that someone could brick their ECU by changing things *****-nilly and you can't reflash the ECU like a dealer can. At least I don't think you can. In the maintenance menu under parts replacement there's a step to read your old unit, then write back to the new replacement unit. Can you use this to make a back-up image of the ECU, TCU, etc.?

Had some fun capturing data while I was driving today. Here are the PDK's four shift fork engagements as I manually stepped from gear 1 to gear 7, measured via the shift rod sensors. The legend is on the left of each plot. A negative value means the fork is retracted, positive means it's extended. Zero means that particular gear set is in neutral. You can see how the transmission sets up the next gear in anticipation of an upshift as two gears are always engaged. This is all stuff the dealer could look at to diagnose PDK problems but they don't as it's not called out in their diagnostic flow diagrams.

stjoh

Yes, that is what I was referring to.

BTW, I located the PDK troubleshooting flowchart but have not been able to save it yet, would be a good addition to your PDK thread. It includes things like resistance values for the solenoid coils.

scadams

The VM is OVA format which is natively supported by VirtualBox (free) and VMWare Fusion ($80) on OSX. Just pick which one you want, install it on your MB and import. It’s cake.

If your MB is dual-boot OSX and Win10, it doesn’t matter which OS you choose to run the VM on.

PV997

Thanks stjoh, I've got the flowcharts but have not posted the document as I don't think it's in the public domain. It's not that helpful anyways as most flows end in "replace PDK transmission". The resistance values are good info and I'll add them to the pinouts update I'm compiling to add to the PDK post.

I think I may know the former owner of your car as he PM'd me a few times regarding his situation. I sent him a list of things to possibly check based on the symptoms and he took the list to the dealer and they told him they couldn't do it because it wasn't in their flow diagrams. This is exactly the problem that hopefully we can all help fix.

tapcon

Had issues running on the original VM installed. Changing to the Oracle version sorted thing out, and with a little fiddling with the settings am in the simulator. Appreciate all the work in shedding some light on this PV, and super propz to the Planet-9 crew. TY!

scadams

PV, have you made any writes to your car yet or are you still just monitoring the values of your PDK?

FWIW, WinXP Pro will only recognize a max of 3.25 GB RAM and 2 vCPUs. I’m thinking I might go thru the VM and see if there’s anything I can remove from the OS to strip it down. I am curious to see how sensitive PIWIS is to an OS upgrade. I probably try that out of sheer curiosity. I still have the original OVA file so it’s of no consequence if it isn’t compatible.

ALEV8

Yes it is dual booting OSX and Win 10 using Bootcamp. Ideally what do you recommend doing so the software runs as it should and won’t fight with Bootcamp? I’m all for not dropping $150 every damn time my car starts talking to me but can’t troubleshoot itchy VM softwares....thanking you in advance!

scadams

Install VirtualBox as mentioned earlier by PV. It is free and has an installer for OSX and Windows so it’s really up to you which OS you want to install it on. Whichever OS you feel more comfortable with I’d say to install it on that one. Bootcamp just tells the MacBook which OS to boot into. It has no bearing on VirtualBox since VB is just running on the running OS.

Here’s the link to the download page and pick whichever 6.1.2 platform package for the OS you choose.
https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads

To import the VM, select Tools then click on Import and go through the instructions.
After you import the VM click on Settings, select System and set the RAM on it to 3250MB. After that you can start it.

PV997

I have not written anything yet, but will likely try a few things this weekend. I want to make sure I have images of the various control units backed up prior to changing values, I still need to play around with the PIWIS software a bit more to understand how to do this.

Let us know how it goes with modernizing the OS. I was playing around with the settings in the PIWIS software and somehow managed to lock myself out of the app. As you mention it was simple to delete the VM then reinstall it using the OVA file.