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Everything in here should apply to your 2016 PCM. Cloning the drive will not carry the problem over if done properly.
Originally Posted by spencer mains
I just took shipment of a 2016 981...the PCM was rebooting ever 4 min. I took to Porsche and they said it’s a total failure and the car was about 3 weeks out of warranty. Anyway, everything documented here apply to my 2016 PCM if I try to fix myself?
Thanks to the awesome community - this procedure went well. Took apart the PC, found some SATA cables and went to town. I did this preventatively so little to no change in how the unit operates. I ended up using the Crucial MX500 250GB SATA SSD.
Unfortunately one of the tabs towards the front of the car did break off. I am not sure if I did it or it was like that before. It was one of those ‘touch and it fell off’ breaks. Hopefully the HD will last decades to come. Also not sure what the latest software version is , curious where 3.1 is at now. I am at 4.76.
I've now done a few of these upgrades and recoveries with success. If the hard drive is still functional, I've found I can clone the good data to a new drive, install it back in the unit, and run the PCM update to restore any missing or corrupted files. If the drive can't be read at all, it can be replaced with another cloned drive, and the update disc should help initialize the new drive to the car, but not all functions may work without taking it to Porsche to re-enable features like navigation even if the originating drive has the same options.
I have SSDs available if anyone needs a clone, pre-cloned SSDs, and update discs available.
Do you still have V.4.7x update disc available? I can't find one anywhere, and i want to update from 4.53 when i replace the drive with an SSD in the next week or so.
Hi all - I have a 2016 981 Spyder and the PCM is rebooting like everyone else has described here. I noticed along the way that someone said the radio will run without the HDD. So, I thought I would try that and it did run w/o the HDD for 4 min and rebooted. Then again, and again every 4 min like before.
So, this leads me to suspect that maybe in my case the HDD is not the root cause, yet it could also be that an update would need to be ran in addition (with a new SSD installed). Any thoughts on this? I am of course concerned the issue is deeper than the HDD....in fact, when I had it running (the radio) and bumped the connector (what goes into the HDD) and it rebooted....so, that got my attention.
great. so, you are suggesting do the update via USB vs. disk.....
I am sure it is in this thread someplace, but can someone point me to the download? Sorry to be a bother.
Yes, in my experience the USB was better the disk I had must have been scratched and the update failed which caused me a few hours of grief. Unzipped to a USB and the update was successful.
All -
Thanks so much for posting this valuable info. The 3.1 PCM in my 2014 981 started self-rebooting in September. I tried the vehicle handover based on all the post-XM losses. No change. Took it to the dealer to confirm it was dead and after 4 hours of failed software update attempts, they left my PCM in permanent emergency update mode and provided a $4K estimate to replace the PCM. Using the info here, I bought a $18 SATA drive and $32 drive cloner. I downloaded the ISO update file and extracted it to a USB. With cloned drive and USB in place, the software updated successfully on start-up. I now have phone, AM/FM, CD, AUX, USB, XM and Bluetooth capability restored. There's still no Jukebox available in the menu and NAV won't launch, but the PCM will read music from the USB and the maps were outdated anyway (although I liked the map interface with the right driver gauge). I can get Waze or Maps directions from phone using the bluetooth or upgrade to ApplePlay with Joyeauto if needed. I feel like 90% of the original PCM capability was restored for a mere $50. Thanks again for providing a great service and resource to the community!
I understand from other posts that a minimal number of public posts are required before the forum allows PMs. Happy to help as much as possible (although others always seem to know more than me). Post any questions and I'll respond...
It sounds like there's downloadable freeware to clone the SATA hard drive inside the PCM. I bought one of these to make things even easier. The link to the SSD I bought is also provided. Once the PCM SATA drive and the SSD were loaded into the disk cloner, it took less than 30 sec to clone.
09-22-2020 | 09:02 AM
