Yep, It finally happened to me too. After a few days of sporadic operation, where the backlight would work but nothing was visible on the screen, While audio was still playing, My PCM3 gave up completely Yesterday and it's now a boat anchor.
I'll visit the dealer first thing on monday... I wonder if they have replacement radios in stock...

Moni

 

They probably don't. For some reason, my PCM 2.1 failed yesterday. I started the car, and the PCM was frozen. None of the buttons were working, but the radio was playing... Then suddenly, just like windows, all the buttons that I pressed started to happen, like switching from radio to XM to cd changer, to map, turning volume up and down... It was frozen for over 5 minutes...

 

Porsche of Melbourne (Florida)

 

Seems that mine now does it whether wipers are on or off. More frequently when on bluetooth cell link. Also far more frequently when an end point is programmed versus just having a map on the display. I will mention for those with Version 1.0 of PCM3 my first replacement PCM was loaded with an upgraded Version 1.1 (done in Nov) and it is a far improvement over the 1.0 and offers a 3 route option for each chosen navigation end point. (Similar to Lexus and other more modern systems.) I still concerned that the POI database however is wowfully not up to date.
I will report further to this forum after the Porsche factory rep works on my GTS this Tuesday.

Richard

 

unfortunately, POI is not up to date and Porsche is doing nothing about it..

 

a nav software update will take of that in the future, it isn't a Porsche thing (POI) that is the manufacturer of the nav software. If this is your second PCM, the plug and wires need to be checked, also the CAN wires like i said earlier. I looked at the wiring Saturday and didn't see anything besides the Power, ground, and CAN wires.

The new PCM3 is pretty badarse, one of the best i seen out there from a car manu. I would love it if the aftermarket suppliers could figure one out

 

Not true in florida.... may be true where you live.

Florida definition:
"a defect or condition that substantially impairs the use, value, or safety of a motor vehicle, but does not include a defect or condition that results from an accident, abuse, neglect, modification, or alteration of the motor vehicle by persons other than the manufacturer or its authorized service agent."

 

I was searching on the web for PCM 3.0 random reboots over the net and found your posting.

We have just bought an 09 Cayenne for my wife a few weeks ago with the PCM 3.0 and I was driving it yesterday for the first time on a long drive to the dealer for a detailing job which was promised by the salesperson. During the 45 minutes drive there, the PCM rebooted itself for no less than 6 times and the dealer was not able to find anything wrong with it when they hooked it up to their computer. And on the way back, the system was still rebooting itself for another 3-4 times.

Before this was happening, we were already noticing that her iPhone 3G's bluetooth connection was a hit-n-miss, some times it'd auto-connect back to the car flawlessly and sometime it'd connect initially and lost the connection after a few minutes. Or sometime it just failed to connect at all and we'd have to delete the pairing from the PCM and handset completely and re-pair again.

Did your problem ever get fixed by the dealer? Was it through a software upgrade? How do I find out what version of software I have?

Any help will be appreciated.

 

The Dealer promised a fix by January. I call every few weeks and same story, still no fix. I also always have my first call of the drive disconnected. The rebooting is a funtion of the Bluetooth device. If i turn off my Blackberry Bluetooth and leave on my Razr Bluetooth I only get the disconnect. As soon as an Iphone or Blackberry with Bluetooth is activated anywhere near the Cayenne is starts its reboot thing!

This is BS for a 90K vehicle. My wife's Lexus has no such issues. (it has others)

 

Thanks for the response. This seems to correlate with my experience since my wife uses an iPhone 3G but she'd never complained about the reboot issue but just the disconnect problem and I have a BlackBerry 8800 and it was the first time I paired the phone with the PCM. Even when I was in her car previously, I had my bluetooth turned off all the time.

How did you convince the dealer that this is a real issue as it was never quite repeatable? My dealer just keep telling me that there was no fault code reading from the computer so nothing must be wrong. (Reminded me of my nightmare with a Mercedes dealer a few years back, but that's another story...)

At least I can now go back and said to my wife: "I told you so..." since I was trying to persuade her to forego some of the electronic toys in a Porsche since they were never as nice as the Japanese cars. :-) (Our Honda family van has much better/reliable "gadgets" but no one wants to drive it. Even my 2 years daughter wants to get into the Porsche. :-) )

Thanks again and keep me posted on your progress.

 

first, I would like to say that Bluetooth is non standardized... trust me, if it was, you wouldn't be having these issues, and manufacturers would be breathing a sigh of relief...

what exactly are you having problems with? you responses are vague. seeing I have access to a Porsche dealer, I might be able to recreate the problems and generate a fix. blackberry's need to go on line and check for an update (same with iPhone) also go in to your subscribers store and ask them for the latest update. sometimes your IT dept has to do it for the BlackBerry's

 

This is actually becoming more reproducible as it looks like the unit reboots more often when the iPhone or BB is in close proximity with their Bluetooth on. (And the iPhones does have the latest version of the FW) In fact, I am bringing in the car to the dealer today and they claim that they got some further instructions from Porsche to download some extra data from the computer. (which they didn't do the last time I brought the car in) And they are going to send this data back to Germany for analysis as they have yet to hear even one case of this symtom which I quickly pointed them to our case here.

I will keep you posted once the dealer can provide me with more info.

 

I have the same reboot problem with my 2009 S PCM - though it is not as often as it is happening for others. I noticed that this happens only when my iPhone is connected to the PCM through the iPhone cable.

I also noticed that when I want to stop the navigation and click on stop navigation, it does not always like to follow the commands. It has mind of it's own. Sometime I have to hit it couple of times and other times may be 5 or 6 times before it stops the guidance.

 

The service advisor at the dealership claimed that my case is the only one Porsche had ever heard of and there is no similar case in their database. It is happening quite consistently if I have either my Blackberry or my wife's iPhone connected to the Bluetooth handsfree.

Hmm, may be we should also try the iPod cable.

What they did today was printed as "VAL and PCM check as per PTEK". (as copied from the SO, I have no idea what it really meant. It'll be good if someone can enlighten me.) He said that they are sending this data to Porsche Germany and it will most likely take another 3-4 weeks before any action will be taken.

 

that is the answer for,
- hope you get the vehicle stollen
- hope the vehicle burns down in your driveway
- hope you trade it in
- hope you go to another dealer
- hope they hit the lottery before you come back



what fault codes did it have is what you need to know when it goes blank. if there is none than obviously it is something that needs to be addressed by the PCM manufacturer.

could it be over heating? could be the hard drive of the nav screwed up, could be a loose connection with the satellite radio board, a bad connection for the radio face... regardless, I know the head tech at the Porsche dealership, and they have yet to have any clients with these issues.

If anyone speaks Russian here, I would suggest looking on .ru sites for Porsche forums and see if anyone over there is having any issues with them also. And possibly China