The PCM on my CPO 2013 BS without memory seats loses some of the navigation and stereo settings after turning the car off. The guidance volume, map preferences, stereo settings for the balance, fader, etc are not recalled after the car is shut off and restarted. When the car is restarted the display shows a message "calling up settings for key 1" but the navi and stereo settings always reset to default, not where they were last set when the car was turned off. There is no auto-memory setting to check in the settings menu to enable this function. The car has been at the dealer for the past 10 days, fortunately under warranty. They reset the PCM, replaced the PCM (Ouch$!$) and said the memory settings for the key DID work properly but when they installed the latest map software the memory function for each key no longer worked. The dealer is clueless and they have escalated this to Porsche NA. Anyone with a similar situation?
PCM loses navigation & stereo settings
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When did the problem start? Had similar issues with a different version of the PCM (in a 2017 Macan S), which seemed to be the result of a software update that was unsuccessful. The system would always revert to defaults. After a few trips to the dealer, they reset all the software and re-applied the latest updates and now everything works as expected. No new PCM was needed in this case.
I have had the car since September 20016 and this has been an issue since I've had the car and I don't know if this has been an issue before I had the car. The dealer has reset the software and installed the latest software. I'm picking up the car in the morning, fixed or not.
The dealer replaced the PCM with a remanufactured unit. They said it worked correctly intermittently until they updated the NAV software and now it is as it was before the PCM was replaced. They tried a software patch that didn't solve the problem. Now they are waiting on the Porsche zone rep to approve replacing the PCM with a new (non-refurb) unit. I have a cayenne loaner but i miss my boxster and I am not convinced a new PCM will solve the problem.
I just bought a CPO 2014 BS with this identical problem. I have not brought it to the dealer yet. I know from service records that the PCM was replaced about a year ago due to sound cut-out issues and the PCM was updated to the last version (4.76) at that time. My guess is as follows from watching the behavior. (I bet yours acts the same). If you change the settings, and remove the key, but then turn the radio back on (with the key removed), the settings are remembered. When you reinsert the key is when the system attempts to download the memory settings in the key. Here is my wag (wild-assed guess); I think the programming is wrong: this car (without the Memory option) does not have the capability of saving settings to the key. Therefore it should not be attempting to load settings from the key (presumably the key just has default 000 settings). With no knowledge of the situation, I am guessing there is a setting to enable/disable the loading of the key settings, and that needs to be set to disabled.
Have you made any progress on this issue?
Have you made any progress on this issue?
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if your system has the memory function as indicated by a switch of memory positions on the passenger door, you may need to set one of those switches also. I seem to recall that this series of switches control some of the memory settings for the radio, climates, etc. My Cayenne has this. You need to access the setting using the controls on the stalk and then set an appropriate memory button on the passenger door and then tie that to your key.
Hi Kim. Thanks for your response, but (from what I can see) the OP and I both do NOT have the memory option; I have the standard sports seats and do NOT have the buttons on the door for the memory settings, nor do I have the setting in the PCM Locking settings which would enable automatically saving settings to the key.
From what I've seen scanning forum postings over several years, there are generally two types of complaints with this issue. One is like the OP and me, where we do not have any of the Memory features, and the other is people who do have the Memory features, but who don't realize you need to set the check box in the car's locking settings to automatically save settings (and that this process occurs when the key is used to lock the car). My problem is the FIRST, NOT the SECOND issue.
Not having the key memory feature, I don't see how it makes any sense that the car would load memory settings from the key (which both the OP and I have seen the screen says is happening), since it doesn't have the ability to save memory settings to the key. I strongly doubt this is a hardware problem; I believe it is most likely a program setting mistake. Either the wrong software version or wrong settings are being used when the PCM is initially programmed, or the wrong setting is being set by the installer after the fact. One would think that if my theory is correct, the cause and solution would be immediately obvious to anyone trained on how the PCM is to be programmed, but apparently not.
The reason I so strongly doubt this is a hardware issue is that the PCM screen helpfully tells you it is loading the settings from key x, and you can actually watch the settings change from what you want to default at that point. Again, how does it make sense to load settings from a key when the car has no ability to save settings to the key in the first place?
From what I've seen scanning forum postings over several years, there are generally two types of complaints with this issue. One is like the OP and me, where we do not have any of the Memory features, and the other is people who do have the Memory features, but who don't realize you need to set the check box in the car's locking settings to automatically save settings (and that this process occurs when the key is used to lock the car). My problem is the FIRST, NOT the SECOND issue.
Not having the key memory feature, I don't see how it makes any sense that the car would load memory settings from the key (which both the OP and I have seen the screen says is happening), since it doesn't have the ability to save memory settings to the key. I strongly doubt this is a hardware problem; I believe it is most likely a program setting mistake. Either the wrong software version or wrong settings are being used when the PCM is initially programmed, or the wrong setting is being set by the installer after the fact. One would think that if my theory is correct, the cause and solution would be immediately obvious to anyone trained on how the PCM is to be programmed, but apparently not.
The reason I so strongly doubt this is a hardware issue is that the PCM screen helpfully tells you it is loading the settings from key x, and you can actually watch the settings change from what you want to default at that point. Again, how does it make sense to load settings from a key when the car has no ability to save settings to the key in the first place?
the dealer fixed the problem. it was not hardware but software. now separate settings are retained for each key when the car turned off, the key removed and then re-inserted. they had the car for a total of 2 1/2 weeks and damaged the leather on the steering wheel which they have owned up to but we haven't resolved that issue yet.
That sounds like no fun in several ways
Do you know exactly what the solution was? Was the software "bad" or was it a settings/configuration issue? What does the work order say they actually did to fix it?
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Resurrecting this thread in the hope that the OP might see my interest, or maybe someone else might have the answer! I have exactly this problem (as described above by both lotusfla and Dkgli) - the PCM not 'remembering' the last-used settings and reverting to factory-settings when keying-off; this on a car without memory seats and hence without the Auto Memory function. My dealer is out of ideas and yet it seems the answer is settings or software based...
Can anyone (particularly lotusfla who managed to get his car fixed) shed any light?
James
I am still living with this issue and I also would appreciate any input on what the solution would be (especially the specific programming setting affected assuming my guess that this is just a programming issue is correct).
The dealership reprogrammed the PCM and that fixed the problem (after first replacing the PCM) after having the car for 3 weeks. James, I will send pictures of the PCM settings to you by your email. Hope this will help.
Dgkli PM me your email and i can send you the same.
Dgkli PM me your email and i can send you the same.
I just wanted to close the loop on my experience with this issue (my posts start at #5 above). The short story is that when I brought my BS in for annual service, I told the service writer about the issue of the PCM losing audio and map settings, and stated that I had read that this was a programming issue. When I got the car back, the problem was indeed fixed and he told me that it just needed to be reprogrammed.
I think here is the key symptom; when I got the car, every time I started it the bottom line of the PCM said something about reading the settings for key #1. My car does not have the settings memory. I no longer see that message when the car is started and the settings are remembered, so all good now.
I think here is the key symptom; when I got the car, every time I started it the bottom line of the PCM said something about reading the settings for key #1. My car does not have the settings memory. I no longer see that message when the car is started and the settings are remembered, so all good now.
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Thank you very much, Dgkli, for your latest update - that is very helpful. The symptoms are exactly what I (and now another 981 owner in the UK) are experiencing - the PCM is "looking for" comfort memory settings and when none exist, it resets to defaults settings.
I've made no progress with the local Porsche centres here in the UK who have so far been unable to identify what 'reprogramming' is needed. Can I ask whether your service administrator might be able to tell you in a little more detail exactly what reprogramming was carried out, so I can give some guidance to the Porsche service technicians back here? I'm really stuck on this one, so any further information or guidance would really help - and if it's in a form or language that my local Porshe technician would understand then so much the better!
Hope you might be able to help here; so frustrating to be so close to the fix and yet so far from being able to have it done!
Thanks, James
I will try to find out more. I'm pretty sure the work order just showed "programming." The service advisor actually first told me that they had "updated" the PCM, then later that they had "programmed" it. I tried to get more specifics hoping to post them here, but I didn't get any--I will ask again. This isn't the only part of my service that he was vague about; I was just glad to have all my issues addressed properly, which they seem to have been.
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Many thanks for that offer. We're on the right track and tantalisingly close - I think we just need to know what the programming step was that turned off comfort (or seat) memory... Just an idea - maybe your Service Advisor might ask your Service Technician what he actually did - a few words of explanation from him will probably get us home and dry!
Glad you got your other issues solved. And apologies that I'm having to reply with your own post included as a quote; I seem to have lost the vanilla-flavoured reply button.
James
let me jump in again as the original poster. the replaced PCM worked fine for 14 months but the new issue was the PCM would reset while playing music files on a memory stick in the USB port. The PCM would reset randomly with while using different memory sticks and MP3 files. The memory sticks would work fine in my other car. The dealer updated the software and that fixed this issue (I hope).
today's update:
after the PCM software update the music files on the memory stick don't cause the PCM to reset but the navigation will randomly go dark and i have a black screen with the song ID showing until it refreshes.
Back to the dealer...
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Hi Dgkli - Just wondering whether you were able to make any progress with this? Would be so helpful to know more detail about the 'reprogramming' that cleared the fault a number of us are wrestling with!
Thanks - James
J
Not to revive an old thread, but last week my PCM (3.1, 2014 Cayman S) was on the fritz. The Nav stopped working, and the unit kept rebooting every 5-10 minutes. I tried "resetting" it by pulling the fuse for 30 minutes or so, but that didn't resolve the issue. I then tried re-applying the 4.76 update via the DVD, but the update would fail about 90% of the way through with an error that it couldn't write files, and then the system just kept rebooting in to emergency update mode.
As a hail marry, I pulled out the drive (it's a 100GB sata 2.5 inch drive located at the top of the unit.) to see if I could get my pc to at least see it. Sure enough I was able to see the partitions, so I ran some diagnostics on it. These came up with bad blocks.
I ran down to Best Buy and grabbed a 120 gb PNY solid state drive off the shelf for $20. Using Clonezilla, I cloned the failing drive to the new SSD. There were a few bad blocks on the old drive, but it was mostly successful. I was primarily trying to get the boot sector anyway. Inserted the cloned SSD into the unit and bench booted it. It did boot into emergency update mode again (I suspected it would), but I popped the update disc in figuring "what's the worst that could happen?"
The update ran completely and successfully! I popped the entire unit back in the car and everything works flawlessly. It didn't copy over my jukebox files, but the nav, saved destinations, phone settings, presets, and even my lap recordings all copied over. Overall the unit seems a little quicker and more responsive - likely as a result of the SSD - and I suspect the SSD will be more reliable as it's less sensitive to vibration and heat than the traditional drive that was in there.
As a hail marry, I pulled out the drive (it's a 100GB sata 2.5 inch drive located at the top of the unit.) to see if I could get my pc to at least see it. Sure enough I was able to see the partitions, so I ran some diagnostics on it. These came up with bad blocks.
I ran down to Best Buy and grabbed a 120 gb PNY solid state drive off the shelf for $20. Using Clonezilla, I cloned the failing drive to the new SSD. There were a few bad blocks on the old drive, but it was mostly successful. I was primarily trying to get the boot sector anyway. Inserted the cloned SSD into the unit and bench booted it. It did boot into emergency update mode again (I suspected it would), but I popped the update disc in figuring "what's the worst that could happen?"
The update ran completely and successfully! I popped the entire unit back in the car and everything works flawlessly. It didn't copy over my jukebox files, but the nav, saved destinations, phone settings, presets, and even my lap recordings all copied over. Overall the unit seems a little quicker and more responsive - likely as a result of the SSD - and I suspect the SSD will be more reliable as it's less sensitive to vibration and heat than the traditional drive that was in there.
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