718 Spyder - PCM screen blanking out - Page 1 - Boxster/Cayman - PistonHeads UK

I think this might be a fairly common problem with PCM 4.0? Random blanking of the main PCM screen, sometimes when in normal Porsche nav/map view, sometimes when in Android Auto. It comes back on the "home" screen after a moment or 2, so it is almost as if it is doing a re-boot. Car is at OPC later this week, so some idea of the nature of the problem and potential fixes would be appreciated, hopefully all covered by the Porsche extended warranty. TIA

If it was a 981 with a PCM3.1, I would have put money on it being the onboard HDD failing. But AFAIK, the PCM4.0 in the 718 is SSD based, so that is not likely to be the problem. If it is under warranty, then you should be OK to (unless you have opened the PCM For some reason and voided the warranty)

Mabosh said: What are you using to connect to Android Auto? We use one of these: https://www.nmautomotive.co.uk/product-page/pcm-4-... We have had it for a few years and it worked very well until about two or three months ago. It's now become very leggy and unresponsive and pretty much unusable. It also seems to be randomly causing the PCM to go blank, sometimes as often as every 10 minutes or so. Sometimes it will reboot and reconnect cleanly, other times not. I am but stumped but I am guessing a recent Android Auto update is affecting the dongle/PCM interface. I had this exact problem - ended up buying a new box here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0B7JK3M5K?ref=ppx_yo2... LIke you, assume an update affected the dongle. I think I had the 3.0 before, with the 4.0 now it's fine. I'm sure you can find it cheaper online etc, but with the issues with the first one I wanted something that looked more official, and it's not that dear

What are you using to connect to Android Auto? We use one of these: https://www.nmautomotive.co.uk/product-page/pcm-4-... We have had it for a few years and it worked very well until about two or three months ago. It's now become very laggy and unresponsive and pretty much unusable. It also seems to be randomly causing the PCM to go blank, sometimes as often as every 10 minutes or so. Sometimes it will reboot and reconnect cleanly, other times not. I am but stumped but I am guessing a recent Android Auto update is affecting the dongle/PCM interface. Edited by Mabosh on Wednesday 13th August 10:06

john_1983 said: Mabosh said: What are you using to connect to Android Auto? We use one of these: https://www.nmautomotive.co.uk/product-page/pcm-4-... We have had it for a few years and it worked very well until about two or three months ago. It's now become very leggy and unresponsive and pretty much unusable. It also seems to be randomly causing the PCM to go blank, sometimes as often as every 10 minutes or so. Sometimes it will reboot and reconnect cleanly, other times not. I am but stumped but I am guessing a recent Android Auto update is affecting the dongle/PCM interface. I had this exact problem - ended up buying a new box here: https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0B7JK3M5K?ref=ppx_yo2... LIke you, assume an update affected the dongle. I think I had the 3.0 before, with the 4.0 now it's fine. I'm sure you can find it cheaper online etc, but with the issues with the first one I wanted something that looked more official, and it's not that dear Thank you very much for this. I had contemplated ordering one but wasn't sure if it would work. Great to get confirmation that it does, I've now ordered one. I had contemplated buying an old iPhone just to use in the car so that I could use Google maps and stream music etc but that would also mean buying a PAYG SIM etc. Cheers!

Mabosh said: What are you using to connect to Android Auto? We use one of these: https://www.nmautomotive.co.uk/product-page/pcm-4-... We have had it for a few years and it worked very well until about two or three months ago. It's now become very laggy and unresponsive and pretty much unusable. It also seems to be randomly causing the PCM to go blank, sometimes as often as every 10 minutes or so. Sometimes it will reboot and reconnect cleanly, other times not. I am but stumped but I am guessing a recent Android Auto update is affecting the dongle/PCM interface. Edited by Mabosh on Wednesday 13th August 10:06 I am using one of these, too, so it is interesting that you have had similar problems. I was promised a link to update the dongle firmware but that was several weeks ago, and in spite of a chaser nothing has been provided since then. Just to clarify - I am getting the screen blanking when using the dongle, as well as in the native PCM environment. I have not yet, but should, tried running the car with the dongle physically disconnected.

Tony B2 said: I am using one of these, too, so it is interesting that you have had similar problems. I was promised a link to update the dongle firmware but that was several weeks ago, and in spite of a chaser nothing has been provided since then. Just to clarify - I am getting the screen blanking when using the dongle, as well as in the native PCM environment. I have not yet, but should, tried running the car with the dongle physically disconnected. I've got a bit of an update as you'll have probably seen my post above where I ordered the official Carlinkit 4 via Amazon earlier today. It came this evening and I only had a short time to connect and test it. It's certainly a significant improvement and much more responsive than the original dongle but I'm still seeing a little lag on Google Maps at times. It's not as pronounced as before and catches up quite quickly but it's not quite perfect. I can switch between apps much more quickly and a test call and incoming WhatsApp both came up on the PCM more or less instantly. Oddly it seemed to respond best when I was parked up. The original dongle could take a few minutes to display these. When I bought the original dongle from NM Automotive I was fairly sure it was just an unbranded Carlinkit. I found the original packaging tonight which would seem to confirm this, in fact my original dongle is also a V4 CPC200. This may suggest that only the pre-installed firmware is different so perhaps the original one will work with an update. You can apparently check for updates and amend settings via these instructions: Connect your CarlinKit 4.0 to your car's USB port and then connect your phone to the CarlinKit's Wi-Fi network. Open a web browser on your phone and enter the address 192.168.50.2 to access the Carlinkit's settings. Look for an "Update" or "Check for Updates" option in the settings menu. A quick attempt failed to connect to the Settings page but I was probably doing something wrong. It'll be the weekend before I can have a proper try. There are some suggested Settings changes to remove or minimise lag (toggle "GPS" to Off and set Frame refresh to 20). When I tested it this evening the PCM screen didn't go blank or lock up at all. I think it's the original dongle that was causing this previously just by being plugged in. Anyway, a slightly frustrating exercise in trial and error but still decent progress. At least the current price is half what the original cost. Edited by Mabosh on Thursday 14th August 00:08

Looking here, they seem to have a 5.0 version too. Anyone tried that yet? https://carlinkitmall.com/collections/wireless-car...

Thank you - this is really useful. I will have a go this evening after I get my car back from the OPC Mabosh said: Tony B2 said: I am using one of these, too, so it is interesting that you have had similar problems. I was promised a link to update the dongle firmware but that was several weeks ago, and in spite of a chaser nothing has been provided since then. Just to clarify - I am getting the screen blanking when using the dongle, as well as in the native PCM environment. I have not yet, but should, tried running the car with the dongle physically disconnected. I've got a bit of an update as you'll have probably seen my post above where I ordered the official Carlinkit 4 via Amazon earlier today. It came this evening and I only had a short time to connect and test it. It's certainly a significant improvement and much more responsive than the original dongle but I'm still seeing a little lag on Google Maps at times. It's not as pronounced as before and catches up quite quickly but it's not quite perfect. I can switch between apps much more quickly and a test call and incoming WhatsApp both came up on the PCM more or less instantly. Oddly it seemed to respond best when I was parked up. The original dongle could take a few minutes to display these. When I bought the original dongle from NM Automotive I was fairly sure it was just an unbranded Carlinkit. I found the original packaging tonight which would seem to confirm this, in fact my original dongle is also a V4 CPC200. This may suggest that only the pre-installed firmware is different so perhaps the original one will work with an update. You can apparently check for updates and amend settings via these instructions: Connect your CarlinKit 4.0 to your car's USB port and then connect your phone to the CarlinKit's Wi-Fi network. Open a web browser on your phone and enter the address 192.168.50.2 to access the Carlinkit's settings. Look for an "Update" or "Check for Updates" option in the settings menu. A quick attempt failed to connect to the Settings page but I was probably doing something wrong. It'll be the weekend before I can have a proper try. There are some suggested Settings changes to remove or minimise lag (toggle "GPS" to Off and set Frame refresh to 20). When I tested it this evening the PCM screen didn't go blank or lock up at all. I think it's the original dongle that was causing this previously just by being plugged in. Anyway, a slightly frustrating exercise in trial and error but still decent progress. At least the current price is half what the original cost. Edited by Mabosh on Thursday 14th August 00:08

[quote=Tony B2]Thank you - this is really useful. I will have a go this evening after I get my car back from the OPC [quote=Mabosh][quote=Tony B2] You're welcome. Judy to bamboozle you with more information, it seems connecting to the IP address of the dongle is it not that straightforward. It's a bit of a faff, please see the hints in this thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/AndroidAuto/s/n9IDDHZJh9 Alternatively you can download the Carlinkit toolkit that launches a mini app to interact with the dongle. This official video shows how: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SU1xzIvjTUc I haven't tried either of these yet (I may not need to if the new dongle works well, I'll need to monitor). Beginning to think it might just be easier to buy a 992!

Mabosh]ony B2 said: Thank you - this is really useful. I will have a go this evening after I get my car back from the OPC Mabosh said: Tony B2 said: You're welcome. Judy to bamboozle you with more information, it seems connecting to the IP address of the dongle is it not that straightforward. It's a bit of a faff, please see the hints in this thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/AndroidAuto/s/n9IDDHZJh9 Alternatively you can download the Carlinkit toolkit that launches a mini app to interact with the dongle. This official video shows how: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SU1xzIvjTUc I haven't tried either of these yet (I may not need to if the new dongle works well, I'll need to monitor). Beginning to think it might just be easier to buy a 992! On the 992 thing, I think you could be right! I had an electric Macan loaner today, which probably has the same PCM as the 992 (?). Near instant connection each time I got into the car, and the map display was so much better, with multiple speed cameras shown on the motorway, in 3d mode, which do not seem to reliably show up in my Spyder. Many warnings (of congestion, lane closures etc) which I just do not get normally. £52 for a new, better and more reliable dongle sounds very good value at the moment

I managed to check the firmware status, and my dongle claims to have the latest version. Given that it is dated July 2022 I think it might be time to go for the latest hardware, especially as it is now quite cheap.

Tony B2 said: I managed to check the firmware status, and my dongle claims to have the latest version. Given that it is dated July 2022 I think it might be time to go for the latest hardware, especially as it is now quite cheap. Well, be prepared to potentially be frustrated! After an initial fairly positive test last week, I was able to try it properly over the weekend and the results were mixed. At times the lag was as bad as my original one, making Goole Maps navigation useless, but there were several times where it caught up and screen responses and Google Maps positioning were decent. I've managed to get into the settings page and make the recommended changes (GPS to "off" and media refresh to 300 I think). I haven't had the chance to try this in action though as we're now in Spain for a week. As you mention it's down to £60 or so now so might be worth a try. So frustrating that the original one was working flawlessly until a few months ago.

Mabosh said: Tony B2 said: I managed to check the firmware status, and my dongle claims to have the latest version. Given that it is dated July 2022 I think it might be time to go for the latest hardware, especially as it is now quite cheap. Well, be prepared to potentially be frustrated! After an initial fairly positive test last week, I was able to try it properly over the weekend and the results were mixed. At times the lag was as bad as my original one, making Goole Maps navigation useless, but there were several times where it caught up and screen responses and Google Maps positioning were decent. I've managed to get into the settings page and make the recommended changes (GPS to "off" and media refresh to 300 I think). I haven't had the chance to try this in action though as we're now in Spain for a week. As you mention it's down to £60 or so now so might be worth a try. So frustrating that the original one was working flawlessly until a few months ago. If GPS is switched to "off" how does the dongle work to create maps/navigate? It can't be using the car's nav for this surely? I wonder if my problems could be caused by using a VPN?

Tony B2 said: If GPS is switched to "off" how does the dongle work to create maps/navigate? It can't be using the car's nav for this surely? I wonder if my problems could be caused by using a VPN? I'm not sure but I think Android Auto normally uses the car's in-built GPS and only uses the phone's if the vehicle doesn't have satnav. Looks like the dongle may use the phone's by default. AA works perfectly in our other car, a 2022 Born with built-in nav and also in my work van a 2023 e-Combo which doesn't have built-in nav. More tinkering and testing required when I get home.

For those with the NMAutomotive dongle, have you had the issue where you have no audio when answering a phone call? I've set the sound to Bluetooth but still can't hear call audio