Borrow a DMS in the LA, CA area?

[ibcj]

Hi everyone.  I've been lurking here for awhile, and finally decided today to dust off my ol' PhatBox and get to upgrading with the 160GB drive I bought a couple months back.  But of course, as Murphy would have it, my original DMS won't spin up in the cradle (I can hear it spin down every 90-120s or so).  It was getting finicky when it was cold when it was last in the car, so I yanked the PB planning on doing an upgrade.  That was over a year ago.    So I guess it is no surprise that I can't spin the drive up.  I'm going to try and get it up above ambient and see if it'll spin.  If that doesn't work, I'll try the old freezer trick.  I'm woefully pessimistic about either solution.

Is there anyone in LA (I'm in Santa Monica and Beverly Hills) with a hacked DMS that would let me "borrow" theirs for a couple minutes to upgrade my PB?  I'm happy to buy you coffee and/or beer.  It just seems silly to buy a new DMS that I need for all of 15 minutes.  If anyone wants to send one to me, I'd be happy to pay your shipping and return it promptly with a gift of your choice.  Eventhough I'm a lurker here, I'm a long-time member of some other sports car forums and advocate over on headfi.

Thanks guys - you are a great community!

[ibcj]

Bump.  Anyone?  I have a very sad looking Phatbox sitting on my desk still.   

[sbingner]

I'm in hawaii, so the shipping could suck...

perhaps if you offer to give them a 'deposit' for the DMS, to be returned when they recieve the DMS back?  otherwise you could mail your actual phatbox...

[gti6cyl]

hey there - i'm willing to help you out if you are able to give me a hand with some stuff as well!  I have a 20GB phatnoise and have had it in my car 2003 VW Jetta GLI since 2004!  I've never modded it or ever really added more music to it since day one.  I've been content with it and the same music until recently I'm really aggrivated not having any updated music on it, and I think the menus and the way i have artists and stuff organized is horrible.

Since day one it was never easy to use with the Media Manager it came packaged with, so if you can give me some hints on that kinds of stuff I'd love to find out what upgrade i can do to the 20GB storage I have and then maybe turn this think loose with a larger drive, and better functionality.

Write me back, I'm in boston, willing to help, but definitely want some and best practice in return.

Thanks!

[DjLooter]

I have a original 20 gig if you still need to borrow it for a few, I live in Riverside. Let me know thanks.

[blakwolf]

What car do you have?  I have a DMS for an Audi, which soon may become VW enabled.  I'm located in West LA close to Sawtelle.

[ibcj]

Hey guys, thanks for the replies.  After no posts for a while, I stopped checking this thread. 

As it turns out, a friend of mine actually has a PB.  So I borrowed his DMS and have been working on flashing it tonight.  Of course under Vista it seems that the tools puke quite a bit, but I ham-fisted my way through at least backing up his DMS - but now it is throwing .NET exceptions on the patching.  Argh.  I'll keep on it however, and let you guys know how it goes.

Blakwolf: mine is in a BMW, but the DMS doesn't matter.  I actually live in Santa Monica, so if you ever need a hand with your DMS, just let me know!

DJLooter: thanks much for the offer, looks like I may be set now!

GTI6Cyl: Thanks for the offer as well.  Be sure to let me (or the rest of the guys here) know what you are looking for.  If you want to hack your PB, then I strongly recommend starting with the Wiki posting, it has gotten me pretty far.

If you are reading this, and haven't hacked your PhatBox yet, do so immediately!  You'll be sad when your drive dies, like mine...

[VorTechS]

If you are getting exceptions, let me know what errors you are getting... I'll take them into consideration on the next build of the tools (which is going to take a little while to patch up due to PhatHackMM changes)...