Problems with VW -- New AND Original DMS

[LeadFTE]

OK, I need some help from someone smarter than me. . .

I have a 10 gig system in my VW Touareg.  It worked fine for a year then I decided to try to increase the size of my DMS by using the information from this site.

I had a couple of issues at first running the "hack or repair" from the disk image, but discovered my system was actually trying to read an installed USB drive instead of the DMS.  Once that was resolved, I followed everything to the "t".  Though I never did get a message saying in the car that the system was hacked and the unit seemed to freeze up (requiring the radio to be turned on and off to reset everything).

I went through the rest of the process and installed a new 80 gig drive in the DMS cartridge.  PMM recognized everything and it all seemed good.  So I copied my entire collection over the the new disk (USB 1.1 sucks! ) and went to install the new cartidge in the car.  Alas, nothing happened.  I recieved a "no cartridge" error THEN a "no changer" error.  So, I check the DMS with the DMS Doctor and it told me I needed some system/firmware files that I promptly installed.  The Doc then gave it a clean bill of health.  When I put it in the car, the Phatnoise box immediatly started to boot up (without the car even being on) and appeared to be updating firmware (rapidly blinking green light) . . . I let it run for over an hour with no success.

So, here's where I am right now.  Neither the Hacked DMS or the Original DMS are working in the car.  The Phatnoise box seems to be stuck in a firmware update loop and the green light blinks continuously (I've been working on this on and off for 6 hours now).  Both the DMS drives are indicating they're good and have all the necessary information. . . . but neither work

Help.

[markbowen]

The problem is that the patch did not complete, and then you stuck a DMS with firmware forceupdate into the Phatbox.  So, as you wrote, it is in an update loop.

You need to try to complete the hack.  If you have not done anything else to the original DMS, the patch files should still be on it.  There is a file on the phtsys partition called ramdisk.sig that needs to be corrupted in order to force the patch to complete.  Do this by renaming ramdisk.sig to ramdisk.bak, then copy phatd.sig to your desktop, rename it ramdisk.sig, and copy it back to the DMS.  With luck, the patch will then fully execute.

Before you try to use the new DMS, make sure you remove the files from the phtsys partition called forceupdate and forcesettings.  If these are not removed, it will force a firmware update -- which should normally only be done prior to running the hack.

There can occasionally be other issues with VW phatboxes, so if it still will not work, do a full search through the forums for VW hacks for more info.  If you get stumped, post again.

[LeadFTE]

OK, I followed the directions and the old DMS is working again.  Thanks.

However, everytime the system boots up (e.g., I turn the radio on in the car) I get the message that the "phatbox has been patched" and the new HDD won't work in the system.  I tried deleting the FORCE-files and that didn't fix the problem.  I keep getting the message "No Cartridge" on the new cartridge. . . .

Now, I know I searched the forum before and others have had this problem, but I can't seem to find the posts again. . . .

So, I'm partially there, but would like to finish the hack . . .

Thanks, in advance, for the help.

[sbingner]

It sounds like your box is patched.   I recommend wiping all the data off the new drive and loading the firmware on it fresh, without copying from the old drive.  PMM will be able to do that for you.

Your old drive just needs the 'startup sound' removed

[Anton]

Lead FTE,

I had the same exact problem for  a long time.  I started the whole thing over. and It turned out that the New HDD needed to be set as a Master, not slave or selection.  Check that first.

It sounds like the box is patched, but if you had new firmware in there with the force updated files, there could be a problem.

I suggest to start from scratch, entirely.
-Unplug the box from the cd cable
-Unhook Negative battery cable (wait 10 minutes)
-connect battery cable, and enter radio code.
-Reload firmware onto original DMS
-Put original DMS into box, plug box to CD cable (wait 5 min)
This is just to get back to square one

-Now run the patch again with the original DMS, make sure you get the Unlocked message
-Finish the patch with the new HDD (set as master)
-open the new HDD in windows explorer, and check the firmware (should be copied over during the patch process) delete force...files if necessary.
-load music with Music manager, not Media Manager (media manager will seem to load files, but will not save playlists)
-plug and play.

You will be stuck with Music manager from now on.
This is what worked for me.

ps. I thought the cradles for VW were all 2.0 USB.

[Nola111]

Lead, I too am a VW'er, and I had problems as well.  In the case that you go through the steps as laid out by Anton, and still can't get it to work, the one other think I would suggest that you try is what's commonly referred to around here as the "Genesis method" or the "dd command."

Find the steps here:
http://forum.phathack.com/cgi-bin/yabb2/YaBB.pl?num=1123119033/1#1

My hack did not work until I did the Genesis steps.  After that... hacked away and working like a charm.

Thanks to everyone on this forum for the tips and help!!

[Nola111]

Anton, the first generation of cradles that came out were all 1.1, even the VW ones.  Most of the ones I've seen that come with VW kits thought are 2.0.

[LeadFTE]

Thank you, thank you, thank you . . . I finally got the system working with the dd technique!

It only took a few minutes.