confusion and frustration
 

on my 05 boxster with the pcm 2.1, I have recently experienced a problem. the buttons on the head unit have become un responsive with the exception of the volume knob (controlling only the volume not turning on or off the unit) and the selector knob (only allowing a scroll through the menus on the various screens and not select the individual folders). the key pad controlling the station selection am/fm, cd and all other buttons on the head are non responsive. when using the steering wheel the control, they appear to be operating properly.

does anyone have any idea of what is going on with this? it is through fiddling around in my driveway I was able to figure out the functionality of the steering wheel inputs, but this is quite a distraction to attempt to change a radio station while the car is in motion.

any help or advice would be appreciated...

As my IT guy would say, have you tried rebooting from the power source? Electronics need rebooting once every 10 years. :)

Try posting this question over on RenTech as well, I'm sure you're not the first to experience this on that new system.

yes I have disconnected the battery, cycled the ignition while disconnected, then I went as far as to remove the head unit in search of a reset button on the chassis

Gotta say that I've experienced a lot of wierd stuff that was fixed by installing new ignition switch...
On 3 different Boxsters I've had A/C blower that may or not work, radio that would not turn off, interior lights that wouldn't turn off other crud I can't even remember anymore!

I've experienced the same. The AC not working was annoying when it was 100 degrees.

The PCM units are known to do odd
stuff and break without warning .