ecuFlash 1.43.3252

[foxdie]

Can I just check a couple of things?

1. Your ignition is on (dash lit up) but the engine is NOT running when you try to flash
2. Your battery voltage is 12V or above (Check with EvoScan by scanning MUT-II EFI DTC, it'll tell you the voltage at the top right)
3. There are no other programs open such as EvoScan when you try and flash

If so, the only thing that springs to mind is Nutter_John reported he had a problem with the latest version of EcuFlash, I never found out what specifically but it could be this.

I use 1.43.3150 on my flashing laptop without problems, the driver versions differ slightly, try uninstalling your version of EcuFlash completely (backing up your VR4 defs like before) and then try this version; http://www.evoscan.com/ecuflash/ecuf...0_win_beta.exe

[Davezj]

battery voltage?
now that is a possibility, i was runnign my laptop that does not have a good battery of an inverter plugged in to the car battery.
1. check
2. not sure
3. check

now i have the ecuflash environment setup correctly i will try the older version of ecuflash, and run the laptop off mains extention cable.
good tips

[foxdie]

I give everyone reading this a strong warning, do not flash your ECU unless your battery is above 12V or you risk bricking your ECU, of which I believe the only way to recover it may be to have to start soldering things onto the PCB or worst case, desoldering the CPU and programming in a flash programmer.

Regardless, it's ugly, make sure your battery has a good charge in it

[Davezj]

my battery is good
is there some kind of monitor within ecuflash that will stop the process if the battery voltage is low, or are you saying it as a good practice thing.

[foxdie]

One example; http://forums.evolutionm.net/ecuflas...-problems.html

It's a best practice to only flash above 12V, some people have had problems flashing with lower voltages (lumpy running / idle, etc etc), some ECUs have even been bricked. I don't know for certain if the 7202 can be bricked in such a way because it's bootloader-based, however people here have bricked their ECUs, so it's not worth the risk.

I'm not sure if EcuFlash has a low battery lock-out protection.

[Shtiv]

I've seen it bricked by turning the ignition off during a flash so I would guess it can be bricked from low voltage....

[foxdie]

Incidentally, if anyone has a bricked 7202 or 7203 ECU, I'd love to give it a good home to develop a refined method for unbricking them

[Davezj]

right i have installed, tried, uninstalled, installed different version, tried, uninstalled, etc, etc.
and i can not read my ecu, i get a time out after about 1 second and get and error message saying connection failed. it is the same error message that you get when you try and read and ecu and you don't have the extra white flashing connector unplugged.

this is really starting to bug me now, i think my cable may be knackered. after i updated the divers last time i updated ecuflash to 1.43.3252 which i downloaded from the evoscan website.
but i have looked on the ecuflash open ecu website and this version is not listed on there.

can someone test my cable for me, as i have no faith in the cable is still working. i can post the cable to someone if they can test it for me. this will confirm/disprove my thoughts.
the cable does for logging with evoscan 2.9 with no problems.

help wanted please.

[Davezj]

if an ecu is bricked, is it just a case of it can not be read and written to, but will still work correctly and run the car ok.
and of course allow evoscan to log it.

or is just trashed and the car would not run as the rom code is garbage, and would have to be effectivly reset and formatted to allow a new rom image to be loaaded up.

[foxdie]

Hi Dave,

You wanna come down one weekend, or go to the Midlands Rolling Road Meet (which I see you're on the attendance list for), I'll happily test your cable and set your laptop up for you.

A bricked ECU is just that, its totally trashed until the flash area is manually reprogrammed using either a JTAG interface, or desoldering the CPU -> fitting it to a flash programmer -> reflashing it with a good ROM -> resoldering it to the PCB.

[Davezj]

cheers jason that is a very kind offer.
i will be coming down to the midlands RR day, but i wanted to get it sorted as soon as possible.
where abouts are located, i know you birmingham area, are you north or south.
i might take you up on your offer and pay a visit for a morning to find out one way or another, it is very frustrating.

just had a thought, can i have too many files in my rommetadata folder, as i have put all defs and roms i have in that folder for safe keeping.
maybe i should cleare it out so there is only one def.xml file in there. i also have sub folders in the as well.

i have 1.43.3252 installed after uninstalling ecuflash and all tactrix drivers installs and deleting the open ecu folder in programe files folder, so it was a clean install the drivers took a while to install which is how i know the drivers were a new version from the 1.43.3252 installation.

[foxdie]

where abouts are located, i know you birmingham area, are you north or south.
i might take you up on your offer and pay a visit for a morning to find out one way or another, it is very frustrating.

I'm in the south-west Birmingham area, very close to Frankley services on the M5 (I can easily meet you there).

Ps. There shouldn't be any problem with too many folders or defs, unless one def is claiming "responsibility" for a ROM and is corrupt / invalid.

[Davezj]

Ok, cheers jason
i think i will have to pop down. the only bad thing about my laptop is the battery is rubbish so it has to be run from a mains power. which i do when trying to read the ecu.

[Davezj]

should i be setting the the car into flashy dash mode before trying to connect to the ecu.
evo scan auto matically ground pin 1 on the conector when it connect to the ecu and start logging.
but ecuflash does not do this.
i have tried so many thing over the last week or so i don't know what i am supposed to be doing or not supposed to be doing.

[adaxo]

Dave, in the meantime I could come to you with my laptop with installed old ver of EcuFlash and we can try connect to mine/your car via my gear and see whats happen, if its work then you know at last your cable is ok and you need to try sort out your laptop. I know Im not that knowledgeable as Jason is, but Im just round the corner if you need me (or my laptop to be precise)

[BCX]

should i be setting the the car into flashy dash mode before trying to connect to the ecu.
evo scan auto matically ground pin 1 on the conector when it connect to the ecu and start logging.
but ecuflash does not do this.
i have tried so many thing over the last week or so i don't know what i am supposed to be doing or not supposed to be doing.

For ecu to be in flash mode, you dont want pin 1 to be earthed.

from memorry, SAE J2534 states that the openport can only change the state of one of the 'unused' pins at any given time. Our cars dont use an 'unused' pin to reflash, instead mitsu put it on a second plug - to the openport, that is it's AUX pin.

[BCX]

just as a fyi to anyone - you also need the vector table at the start of the rom. this vector rom contains addresses to all the relevant sub routines. without it, the H8 will not boot as it wont know where to start running it's code from.

if either the flash routine or vector table get corrupt or wiped, thats the end of it, and you'll need to flash the H8 at a hardware level.

[foxdie]

Ok, cheers jason
i think i will have to pop down. the only bad thing about my laptop is the battery is rubbish so it has to be run from a mains power. which i do when trying to read the ecu.

Well if we need to, I'll take you back to mine and run an extension cable out to your car.

should i be setting the the car into flashy dash mode before trying to connect to the ecu.

Nope, to flash, all you need is the ignition on but the engine stopped. EvoScan shouldn't be running when EcuFlash is either, I've noticed that the latest v2.9 interferes with EcuFlash, causing it to hang.

Regarding your visit, you've got 3 choices...

1. A weekend visit
2. A weekday evening visit (between 7-8pm ideally)
3. A weekday lunchtime visit to central birmingham (I can start my 1 hour lunch break anytime between 12-2pm)

[Nick Mann]

Also not far from Jason, also have an as yet unused open port 2 thingy. I'd be up for a mini meet if anyone fancies it?

[foxdie]

Nick, I still need you to service my car, this month it should happen, maybe kill 2 birds with one stone?

(Still haven't swapped the AYC pump out yet, fancy swapping that out in exchange for helping you get set up remapping, training etc? )