NefMoto

(http://www.nefariousmotorsports.com/hosted_files/NefMoto ME7 ECU Flasher 1.6.0.0 Screen Shot.jpg)

Summary:
The NefMoto ME7 ECU flasher is a free tool that allows you to read and write the flash memory in your ME7 ECU in car over the OBD port. All that is required is a FTDI based USB OBD cable that works in "dumb" mode. Dumb mode cables pass the raw serial data straight through without applying any higher level protocols.

Features:
-ECUs can be written through the OBD port in about three and half minutes.
-ECUs can be read through the OBD port in about five minutes.
-User defined memory layouts allow for flashing any memory arrangement.
-Writing erases and programs one memory sector at a time to allow you to recover the ECU in case of failure.
-Written and read data is verified with checksums to insure data was sent correctly.
-Reading and clearing error codes is also supported.

This software does NOT:
-Does not update checksums or validate the file you are flashing in any way.
-Does not allow you to edit any maps, value, etc. It is just for flashing.

System requirements:
-32bit or 64bit Windows Vista or Newer (Will work if run inside a virtual Windows machine on Mac and Linux as well)
-.NET 3.5 (installed as part of install process)
-FTDI USB D2XX driver version 2.06.00 or later
-3 megabytes of free hard drive space

Tested supported cables:
-eBay USB VAG KKL using the FTDI D2XX standard driver
-Ross-Tech HEX-KEY-CAN using the Ross-Tech FTDI D2XX driver ("boot in intelligent mode" must be unchecked in the VCDS options screen)
-Any dumb OBDII cable using the FTDI USB chip

Tested unsupported cables:
-Galletto (Does not support dumb mode)
-KWP2000+ Flasher (Does not support dumb mode)
-Old Ross-Tech KEY-USB (Does not support true dumb mode)

Tested supported ECUs list on the wiki:
http://nefariousmotorsports.com/wiki/index.php?title=NefMoto_ECU_Flashing_Software

Known issues:
-No known issues. Please let me know if you find any.

How to install:
Please uninstall any previous versions of the NefMoto ME7 ECU Flasher before installing the latest version.
To install, download and run the attached file ECUFlasherHostInstaller 1.6.0.0.msi.
Then ensure that you have the FTD2XX driver installed for your specific cable.
If you have a generic cable, download CDM20600.zip, then extract it and install the generic FTDI D2XX driver.

What are the changes Tony?

Rick

I need to get better with my release notes.... ;D

New features:
-Fast init and slow init connection methods
-Slow init connection bug fixes
-New validate memory layout operation
-New check if ECU matches operation
-Now stays connected between operations
-User selectable baud rate
-New status bar
-Lots of communication bugs fixes, and more logging messages

Huge success tonight with running the NM flashing software through a virtual machine. I will try to make this brief but informative.

I used a laptop running a host OS of Windows XP Home. I used VirtualBox from Sun for the virtualization. I bought a copy of Windows 7 Ultimate (home most likely?) and installed it on a virtual machine with the following attributes: Intel ethernet controler, 1GB ram, 0 video memory, 10GM disk space, USB devices enable and 2.0 support for USB enabled. Booted the machine and got it to go online and from within the virtualization I downloaded two pieces of software: the NF flasher installer, and the FTDI drivers for Windows 7. More on this last part in a bit.

My host OS already has the FTDI drivers enabled. Therefore, a serial - USB infrastructure already existed, but that did not bother the rest of the functionality. I am using an FTDI-based cable that I bought from ebay some years ago. With this cable I successfully used wbh-diag, RossTec VAG-COM and VCDS, Lemmiwinks, and the NM software on a Windows 7 native (no virtualizatiojn) on a laptop.

Once the virtual machine has booted, I plug the FTDI cable to my laptop. The WIndows XP host OS recognizes it. Then, from the VirtualBox's "Device" menu I enable USB and tied it to what appears as "USB - Serial" on the virtual box. THe virtual box will launch a virtual hardware, that is a USB-related thing I do not fully understand, but a new hardware was installed on the host OS. This required the host OS to go fetch an appropriate driver, which was unsigned from a certificate authority, and to proceed as usual with installation. Once that "hardware" was in place, I get on the virtual Windows 7 machine. This is where things get tricky. I downloaded the FTDI drivers. I used the CDM (Combined Driver Module) and unzippped the files on the virtual OS's desktop. Then, I go under "System > Device Manager" and look for the devices present. The USB-Serial is there and has no driver. Right-click on that and go to a driver installation selection from the menu. Then, tell the OS that you want to install the driver from a local location and point to the Desktop. The installation of the driver will go through. However, the USB-Serial will still be unrecognized. This means that whatever driver we installed did not do THAT JOB that we intended, but something was installed.

Launch the NM flashing software. You should be able to see that port on the right-hand-side. We are in business. Connect the FTDI cable to the car, turn the ignition, and click on the Slow Connect. It worked for me. Then I clicked on the "Read Info" and it correctly read the ECU number, etc, of my CH-box 1.8T 2001.5 A4.

Huge success! All of this worked relatively painlessly for me. If you need any help and this write-up is inadequate, do not hesitate to PM me. I am not a Windows person, but I got it to work. I will do the same on the Linux side virtualization and will report back. But I know that last part has been achieved by others on this forum.

Good work everyone. Good work Tony!

I can't seem to get your software to work with my ebay VAG cable Tony.

Do I have to set the VAG-COM (409) cable to dumb mode as well?  It's the generic (clear-blue) OBD plug with the clear/sliver usb cable for like $12 or whatever.  VAG409 works fine with it.

You shouldn't need to set the eBay cable to dumb mode. Can you send me the log file?

Yep, when I get home I'll send it to you.  ;D

Here ya go

Thanks for posting the logs. What make/model/year of car are you trying to connect to?

The software is timing out waiting for a response from the ECU while it is starting the programming session. The ECU may not be meeting the require message time out, the ECU may have a bug and crashing, or the programming initiation protocol may have changed slightly on newer cars.

I have the same problem no matter what ECU I try to read (S4 or 1.8T).

The logs were from a 1.8T ECU, I tried two different ECU's on the bench both of which read out perfectly fine using Galletto.  One of the ECU's was chipped, the other stock.

Could it be the same problem I see? I pulled a flash from a "chipped" Abox (S4) ECU and a stock CHbox (A4) but I was unable to pull the bin from my stock S4 ECU. (I sent that log to Tony.)

The flashing software does not wait long enough for switch to programming session complete!

When the ECU switches to the programming session, it sends several times 7F 10 78
(negative response with reason requestCorrectlyReceived-responsePending).
If this is received, the tester has to reset the communication timer P2 and wait for the next message of the ecu. The ecu will repeat the responsePending every ~40ms until the final
response (positive or negative) can be sent.
For older ecus the switching to programming session takes place nearly immeadiately
(maybe 4-5x responsePending). But newer ecus take a long time for the switch to complete!
This can take approx. 4 seconds, so the tester will receive about 100 times the
responsePending before the positiveResponse comes in.
Best is to count the responsePending and stop only in case the count reaches lets say 150.

I was using this tools on an 1.8T that had a protection board installed and there was a checksum calculation fault in the file so the engine lamp turned on efter 200km.
It took 19min to read out the file and did only work after the 5th attemp where I connected the battery charger to the car to keep up the voltage.

Anyway, great tool tony. Dont even need to ground pin 24 to bring it into boot mode.
I was using my Vagcom cable.

I tried this on my Golf IV 2002 which is listed in the Wiki and was not able to get past the initial connect as there was an error each time (diconnects because "tester not present").  Tried slow & fast init. as well as different baud rates.

I'm using a Ross Tech KII-usb cable (any issue there?)

Here's the log:
https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0B2TsAlvPr7REODJlZGQ1MDgtYTlmMy00MDQzLWFjOTMtOGU4NDRmYTQ4OGEw&hl=en&authkey=COWx85oL

Thanks, Dave

This is what the flashing tool already does. NotoriousVR logs show something else happening. The 800BT log shows that the ECU did not send any data for 5 seconds after the last response pending message. The 800BB log shows that an incomplete response pending message was received, but was erased because the whole message was not received within 1 second.

It could be the ECU, it could be the cable, I can't think of an issue with the flashing software that would cause it. There isn't much I can do if the ECU sends no messages for 5 seconds...

Have you tried fast init and slow init? Sorry if I have already asked. I know some VAG ECUs can't start the programming session properly after fast init.

Your cable could be the problem. I have seen issues with the Ross-Tech Key cables because they don't support true dumb pass through mode. I can't see anything else wrong in the log file...

@NotoriousVR

I just had a thought about the problems your ECU is having entering programming mode.

Can you try to read your ECU flash after connecting without doing any other operations?

Don't do a "Read Info".

I think there may be a problem with trying to start a programming session after negotiating faster communication timings. There is a chance that your ECU does not properly enter programming mode when it is trying to meet the requirements of the negotiated shorter communication timings. Doing a "Read Info" causes the flashing tool to automatically switch to the shorter communication timings.

With the shorter communication time outs that have been negotiated, the extended P2 max time out after a response pending message is still the standard 5 seconds, but your ECU seems to keep responding every 10ms. So I think your ECU is trying to meet the shorter P2 max timeout even though it is allowed to use the extended P2 max time out of 5 seconds.

If this fixes the problem for you, then I will make the flashing tool always switch back to default communication timings before starting a programming session.

As soon as I get a chance to try that I will and then posts the results/logs.

Thanks Tony!

Sorry for confusion, I should have had a better look at the timestamps in the logs...

I was successful with the KII-usb ross tech cable on my 2002 golf IV gti!!!

Slow init worked, read the ecu info, and read out the flash successfully. ;D
Very cool,

I was not successful trying the same thing on my 2003 A4 1.8t.  Here's the log:
https://docs.google.com/leaf?id=0B2TsAlvPr7RENDVmZDVhMjgtYjc0Ny00MzA5LWE3ZDgtNjA1MzIwOTJlNWY3&hl=en&authkey=CLKtmowM

any ideas?

Glad to hear it worked on your MKIV GTI with the KII cable.

The issue you ran into on your 2003 A4 is something I may already have a fix for. The ECU is requiring a security login before starting the programming session. I have an untested fix for it that I am trying to wrap up with a whole bunch of other user interface and communication changes. I will try to send you a test release directly when I can.

Hi Tony and Everyone in this forum!

This is my first post and I also have a 2003 A4 1.8T car but I not familiar with tuning so I ask for patience since many of you are experts.  I want to test your Tony's software. I think it is awesome but I only want to backup my ECU.  Does this software helps with that only?  Can the ECU be "damaged" or altered in the communication progress and fail?  I don't want to open it or bench it or ending buying a new ECU.  I just want to make sure I can do this before writing a tuned file in it.  Thanks

Reading an ECU is completely safe.

Ok, it is safe, thanks.  Can I do an ECU backup with Tony's Software just connecting to OBDII?
I think it is an obvious question but I just want to make sure. Is it the only way to do a "cheap" backup directly to the OBDII port?  Ross Tech cable is very expensive so for me is out of the equation.

I will post my archive in the original files because I didn't see the Audi A4 Multi 2003 1.8T model.

All you need is a cheap VAG KKL cable from eBay, a computer running Windows Vista or newer, and a car with an OBD port.

I bought a chinese VAG Com cable running VCDS and I can connect but I can't read the flash.  I send you a PM message just to see if you can help me.  I can send you a BIN file or a complete dump of the VAG cable.  Hope the info helps you too!  Thanks again.

you should update the tested/supported page with 4b0906018ch. ;)

Will be purchasing a cable this week and testing this ish out. ^______^

The problem can come from the K-Line driver in your cloned VAG-COM

Most Clones from china i see coming with an LM339 or LM393 K-Line driver chip..it has very bad output

The clones based on L9637D are quite better,have more stable communication,are quite faster...

Best regards.

Hi,and thanks for this software...

where can i find older version of it...running XP SP3?

Best regards

Sorry, currently only Vista and Windows 7 are supported.

But we have successfully ran the software in a virtual environment on a WindowsXP and Linux OS. For a lot of reasons that is pure awesomeness!

New version 1.6.1.0 is available:
http://www.nefariousmotorsports.com/forum/index.php?topic=323

This version has improved support for 2004 VW and Audi as well as many user interface improvements.