VAG Commander cable didn't work
ME7_95040 has been the best though, sort of wish there was a similar command line utility for flashing the 29F800BB
I'm basing my conclusion that the cable i'm using is at fault on the response I've gotten from ME7_95040.
I've been able to read, write and confirm (read again) that I've been able to write the virgin 95040 bin file using my dumb serial-less FT232BL cable with no issues.
If the cable is bad ME7_95040 will return
Starting Boot_mode ... FAIL ... No echo from cable. (error=0x07)
If the cable is communicating good but the ECU is NOT in boot mode ME7_95040 will return
Starting Boot_mode ... FAIL ... No echo from cable. (error=0x07)
And if all is well you get
Starting Boot_mode ... uC identification response = 0xC5 (C167 derivatives) ...
OK
though if I try to perform a second bootmode operation after one successfull one I'll get the following error
Starting Boot_mode ... uC identification response = 0xAA. Unknown ID. (error=0x0
1)
which just means I have to reset the ECU into bootmode again and try the command a second time
Point is... ME7_95040 is responsive compared to Galletto that only ever returns "no interface" or "boot mode inactive" which doesn't really help a whole lot.