So here's the deal: made a bench flasher, positive lead into pin 3, 21, 62 and negatives into pins 1 and 2. I have a switch that interrupts the negative lead to both the ECU and the VCDS cable (K line is pin 43).

I was trying to read my stock ECU when it stopped responding. Tried my B6 S4 ECU and Nefmoto connected initially, then once I tried to enter boot mode by grounding pin 24 to the power source I was using (booster battery plugged in at steady 13 volts) I lost communication to it as well.


I thought maybe it had to do with the way I had wired my bench flasher (I didn't interrupt the ground to the dongle and I thought that the ECU was getting a full 12V whenever I hit the interrupt switch (to simulate the ignition)). So I re-did it so that all the grounds were wired into the same interrupt switch. In other words, there should be no way for the circuits to get power to them outside of what the ECU allows unless I ground directly from the power source.

Well, I got a replacement today, I verified that it worked by connecting with Nefmoto flasher and it connected. Then, tried to do a read on the 95040 so I could re-adapt the immo to the cluster. Grounded pin 24 to put it in bootmode and NOTHING, no commumication with the ECU. The exact same thing happened with my S4 ECU as well.

I don't F*UCKING GET IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! What did I do wrong???

Has anyone else had this happen?

Does anyone know if there is a way to recover the ECU?

PS: in all 3 instances, when I hook the ECU into the car and try to start it, all it will do is turn over. As well, the cooling fan comes on for some reason.

Honestly, I don't ask for help that often but I'm at the end of my rope as this car is my driver and now I'm waiting another week on my next ECU.... FML

Before doing any bench flashing, make sure VCDS connects to your ECU with your bench setup. If that does not work, DO NOT GO ANY FURTHER. Period.


BTW Nef does not support bootmode.

http://s4wiki.com/wiki/Tuning#Flashing_utilities

"The Nefmoto Free ECU Flashing Software and an eBay USB VAG KKL cable - The easiest and best supported method. Does not rely on boot mode, but will not flash bricked ECUs because bootmode support is not complete."

You have to use galletto for boot mode.


If VCDS wont connect on the bench to the ECU, don't bother doing this. It's a waste of time.

Yes, although my understanding is that you ground pin 24 for 5 seconds and then turn on the power (which is how I've been doing it)

As indicated in the first post, I connected with Nefmoto flashing software and just got it to read the ECU type to make sure it was working. So yes, I verified that it could connect on the bench.

Also, I've been using a VCDS cable with the serial number hex edited to allow me to use Galletto for any boot mode reading.

What's odd though is that every time I go to read an ECU, the data seems to come back corrupted. The .bin file contains the full 1 MB of data, but there are random patches of values that are basically scrambled. I thought that this was just because my ECU has a Unitronic tune on it, however my S4 ECU Galletto bootmode read seemed to come out the same way.  

Finally, I was using Argdub's tool to read the 95040 immo memory.

I'm wondering if my power source is what's doing the damage.

I'm using a Stanley 450 amp booster battery. However, I would think that unless you're engaging a starting mode of some sort, it shouldn't be any different that hooking up to a regular car battery, which is what's powering the ECU in the vehicle.

I've just picked up a 1.1 amp smart-trickle charger, would that be a better power source?

If you slip with a battery like that, you will fry the ecu. You might even start a fire. get a 1 amp power supply. These ecus take about 200ma powered up.

If you're using a battery charger, have it connected to a battery.  Unloaded you'll see high voltages (like you have).  Has the magic smoke come out of any of the ECU's?

It does sound like you've cooked them with too much voltage though.  It's all a learning curve though, stick at it and you'll get it cracked!

by using an interuption switch in the negative leads your not simulating ignition at all.

put it between the ignition 12v wire,.