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Author Topic: Noob help - how to not brick an ecu  (Read 16458 times)
Dave9n3
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« on: November 03, 2015, 04:43:36 AM »

Hi,

New to all this malarkey. I'm going to be reading the map off my car soon using the nefmoto flasher with a kkl ftdi chip dumb cable. I'll also be hooking up a battery charger to my car just to be safe. Can anyone give me some do's and don'ts to help me avoid bricking my ecu.

Cheers in advance

Dave
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adam-
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« Reply #1 on: November 03, 2015, 04:55:01 AM »

Do:
Have a battery charger hooked up
Have the laptop charged fully, make sure it won't shut down or sleep
Have a backup of your EEPROM and file first

Don't:
Key off until it's read
Have passengers get in, get out, touch cables
Open the drivers door, touch switches, be impatient

If it fails half way through, DO NOT turn the key off.  Just disconnect with the disconnect with the button on the software and attempt to read again.

Only use your file to flash over, don't cross-flash as it's bad practice.   Always make sure the checksums are okay before you flash.

As long as you're not a total tube you won't brick it.
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Dave9n3
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« Reply #2 on: November 03, 2015, 05:38:39 AM »

First of all thanks a lot for the quick reply. Can't wait to get into all this though I realise I should take it slow and learn bit by bit, there seems to be a lot to get to grips with. It currently has a custom map loaded onto it. Not done by me but I'm curious to see it and eventually make some changes to it when I get confident! I want to be able to stop fuel cut on the over run so I can get a few nice noises from the car Smiley so I'm hoping that isn't something way out of reach of a beginner.

How would I get a backup of my EEPROM? I have a close to standard BIN file that my friend sent me who also has the same car so I guess that could be my backup worst case.

Once I've got my map in hoping to get to grips with tunerpro or winols. I have both (winols demo though) I understand that tunerpro needs a plugin for doing checksums?

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adam-
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« Reply #3 on: November 03, 2015, 05:57:07 AM »

Do you know Tom?  I've made a quick file for him to help him get started.  There is a lot to read and understand though.

The overrun stuff isn't too hard to do, but get some boost into it first.  I'd start by reading the Wiki over and over again.  Get a solid understanding of it and make some hard notes.  Not typing stuff up, but some physical paper notes.  It'll help you get a good understanding of what you want to do.

There's a command based software on here for grabbing the EEPROM. 

Then, get your chosen software working reliably - I use winOLS because I like the window compare.  It means you can compare known binary's to find patterns and hence maps.

Good luck, and get stuck in! Smiley
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Dave9n3
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« Reply #4 on: November 03, 2015, 06:07:41 AM »

Yeah I do! He's the one who sent me the map to mess with. I am the definition of a noob ATM but it's good to get some advice from those who know more, that way I can have a bit of direction.

So I should get the software for obtaining the EEPROM I assume there's a guide for that so ill make sure I study that a fair bit.

The car is currently at 245bho 289ft lbs and I'm pretty happy with that map so I'd definitely like to keep that to be able to revert back to it if need be but making some changes would be cool. I've read the wiki but I'll take your advice and properly get to grips with it.

Winols does seem better from what I've heard, just having it do the checksums seems very useful though I only have the demo haha.


Lots to learn and very confusing for me as a beginner I feel. I can just about open a project and flick through the individual maps but finding maps and defining them seems like a hard job
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adam-
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« Reply #5 on: November 03, 2015, 06:14:24 AM »

Assuming your current ECU has been tuned then?  Who by? 

Read that first and have a copy.  If you're using Tom's, get his latest version (has all the overrun stuff), and grab the KP from him too.  I defined the file, and made all the changes too.

It's posted in the ECU files section in here, if you want either the file or the kp for reference.
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Dave9n3
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« Reply #6 on: November 03, 2015, 06:22:49 AM »

Yeah it was tuned by more-bhp in Crewe. So I assume
It won't be locked out like revo or apr? But I'll know when I get it off the car I guess haha.

Potentially a stupid question but is it literally a case of right click, copy, paste into another folder. No need to mess with anything else?

Yeah he sent me his BIN file and some kp files as well as some xdf for use on tunerpro. I was trying to find the over run stuff last night but struggled unfortunately. His car sounds great now you've messed with it Tongue

Thanks a lot, I'll take a look at them and see if I can find the stuff I'm looking for. Not intending on doing anything crazy just yet as ill probably mess something up if I'm not careful.
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adam-
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« Reply #7 on: November 03, 2015, 06:43:11 AM »

It should be okay.  If you can't read it, then it'll be locked.  I doubt they would though. I don't understand what you mean by copy paste etc?

Literally just open Nefmoto, find the cable, connect to the ECU and click Read.  It'll ask you to save it somewhere once it's done.  Then, get a .kp that MATCHES your file, they're not all the same.

Think of the .kp file as a contents page to YOUR file.  No other contents page is the same, unless you have the same book (file).
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Dave9n3
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« Reply #8 on: November 03, 2015, 08:09:04 AM »

I just mean when I've read the BIN file from the car I can literally copy and paste it into another folder to save a backup of it to revert back to?

Thanks, I've ordered a cable so hopefully it arrives before the weekend Smiley it seems to me like finding the maps will be the hard part for me as I don't really understand that stuff just yet and I thought it would be hard to find a .kp for my specific map
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adam-
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« Reply #9 on: November 03, 2015, 08:40:11 AM »

Yeah, just like that.

If you're really stuck, hit me up.
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Dave9n3
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« Reply #10 on: November 05, 2015, 12:30:20 PM »

.BIN file sucessfully read Smiley thanks for the help Adam, much appreciated. I must admit I worried a fair bit doing it but nothing went wrong
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Dave9n3
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« Reply #11 on: November 06, 2015, 11:55:31 PM »

So,

After sucessfully reading a file and flashing one back to the car I went for a drive. It driver absolutely fine and when I got home I switched it off and went inside. I came out a few hours later to switch the car on and now it won't run - all it does is turn over but won't fire. I was advised to flash the original map back to the car so I did and it said the flash was successful. It still doesn't start though. I left the battery disconnected over night in the hope that might sort something out.

I'm pretty stuck with this and I'm unsure what the next step is. I have access to vcds and nefmoto flasher. Im in need of some help please as I'm really stuck
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Dave9n3
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« Reply #12 on: November 07, 2015, 11:47:31 AM »

Update -

Scanned with vcds to find the code p0601 memory check sum error. unsuccessful flash? though nefmoto suggested it was successful
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nyet
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« Reply #13 on: November 07, 2015, 12:49:19 PM »

Impossible to help if you don't post which bin version you are trying to flash. Obviously, if allroad 511S nothing is going to work right.
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ME7.1 tuning guide
ECUx Plot
ME7Sum checksum
Trim heatmap tool

Please do not ask me for tunes. I'm here to help people make their own.

Do not PM me technical questions! Please, ask all questions on the forums! Doing so will ensure the next person with the same issue gets the opportunity to learn from your ex
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« Reply #14 on: November 07, 2015, 12:52:35 PM »

It's a 1.8t Nyet.

I think the file he flashed hadn't been summ'ed, even tho WinOLS said it was.  File was then never checked and just flashed.  It still connects with VCDS and Nef, but flashing the original back on has yielded a still no start.

He's too far away from me to bootmode it, which I can ultimately seeing it needing.
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