oops bricked my ecu, unbrick anywhere?

[bigBADbenny]

Thanks for the info
I'd just like to reiterate here that prevention is the best cure for a bricked ECU.
Don't bother with a reflash if test writing doesn't work every time it's attempted.
Make sure your software & drivers are stable.
Best to have backup power and a backup laptop on hand (or local) and never key-off if in doubt.
Leave the key on until you've successfully restored power and a working rom.

[KiDo_Tuning]

Thanks for the info
I'd just like to reiterate here that prevention is the best cure for a bricked ECU.
Don't bother with a reflash if test writing doesn't work every time it's attempted.
Make sure your software & drivers are stable.
Best to have backup power and a backup laptop on hand (or local) and never key-off if in doubt.
Leave the key on until you've successfully restored power and a working rom.

Test Write was flawless and no errors in the ROM Image at email receiving end as confirmed by RTR

Suspect is the vagcom cable being an issue

[bigBADbenny]

Yeah my writing issue was drivers/software conflict.

[KiDo_Tuning]

FIXED!!

No soldering required, did it in the car!

[bigBADbenny]

Great! Please share the technique if possible

[bigBADbenny]

I can imagine how you did it, but how was the 555 timer circuit connected?

[rayray]

No 555 circuit required in the end... as for exact details I'd have to leave that for Matt... It took a few attempts to get the ECU to talk with turning the ignition off and on. But really I was too busy holding my breath and crossing my fingers to pay attention to the entire process. There were many cheers when it started writing.

I did attempt making and hooking up the 555 circuit, I didn't have an oscilloscope to test it, but I was getting roughly the right readings off a multimeter... after I soldered into the ecu board and then resoldered some connections that i'd mangled in moving from my kitchen table to my car... I wasn't getting the right readings anymore, i.e. should see roughly 2.5~3.5V on the timing output and I was getting 0.7V~0.9V . Also of note, I was bastardising my possibly (probably) dodgy VAG-Com cable not using the FTDI USB-> serial circuit.

So after borrowing a Hyundai Excel, Skoda Scout, Toyota Corolla and a Ford Territory over the last 3 weeks... its sooooooooooooo good being back in the Liberty.

Kudos to Matt once again! Mucho Thanks!

And no more frozen body parts riding the bike to work in canberra winters! (Ok I lie, I probably will still ride the bike, but at least now it won't be because I have to)

[bigBADbenny]

Nice to have a choice and cant wait to get the breakdown from the big cheese

[KiDo_Tuning]

Nice to have a choice and cant wait to get the breakdown from the big cheese

No circuitry involved, just a custom EcuFlash kernel written which is based on the recovery software for the BRZ. Not Open Source unfortunately, it was blatantly 'borrowed' for the sole purpose of getting this particular car running due to the minimal time frame my ass wanted to spend in the cold and the amount of time Ray wants to spend in the cold snow fields in a few weeks Also had to confirm the ECU chips were undamaged from voltage spikes etc as well. Just glad that it is sorted!

[bigBADbenny]

So the method is a viable alternative to bench reflashing?

[KiDo_Tuning]

So the method is a viable alternative to bench reflashing?

Viable? Not really, depends on the reason it died.

[bigBADbenny]

Sure thing.
I'd imagine the most common form of ECU bricking (here at least) is keying off with an incompletely written ROM, a corrupt/un-writeable ROM, or a not written ROM due to a software/driver conflict.

Did Ray fall into any of these categories?
Or:
Is there anything at all worth following up here (for everyones benefit)?

[KiDo_Tuning]

Unwritten ROM will not alter the tune, it is only once the get past the ECU Vs IMG stage (usually 14 Yes and two No) with a bad ROM or cut power during the proess is bad. This was a full tune load, just a bad sector write from the VAG cable.

Sure thing.
I'd imagine the most common form of ECU bricking (here at least) is keying off with an incompletely written ROM, a corrupt/un-writeable ROM, or a not written ROM due to a software/driver conflict.

Did Ray fall into any of these categories?
Or:
Is there anything at all worth following up here (for everyones benefit)?

[bigBADbenny]

Intriguing for sure.

I guess I should just concentrate on prevention than a cure at this stage.
Since prevention is a relatively simple scenario. Thanks for the info.

[MH3.0R]

Had a good experience recently when I accidentally bricked my ECU last Saturday. Mine is a 512 Kb 32 bit ECU from an MY05 model 3.0R. Pulled it out of the car and Express posted it to Entra Racing in Canberra mid afternoon on Monday. They received it on Tuesday and turned it around in one day and dispatched it via Express Post today for delivery tomorrow.

They work directly on the main board of the ECU to turn the EEPROM into a blank and then re-write your provided image back into the EEPROM, then do a validation check to make sure all is good before shipping back. So no making up harnesses or the like.

Great guys to deal with (Rich and Alex) and highly recommended if you are in a pickle with a bricked ECU. Email contact for Rich is:

rich@entra.com.au

I will also create a thread for ECU Recovery Service within the Tuning page.