I've been quite happily using my MS for the past 11 months - with virtually no problems - but sometime this week I plugged in my laptop, loaded up MegaTune and I get the above error message - I've attached a pic of the MT error message too. MegaTunix just reports that the ECU isn't plugged in/powered up.

I've had this happen a few times, and everytime it's been fixed by re-flashing the firmware. The car has always driven fine with this error - tho I can't view anything so I don't actually know if tables are off etc.

However this time I tried to reflash and I get an error that it expected response "" and recieved "". I've tried many times, sometimes the quotes are interserped with garbage but everytime it's failed.

I've tried jumping the boot header and pretending I'm using standard MS code, but that too makes no difference.

I'm now stuck, completely stuck. I've tried a different laptop with a dedicated serial port, and a trusty standard serial cable with the same result. I've not yet tried putting it on the STIM and flashing from there but I don't see how that'd make any difference? other than than I don't know what else to try.

I need my car to get to and from work as it's my daily driver, but I don't like driving it in it's current state, and I can't get a fresh load of firmware on the chip.

someone please help me!

 

Sorry man i've never seen one of those screens

 

need new MSI CPU....

http://www.diyautotune.com/catalog/c...48a928712dbdb4

 

really? why the car seems to run fine..... tho i suppose it'd make sense, it's a PITA!

 

ya know what, im probably wrong...your error shows the CPU is sending back something...and the fact that is runs says it still has the firmware loaded.

 

Seems really strange Richy- Are you actually running the 029y3 or 029y4 firmware? That appears to be the .ini you're running...

If there's any chance you've had a different .ini in place that doesn't match the firmware you've been running I could see this happening. You'd get an error message similar to the above when you connected though, but the 'received' would show the version you're running instead of the gibberish.

 

The gibberish suggests one of two things. One, you're simply having serial communication noise, so while the code is working fine it isn't talking right to your laptop. Are you using a USB adapter? It's possible that the USB adapter is having issues.

Or two, there is something wrong with the processor. The fact that it runs and drives makes it sound like a noise issue, but I've seen processors partially fail in really weird ways.

 

glad you've replied Jerry

definately the same ini, I moved from the latest highres (029_d?) to lowres (029q?) a month or so ago and have been tweaking the map once or twice a week with no issues.

It is an odd error and I have had it before, but as I said a re-flash generally sorted the problem :(

 

I do use a USB adapter, but it's been flawless for the last 11 months. It also communicates fine with other serial devices....

I am using a homemade extension cable (to route a port into my dashboard rather than having a cable hanging somewhere). I couldn't cut that out of the equation last night as both the port on the MS and the USB>Serial adaptor have hex standoffs and I had no pliers to remove a set! I will try that tonight.

I've build a MS up for a mate here in the UK, so I'll try swopping chips aswell

appreciate the help guys

 

why did you move from high res to low res?

 

Mi.....ss......fi...res....

The most annoying missfires, I couldn't figure out why the hell my car was missing, generally when cruising but occasionally at WOT and at idle. I tried earths, plugs, HT leads, Coils, the lot, no dice.

I desperation I tried the lates non highres code, violla missfire gone!

I *really* miss the highres smoothness tho, it sorted out my too large injectors an absolute treat.

I it turns out my CPU is fried I'll try it again incase that was the cause, but I doubt it.

 

The only similar error I've got to the one in your first post is when for some reason one char is truncated off the CPU response. When I get that, I just un-plug the USB adapter, and plug it back in. Is it possible that your COM port speed, or data/parity/stop bit settings got jacked up?

As for random mis-fires... What spark dwell settings are you using? I was having really strange random misfires (low-rez 029t), mostly at WOT and cruising. I had my dwell set to what DIY's install article suggested, 3.3ms cranking and 2.5ms running. The min was set to 0.1. Last week, I downloaded the MSPnP 94-95 base map, and noticed it had dwell settings of like 5-5.5ish crank, 4-4.5 running (don't remember exactly), and 0.5 min. It also had a few degrees more timing than my map did. When I pulled over those dwell settings, and the timing map, my random misfires totally vanished. FYI: My car is a 94, running 2000 coils.

-Mike

 

i've got a spare set of coils s I suppose it's worth trying thanks!

need to fix the original prob first tho! :(

 

time to upgrade to COPs

 

been on the hunt for a set since the thread started :(

 

Just a thought - its not necessary that the entire processor goes out. If just two bytes change in flash (16bit pointer to the memory location of the ID string), the connection will fail with the message above. The entire flash memory is not bound to be corrupted - the rest (or various pieces) of the code may still work.

However - an answer of 0xFFFFFFFF means all bits are set to logic "1", which seems like "voltage is creeping from somewhere to the TX cable inside the serial extension cable". Try with another cable!

Jim

 

tried a different cable no dice, waiting for my dad's laptop to charge and then I can cut the serial convertor out of the equation

 

Right dedicated serial port and still no joy, just for kicks I tested the USB>serial converter with Logworks and it was fine.

sooo, I took the ECU out of the car and inside, and inspected all the communications stuff 1st (thanks for Guidance there guys Matt, Jerry and reverant!) noticed something pequilier with a solder on one of the RS323 chip.

I re-soldered all of the RS323 pins, and I'm back in business

Thanks all for your help guys! much appreciated

 

Awesome-- glad it's sorted out man!

 

Cool!

Jim