Think I fried my PCM...doh!

Well I made the mistake of sending a .LT1 file to the PCM using flashread.exe and now it wont communicate and the car wont start (just cranks endlessly).

So learn from my bone-headed move, CONVERT them to .BIN before sending. Why didn't I just take the time...

More importantly, is there a way to recover from this mistake? I've pulled the PCM IGN and PCM BATT fuses and disconnected the battery...

*shakes head in disbelief*

oh and it didnt give me an error during the flash session, it finished properly...but the car wont start and the PCM wont talk to me. this is my only failed attempt in like 30 sessions :(

Sounds like you ruined the FLASH chip in the PCM... read the other current posts on this board, they all deal with the same problem.

I've been reading, believe you me. I know theres a handheld EEPROM programmer at work, but I have no idea how to make that work out. I still have my 96 PCM (stock programming) - how well would that work with the OBDI knock sensor?

btw the fans come on when the key is in the ON position...

I dont think I 'fried' the PCM as much as I did flash the wrong file format. How does that affect the communications part of the PCM?

HOW did it let you even SEE an LT1 file? Did you simply rename it to .BIN? Does the Windows version of FLSHPROG (did you use that one?) let you send LT1 files to it?

You cannot just rename the file, if thats what you did. LT1 stores the 2 chips in a certain sequence, and Tunercat the other, I forget the two chip 'letter' codes. If you did this, then there is no recovery other than sending it in to be fixed by someone, dealer, Andrew or otherwise.

btw the fans come on when the key is in the ON position... That means no worky, if it were to happen under any other time I'd say pull the PCM_Batt fuse and try to start the car again, however, you stored the chip data backwards. If you can communicate with the PCM to reflash it I'd be supprised but that is your only hope other than reflashing.

Knock sensors are not reverse compatible.

to see the .LT1 file using the Win flash utility I did what I always do in TunerCat, File->Open->All Files (*.*)

it failed to mention that, while it would let me continue and complete with a 'success' dialog, it would render my PCM useless.

I emailed Bryan @ PCMforless (ordered that tune from him) regarding the issue, hopefully he can offer a trade or something.

so yeah, everyone make SURE not to send .LT1 files to your PCM!! it wont warn you, hell, you could probably send a 128K HTML file and it wouldnt complain.

all this because I didnt run it through tuneconv.exe first...!!!

Ok I have a Datarase II ACT EPROM Eraser here at work. It says it does four 40-pin chips and uses a tubular G4T5 lamp with an internal timer capable of 2-24 minutes.

Anyone know if this will work? And if so, exactly how do I go about trying to recover my PCM? If I erase it, will it have to be reprogrammed on-chip before I can reflash it with my tune?

Ahh, the two chips are T and M, I remember now.

As for the erasure, ask Andrew Mattei, his email link is at the top of the forum. Or Steve Ruse may be able to help.

yeah you need to remind Bryan if you did the OBD1 conversion b/c he has done the same thing with me before. i fortunately transfered the relevant data to my existing .bin file instead of flashing my pcm with that .lt1 file.

When I filled out the order form I did make that indication. But the proprietary stuff he sent me wouldnt run so I asked for the tune in .LT1 or .BIN format. I can't fault him at all for providing the .LT1 file - I should have known you can't send anything but .BIN to the PCM. I assumed the flash prog would do a better job of disallowing dumb moves like that, and I paid. Big oops ;)

:( I fried mine today to Dave.

Ill i wanted was to change my fudgin idle. Changed it in tunercat, saved it, upload it and 5 seconds into the upload it errors out :cry: Bad part is i did this at work, so now my car is sitting in my work parking lot until i get a new board in the mail to swap in.

And LOL@ the html comment, i can see the car trying to start using a copy of the cz28.com homepage as its code.

Originally posted by Dave 96TA
When I filled out the order form I did make that indication. But the proprietary stuff he sent me wouldnt run so I asked for the tune in .LT1 or .BIN format.

Dave, if you want, send me a copy of the file. I used PCM4Less once also, and guess what, there were extra bytes at the end of my BIN file making it worthless. I opened it in a HEX editor and sure enough there was an extra byte of just zeroes at the end.

Either his ISP or email server or something, fudged the file up on transfer. I did tell him about this, and the fix, so maybe he will remember if it matters. If you dont have a hex editor I can take a peek, zip it up first so that hopefully it doesn't get damaged on the way here, that was the evidence is "clean."

Ken - aww man that sucks. AAA to the rescue. I havent had any comm errors yet with my setup so I consider myself very lucky. I'll let you know if I get any info on where to send the PCM for repair.

Dr.Mudge - yeah cool I'll zip up the tune and send you a copy to look over. I emailed Bryan about the possibility of it being a dud and he said he reviewed the checksum and it was fine...although he didn't check the actual file i received which would make all the difference. thanks

Yep, I asked him to resend it and ended up fixing it before I heard back from him, definately a wierd thing but must have been mail server related or something. If the file is zipped the CRC will go bad not even letting you open the file, which would tip you off to that, although I'm sure not all of his customers are familiar with Zip stuff.

Dave, that is just an eraser that you have...it is made for windowed EPROM chips. You need a programmer that is capable of doing FLASH chips. You also need a special "PLCC" socket for the chip in your PCM.

If you haven't already gotten it going again I can help you out:
http://www.wotelectronics.com/pcmfix.html
I finally got my setup going after several weeks of trouble with the programmer. The manufacturer didn't believe it had a problem until I sent it to them...turned out to be a software issue that wouldn't let it erase FLASH chips.

Steve (Ruse, I presume?) - thats awesome! Actually I dont want another PCM since I have put time and effort into polishing this one (dont ask hehe), but I am going to take you up on your services. I'm most interested in the PCM socketing service, but I can't wait a couple weeks to get my car going again. Can we work something out so I can keep my pretty polished PCM and have it socketed later? Hit me with whatever you've got...

thanks for visiting my thread

You can keep your case. Normally people send me their PCM & I repair it...so you get the same PCM back. If you want to you can just send me the "guts" of the PCM & hold on to the shell. It'll save a couple of bucks on shipping, but you have to package the circuit boards VERY carefully. The aluminum case is very durable, & protects the boards very well. It also helps reduce the chance of damage to to static, which becomes a concern if you send just the boards, especially in the winter. Let me know if I can help!

steve@wotelectronics.com

Originally posted by SteveR
Dave, that is just an eraser that you have...it is made for windowed EPROM chips. You need a programmer that is capable of doing FLASH chips. You also need a special "PLCC" socket for the chip in your PCM.

There we go, the EEPROM stuff is erased using small voltage sent to a specific memory space in the chip (I think), where the windows stuff is older and not used as often I believe. The EEPROM stuff is sensative to UV also, but it takes alot longer supposedly to do this, since the weak point isn't as exposed.

Didn't know you offered socketing service Steve, now I know :)

Originally posted by Dr.Mudge
There we go, the EEPROM stuff is erased using small voltage sent to a specific memory space in the chip (I think), where the windows stuff is older and not used as often I believe. The EEPROM stuff is sensative to UV also, but it takes alot longer supposedly to do this, since the weak point isn't as exposed.

Didn't know you offered socketing service Steve, now I know :)

This is correct man, don't worry, you got it right. The windowed stuff is the old EPROM stuff, not the FLASH EEPROM stuff. Pretty much any electronics stuff is sensitive to UV radition, simply because of how sensitive electronics like this are to any type of higher energy radiation. That's why computers, amps, and other electronics are hidden behind nice metal cases.

Erasable proms were invented by Intel in the 60s or 70s, I forget, and I dont recall who it was either but I believe it was one of the two founders who came up with it, and it was the windowing method with UV light.

This is one of the things that helped put them on the map.

It was Intel that came up wit the windowing method, and I believe it was in the late 60s, not sure which year. Without the EPROM, there really wouldn't have been a cheap, effective way to program computers for cars, so we are very lucky that it was invented when was. Otherwise, we might not have had the wonderful computer controlled emissions equipment we have today and might still be stuck with EPA smog-choked motors like that in the 70s and 80s. *shudders*