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I finally got the ECM communicating again. I can't say what part of this sequence sloved the problem but, here's what I did. I advanced the date on my computer 1 year, put IDS into data collection mode, clicked the icon next to the key on the left side of the screen to restore initial vehicle data, and then selected the campaigns icon , then ran the configure existing ECM, and magically the Big Cat came back to life.
Thanks to everyone for your concern and input. It was valuable.
What drove you to this approach Joe? Was this info in the link Bob posted? It would be helpful for future tinkerers to understand how you went this direction.
What drove you to this approach Joe? Was this info in the link Bob posted? It would be helpful for future tinkerers to understand how you went this direction.
No, Bob's link did not contain this info. However, it did change the way I was looking at the problem. Instead of viewing it as an automotive problem, I viewed it as a computer programmer/Tech problem. After all the combined modules make up one large computer.
Armed with this way of thinking, The ECM looked like an hard drive that had become fragmented, unresponsive and or corrupt, but not crashed, Since I only had a low voltage failure and not high voltage failure or a short. So I did what I have done with many computers, in the past. I reload the base operating system (restored initial data) and reloaded the necessary drivers (flashed the ECM). I did this so that the IDS software could start from baseline and apply all of the necessary data, without and fragmentation.
The IDS software I have was sold by a dealership that went out of business last year, so it has all of the latest updates from JLR. The calendar was set back to 2012. I was told that the last updates were applied in January 1st, 2014. So, hoping to defrag the ECM, I advanced the computer forward to the last day of December 2013 and reinstalled all of the updates.
Getting the car back on the road using this method could just have been dumb luck. But, This was my rational.
Last edited by joeleerj; Mar 20, 2017 at 10:54 PM.
Very interesting, it may help others.
So, to be sure I understand correctly (and for others as me, not geeks):
- you start SDD on your laptop with the date put at (whatever it is, in my case with v131.03 my laptop's clock is always set/blocked on August 2012),
- you then plug your VCM or Mongoose in the OBD2,
- you wait for VIN recognition, and here it comes:
Do you start a new diagnosis session by clicking on the bottom box on the SDD screen (which will then store data first)?
Or do you go straight on clicking the icon with the two curved arrows on the left of the SDD screen, which in principle should restore the initial vehicle data?
Like you I have v131.03 and it was also blocked to August 2012. So, the first thing did was advanced the date to December 2013. After that I connected the SDD as normal, entered the VIN (my ECM would not communicate), waited until the SDD collected data on my car. After that the screen below was shown. I clicked the green icon next to the key. Then the other screen appeared. After clicking agree, I then entered campaigns and flashed the ECM
Last thing I would ask is that a moderator change the title of this for purposes of future searches to something more relevant like
"Did I brick my ECM while re-flashing it?" or
"Re-flash failed now SDD doesn't see the ECM"
You could park another vehicle behind your car and get some jumper cables to a running car, connect BATTERY-to-BATTERY and 'soldier on'.
VOLTAGE IS VOLTAGE.
If you connect a dozen batteries in parallel to maintain the power level, it does not matter where the power comes from. You don't have to connect your car to the electric company.
bob
WRONG! Not good advice! SDD requires a low noise power supply with at least 13.8 V that is stable. If you connect your car to another vehicle you were going to have amplitude variations in your DC voltage due to current loads alternator output voltage regulator switching etc. the reason you need a low noise supply is because noise on a DC voltage are tiny little voltage spikes in dropouts. When you look at the voltage using a DVM it will show one solid number but on a millisecond scale or microsecond scale you’ve got this up and down voltage spike and that’s riding on top of that DC but when you go to program a module it’s doing is programing in time frames of milliseconds are microseconds so those little spikes that are riding on the DC line can cause errors in the code that’s being transmitted to the module.
Think of it like this if you have a 13.8 V signal and you’ve got noise on the line at any particular microsecond that voltage might read 7 V. Your DVMs not gonna see it but in oscilloscope well and if it happens to be writing a 1 which might be anything over 7.5 V it’s going to write a 0.
Long story short the low noise is, in my opinion, just as important as sufficient current and the proper voltage level
“BATTERY SUPPORT: A suitable battery voltage/programming power supply should be connected to the vehicle battery while the ignition is in Key ON Engine Off (KOEO) mode. Due to varying voltage and amperage requirements from the vehicle networks, a conventional battery charger or battery “jump box” are not recommended for any ECU programming events to help eliminate voltage-related programming failures. Most manufacturers recommend power supply levels between 13.2-13.8V DC while in a programming session. Some European manufacturers require voltages over 14.0V DC to successfully complete a programming session. A conventional battery charger can introduce voltage fluctuations and/or may have AC voltage ripple that can affect the communication lines from the vehicle to the application software. Such conditions can prevent the programming event from successfully completing and possibly render the ECU permanently inoperative. A battery “jump box” provides a steady voltage level but is generally too low to meet the OEM minimum voltage requirements. “
It's almost as if those car makers want to make it tough for ordinary people to (re)program modules!
After all, the programmable chips themselves typically don't need any such high voltage (and removing ripple is trivial at the electronics level).
In the rather distant past, some chips DID need quite high voltages for programming but those years are way before these cars and having looked inside many a module not in use in them.
However, all that being said, it's wise to have the kind of supply dictated by the car maker. Depends if you're feeling lucky...
What bollocks is that?
Did some AI just yack up a Jaguar fur ball?
georgebenzy...if you even exist.........late to the party, claiming France but location stated as Hyderabad.....on a vacation are we?
Why spit out such generic info referencing the X-Type on the XJ forum?
Not sure why you would be suggesting a GST calculator.....I don't think he is reporting any difficulty with his local Taxes!
Oh and by the way......suggesting that he go to a forum or community for Jaguar owners when he is already there......WTF.
Go back to whatever memory dump or stack overflow you came from.......only real people live here!
Glad to hear it’s resolved! I had a similar issue before—turned out to be a bad OBD<!--td {border: 1px solid #cccccc;}br {mso-data-placement:same-cell;}-->labubukeychain.shop cable. Curious what fixed it for you in the end? Always good to know for future reference.
