I think I bricked my PCM. Help
05-17-2018, 11:31 PM
#1
I think I bricked my PCM. Help Hi all, so I fucked this one up for good. I was trying to write a 3 bar map on my pcm and everything worked great. I wrote as "write entire" even though it had a Brickable warning. I changed a couple things and hit write again as "write calibration" wrote good for about 3 times. The last time Hp tuners just exited, just shut completely and had to open it back up. I tried to write a file and kept exiting. Tried to read, and write an old file and nothing. Now it just says timed out. I'm assuming its bricked.
I'm able to get another PCM but does HP tuners have the capability to write a vin si I can get my car going again?
if so, does anyone have steps to do this?
what can I do so this wont happen again?
is there a way to recover my PCM without having to get another one??
I'm fairly new to this, I've only been messing with hp tuners for a little under a month.
I'm able to get another PCM but does HP tuners have the capability to write a vin si I can get my car going again?
if so, does anyone have steps to do this?
what can I do so this wont happen again?
is there a way to recover my PCM without having to get another one??
I'm fairly new to this, I've only been messing with hp tuners for a little under a month.
05-18-2018, 10:20 AM
#3
Restricted User
If your fuel pump doesn't prime when you key-on, its likely bricked.
If it does, you might just need to restart your laptop and makes sure its fully charged before trying again.
A Tech-II can write a bricked PCM back to OEM.
If it does, you might just need to restart your laptop and makes sure its fully charged before trying again.
A Tech-II can write a bricked PCM back to OEM.
05-18-2018, 02:35 PM
#7
A Gm SPS flash will only work if the internal structure is undamaged and if boot loader is still working. Think of this like a PC computer, you can corrupt windows to the point it will no longer load but the computer still turns on and won't load anything......you can reinstall the OS if you have the correct disc's. Now if you screw something up in your computers Bios and the computer no boots even into the bios settings then it's dead.
The odd's you can recover the pcm are very slim, it may be possible to write it in a recovery mode and bring it back to life but that also will depend on if you have power cycled the pcm. If you damaged the bootloader in the pcm and have powered the pcm off the only way to recover it will be at the hardware level and require oping up the pcm and using special tools. No matter how bad you botch a pcm as long as you don't shut the power off to it you can always recover it still......but once you shut the power off the chance of recovery becomes VERY slim. It sounds like this was being done in a car and odds are you have not kept the pcm powered up since this happened.
The odd's you can recover the pcm are very slim, it may be possible to write it in a recovery mode and bring it back to life but that also will depend on if you have power cycled the pcm. If you damaged the bootloader in the pcm and have powered the pcm off the only way to recover it will be at the hardware level and require oping up the pcm and using special tools. No matter how bad you botch a pcm as long as you don't shut the power off to it you can always recover it still......but once you shut the power off the chance of recovery becomes VERY slim. It sounds like this was being done in a car and odds are you have not kept the pcm powered up since this happened.
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05-18-2018, 03:14 PM
#8
EPS or Frost can recover it for you. I'd call one of them and see what they charge. IIRC--it's not much. They have a bench setup for writing bricked PCMs.
In fact, I bought a recovered PCM from Frost with the wrong OS, tried to overwrite with HPT, bricked it, and he said send it back to fix. I just never got around to it. But it's very sketchy to write a new OS/Vin combo using HPT...
In fact, I bought a recovered PCM from Frost with the wrong OS, tried to overwrite with HPT, bricked it, and he said send it back to fix. I just never got around to it. But it's very sketchy to write a new OS/Vin combo using HPT...
05-18-2018, 06:51 PM
#9
I consider myself VERY lucky then... I have very little experience with HPT and recently swapped VIN #, and OS at the same time on a 411 PCM. So far the only problem I have is that the tach does not read correctly. That was probably because I burned the VIN from the truck into the PCM and it was a 4.3L V6 from the factory.. Tach reads correctly in HPT, just higher than it should on the dash. It started this immediately after burning the new OS/VIN into the PCM. I only changed the OS because I needed to run electric fans and everything I tried with the old OS failed miserably. Once I burned the new OS, the electric fans work just like factory.
Very good information that bricked PCM's can be recovered. I'm sure I'll reach a point where I need those services! Ha!
Very good information that bricked PCM's can be recovered. I'm sure I'll reach a point where I need those services! Ha!
05-19-2018, 10:42 AM
#11
We have a very high success rate at recovering 99-02 (LS1) bricked LS1 bricked pcms. When recovery the pcm it wipes out the tune that was in the pcm. The only issues is by the time you pay shipping both ways and pay us you could just replace the pcm. We sell used pcm's for $100 ( or a custom tune for extra) with whatever stock OS and VIN loaded in you want so trying to recovery one isnt worth it in most cases.
05-19-2018, 05:40 PM
#12
Ok guys. Thanks for all the information. It really sucks because I had an event today to go to and obviously couldn't attend it anymore. So I'm assuming the OS and vin have to match. So how can the OS and vin match when replacing the PCM? I'm sure I can write the vin but what about the OS?
05-23-2018, 09:40 AM
#17
HP tuners cant unbrick them usually without opening the pcm, at that point any software will work. We try to recovery them without taking them apart (not with hpt) if that doesnt work we throw them away and grab another pcm off the shelf. Its not worth the time to us.
05-23-2018, 09:46 AM
#18
Knock on wood we have never bricked a pcm flashing one that wasnt our fault. We bricked some E38's when they first came out trying to cross flash them doing swaps but that was 100% our fault not the software or the ecm. Never had a ls1 pcm get bricked flashing but we use a very good power supply on our bench harness and also a GM approved battery/voltage maintainer (super expensive) when changing OS or flashing vehicles alot. I think the voltage dropping during the longer full writes contributes to some people having issues.
