Boot Mode Help!

[R33Beech]

Hey there, 

background: My car was previously tuned by a reputable tuner in Colorado. But I want to tune my own now. 

PC Link initially connected to the ECU the first time I hooked up, heard the fuel pump prime, could crank it over, but now will not. 

 

I am getting the dreaded ECU is in Boot Mode and will not connect message. 

It said I needed to update to the new firmware. So I did the update but it has always said "ECU failed update" even though the firmware it's showing as installed is 6.23.6. 

Every time I try to "reinstall" it gives:

I tried disconnecting the battery for 10 minutes. I completely disconnected the ECU and reconnected. I still get a blue light when connected through the harness loom but nothing.

I even tried bench testing and I still get the same message. Still get the blue light, but still an error.

I don't understand why it initially connected when I hooked my laptop up. I heard the fuel pump prime, etc.

But now I'm not getting anything. Should I revert to a previous firmware version? 

I've read through a lot of the threads about this, but they all seemed to work when bench testing, whereas mine is still not. 

Thanks in advance!

[Adamw]

How are you powering it up on the bench, and what are you using to power it?

What do you have for a laptop?  

[R33Beech]

Hey Adam, I got it working with an older laptop surprisingly, but maybe I just downloaded the firmware incorrectly on my newer laptop? 

I have a Lenovo Ideapad Flex 5 laptop. Like 2 years old. anything in particular to look at? 

[R33Beech]

it seems to be working now with my laptop... maybe the way I was connecting was the wrong order of operations originally. I uninstalled and deleted everything again and started over and it seems to work now. thanks for all your help.

[Adamw]

It would be pretty unusual for the laptop to cause a firmware update issue unless the USB port is going into power-saving mode or something.  There is not much you can do wrong in terms of "order of operations" so im not sure what the issue was. 

Just reading your original post again I noticed you said "could crank it over, but now will not", does that mean the starter motor wouldnt even crank the engine? 

[R33Beech]

Oh the cranking over was a trigger issue. That I have since fixed. 

On a different note (I haven’t started researching too much yet), PCLink keeps disconnecting from the ECU while tuning and logging now. Or it will say it’s still connected but freeze and not be responding. Particularly happens about 65% throttle or more in a ramp run. Do you know what would cause that? Is it just electrical interference?

[Adamw]

It sounds like you potentially have an early G4X which had a USB circuit that seemed to be more sensitive with certain laptops.  The USB circuit was later changed which helped in most of the troublesome cases.  I would suggest you contact [email protected] with your ecu serial number etc and a note that you are having comms issues and they can advise if it is an early one that needs to be updated.  They have an upgraded tuning cable also that may help.