DME is stuck in Program flashing mode

[D-O]

Greetings.

I have run into a problem with the DME for my Karbonius airbox install.

I purchased a used MSS54HP from ebay and the plan is to convert the bootloader using Mpowere36's tool and then install the Mullet tune using MSSFlasher.

The bootloader conversion tool hung on "Saving ECU." I reached out to Mpower and sent him a full binary read. Right away he identified that the problem is the DME being in Program flashing mode.

Being a gentleman, he sent me a binary file and had me try flashing it using MSSFlasher. MSSFlasher timed out and would not perform the flash. He is now building a recovery tool to try and solve the issue. Its pretty great that a complete stranger would help me out like this. Several folks here have used his tool and have had great results with it, so this is not his problem, but he is still going to the trouble of helping me out. Many thanks to him.

In the meantime, I am wondering if anyone else has encountered this problem and if there is a reasonably easy fix. As mentioned, I have MSSFlasher. I also have the free version of BMWFlash, the ECUWorx tool, and the BMW standard tools.

Thanks.

Jesse

[heinzboehmer]

Can WinKFP recover the DME?

https://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/showthread.php?1572349-How-to-use-WinKFP-for-programming

This thread has the info needed to cross reference versions: https://nam3forum.com/forums/forum/s...me-information

Also, are you flashing the DME while it's installed on the car? If so, make sure there's no other traffic on D bus when flashing. I've bricked my DME in the past because my Gauge.S was flooding the bus with requests and causing timeouts.

[D-O]

Heinz,

Thanks.

You are suggesting I do a complete re-program of the DME using WinKFP? Wonder if my version will have the appropriate file to flash to the DME? Is the VIN mismatch between the car and the DME going to be a problem?

I am flashing while its in the car. I have no accessories like Gauge S. installed. What else could create traffic on the D bus? What tool would I need to flash outside the vehicle?

Its becoming clear that I am in over my head....

Thanks again.

Jesse

[heinzboehmer]

Yep! Flash back to stock with WinKFP to recover it, then redo the bootloader conversion. Probably a good idea to run this by Mpowere36 as well, as I'm unsure how far along the tool got before erroring out.

VIN won't be an issue. The car doesn't actually care about what the DME has stored, it's more of a bookkeeping thing.

If you've got no aftermarket stuff hooked up to D bus, you'll be fine. Nothing stock creates traffic on it, as it's intended to be used for diagnostics only.

You can build a bench harness like this, but it's not really necessary: https://github.com/saildot4k/MSS54-X...sh-Harness-DIY Flashing on the car is completely fine. Was just asking in case you had something else hooked up to the bus.

[D-O]

Okay, I don't have any experience with winkfp, so I followed the link heinz posted and did some searching to learn more. It's pretty crazy how well AI can summarize the information....

I discovered I did not have the daten files, so I got that resolved first.

winkfp comfort mode did confirm that there is a more recent version of the DME software in the daten files. Looks like I can even update the vin at the same time.

Out of curiosity, I fired up INPA to get the DME assembly number to see if inputting it directly in to winkfp would return the same results as winkfp did on its own. INPA returned a system error message and would not read the DME information. I am guessing this is because the DME is in Progamming flash mode.

Anyone know if I can get this done in winkfp comfort mode, or will I have to use expert mode?

[D-O]

Updating the DME with WinKFP appears to have worked. MSSFlasher now reports that the DME is in "Normal Operation Mode."

It also reports that the master can be programmed 24 more times and the slave 25. Is it normal for this count to vary between the master and slave?

[heinzboehmer]

Nice! I wouldn't worry about that discrepancy.

[D-O]

Update:

Mpowere36 sent me a debug tool, which allowed him to determine that, for some reason, my DME will not tolerate "high speed writing." He sent me a new bootloader conversion tool configured for a slower write speed and it worked.

Many thanks to him for going the distance to make this work for me.

D-O

[D-O]

The plot thickens. As stated above, the bootloader has been updated and the OE CSL tune installed along with it. The Mullet tune was then installed with MSS flasher.

Car spins over but will not start. I downloaded the tune into the ecuworx tool and it does indicate EWS is disabled. Some search results indicate that when updating an E46 DME with WinKFP a DME/EWS resync is required, which I was unaware of at the time.

My scan tool returns an EWS error code of 0F, which the internet says can be caused by the EWS and DME being out of sync. Of course, I am wondering if the 0F is normal with an EWS delete.

An EWS/DME sync seems like the obvious solution. If I do the sync will my original DME still be synced to the EWS? I have a track day in the not too distant future, and if I cannot get this working I would like to be able to revert to stock.

update - INPA does show a code 130 for EWS manipulation