NVRAM/ALDL Connection and Error messages and worse

160 And 8192 Baud Aldl
TorqueItUp
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Re: NVRAM/ALDL Connection and Error messages and worse

Post by TorqueItUp »

Great, thanks. Exactly my next question.
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antus
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Re: NVRAM/ALDL Connection and Error messages and worse

Post by antus »

Also the next gotcha is the nvram pins are thin, and the nvram sockets are tight so that they work well in a high vibration car environment. You need to be very careful when removing the chip from the socket because the last couple of pins will try and hang on and its easy to bend and snap the last pin when the rest of them pop out of the socket. Go slow and keep it straight when you lift, with something thin from the ends underneath the chip. take your time to work it out the socket slowly. also when putting it back it, the pins should grab the top of the socket evenly, and you can then rock the chip to feel if they are all located correctly. If the chip rocks on a single pin thats caught on the edge, fix that before you press it down. A pin caught on the edge will bend sharply when you try and push it fully in.
Have you read the FAQ? For lots of information and links to significant threads see here: http://pcmhacking.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=1396
TorqueItUp
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Re: NVRAM/ALDL Connection and Error messages and worse

Post by TorqueItUp »

antus wrote:Also the next gotcha is the nvram pins are thin, and the nvram sockets are tight so that they work well in a high vibration car environment. You need to be very careful when removing the chip from the socket because the last couple of pins will try and hang on and its easy to bend and snap the last pin when the rest of them pop out of the socket. Go slow and keep it straight when you lift, with something thin from the ends underneath the chip. take your time to work it out the socket slowly. also when putting it back it, the pins should grab the top of the socket evenly, and you can then rock the chip to feel if they are all located correctly. If the chip rocks on a single pin thats caught on the edge, fix that before you press it down. A pin caught on the edge will bend sharply when you try and push it fully in.
Thanks for all the info. All appreciated. Sounds like fun. Nothing like a challenge/potential peril at every turn.

While I've got you, I noticed with the programmer that I have the option of various different socket adapters. Is there a particular socket adapter I need? Thanks.
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antus
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Re: NVRAM/ALDL Connection and Error messages and worse

Post by antus »

No adapter needed, the nvram chip when removed from the pcm nvram board
plugs straight in to the programmer and is programmed as a dallas ds1245y (its the industrial variation, but thats physical and voltage hardyness for the automotive environment, not relevant to the programmer settings)
Have you read the FAQ? For lots of information and links to significant threads see here: http://pcmhacking.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=1396
TorqueItUp
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Re: NVRAM/ALDL Connection and Error messages and worse

Post by TorqueItUp »

First, thanks for the help so far, here's where I'm at currently.

I bought a TL866II programmer, finally arrived yesterday.

I did a read off the NVRAM. I then loaded that .bin in to Tunerpro but I don't know if I've followed the right procedure. Essentially what I was hoping was I could use Tunerpro's "Compare Bin" feature and then the "Difference Tool" to see what might have happened.

I had the 1's Enhanced .bin loaded in to TP already then hit "Compare Bins" and selected first, the 1's enhanced and second the .bin I read off the NVRAM which was also originally the 1's enhanced .bin that was suspected to be corrupt. I then used the Difference Tool and I got nothing. I don't know if that's relevant currently because I don't know if the procedure I've followed would provide the results I'm looking for.

If... if the procedure I've followed is correct and the result is no difference then I'd assume that yet again, some other unrelated SNAFU has randomly occurred simultaneously.

I'm not sure which to hope for.

Of course the car has a flat battery now. It's on the charger but I won't be able run any diagnostics for spark today so in the meantime I was wondering if that procedure I used has given me accurate results? If it has then the NVRAM goes straight back in and I go looking elsewhere for why I have no spark.

*Edit: After typing this I decided to load a different .bin in TP and follow the same procedure so I found a tune on the forum based on the enhanced .bin, same adx and xdf and ran the same procedure and I got a stack of differences between those .bin files. 16422 bytes between that tune and the factory tune supplied with the NVRAM so I'm leaning towards nothing being wrong with my NVRAM at all, it's working perfectly and the no spark issue is some other thing that has occurred simultaneous to connecting my laptop to the PCM. I'll be looking in to the latter ASAP either after or while I wait for a response on this query. I mean it seems logical to me that if I can see a multitude of differences between the .bin with the stock tune and the modified .bin in the "Difference Tool" and yet the .bin I pulled off the NVRAM out of my car shows zero difference to what was on it originally and the programmer software reports no hardware errors on the NVRAM out of my car...?

Although now I think of it the other issue was that I also could no longer detect the nvram when I first had the issue (then discovered I had no spark) and again, I can't go back and test anything in the car now but I will ASAP.

Thanks again in advance.
Last edited by TorqueItUp on Thu Jul 23, 2020 10:35 pm, edited 1 time in total.
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j_ds_au
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Re: NVRAM/ALDL Connection and Error messages and worse

Post by j_ds_au »

It sure sounds like your NVRAM contents are OK. Just to be sure the PCM is OK, I'd check for bent pins first and then try the original memcal to see how that works. If that works, then try the NVRAM memcal again, making sure it is correctly aligned.

Joe.
TorqueItUp
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Re: NVRAM/ALDL Connection and Error messages and worse

Post by TorqueItUp »

Cheers Joe. Yeah pins are perfect. If I have no luck when I plug the nvram back in I'm going to hunt down the stock eprom which I know will fire it up, all other things functioning correctly and that'll give me the opportunity to diagnose and trace my spark signal back. Sooner or late I'll nail it down. I was thinking about it today and not long after I first fired it up I lost spark. Nothing at the plug. At the time I walked away in frustration and disgust. I ran diagnostics a couple days later on the entire spark system. Couldn't fault it. Tried to start it and away it went. Bizarre.

So I literally have not touched the car in 3 weeks. Who knows what mysteries will be revealed when I next go tinkering?
TorqueItUp
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Re: NVRAM/ALDL Connection and Error messages and worse

Post by TorqueItUp »

*Update*

Finally received my programmer late last week. First I got the car started again using a stock L67 memcal. Then I flashed the .bin (enhanced) on to an NVRAM and the car started running on the enhanced tune.

I've plugged back in to the ALDL port and attempted to start the car and log. I'll go in to more of that shortly.

With the cable connected to the running laptop and TunerPro running I turned on the ignition. I didn't have to do anything and it recognised the hardware/.bin: A5GE 1.3 VTV6 AT Realtime and the adjacent tab read "Ready".

OK, so from here I want to log. You see although it starts reasonably easy first attempt, that's about as good as it gets. It all but completely rejects any throttle input, instantly stalling. I am clueless when it comes to EFI tuning so I need to get some logs and start figuring this out.

I pressed the "Acquire Data (Connect/Disconnect)" button shortly before I began to crank the engine. I got the "DA Connected" message. Unfortunately I don't recall the connection speed but it didn't immediately throw any errors. I pressed the record button to log

This time it wouldn't start. That is par for the course currently. Once it's been started it regularly needs 30-60 seconds before it's worth cranking it again or it won't start. Also, it started to throw errors and rapidly alternated between blue "DA Connected" and yellow "DA Not Connected".

Then, a few seconds passed and TunerPro just disappeared. No error message. Just vanished. Like it had never been booted. Bizarre.

So I restarted TunerPro and the tab at the bottom left that displays the hardware was empty this time so I clicked the "Inititialise Emulation Hardware" Button and it recognised the hardware, gave me an audible acknowledgement and again, listed the Hardware and .bin in the adjacent tab. That didn't happen last time. Last time I was unable to connect at all until I flashed this NVRAM and refitted it in the PCM so that's one small step forward.

I then suddenly realised I was using a slightly different .adx (I'd been toying with the original, swapped to a fresh, unedited copy of the original and hadn't entered my wideband equation values again) so before I fix that and give it another go I thought I'd post this update and see what feedback I can get to date.

Cable echo is set to on (checked). Speed 8192
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antus
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Re: NVRAM/ALDL Connection and Error messages and worse

Post by antus »

Sounds like your getting somewhere with it. What version of oseplugin are you using? Can you use the lastest 1.8 that I released last week? It has additional code to handle silencing in the bus so should make getting a stable connection easier. It now has a setup program too, and so long as you installed the old one by putting it in documents/tunerpro/plugins it should just install over the top of the old one. viewtopic.php?f=3&t=590
Have you read the FAQ? For lots of information and links to significant threads see here: http://pcmhacking.net/forums/viewtopic.php?f=7&t=1396
TorqueItUp
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Re: NVRAM/ALDL Connection and Error messages and worse

Post by TorqueItUp »

Hi Antus. Yeah cold be worse. I'm a bit gun shy and taking baby steps with all the issues I've had but having the programmer gives me some peace of mind. I'm not really any further than I got last time at this stage mind you, other than not having any problem initialising the hardware. I also haven't got the NVRAM that was in it when it died working yet. Fortunately I had another and that's in it now but I'd like to have another crack at flashing that one I couldn't connect to again but that is the least of my concerns currently.

In answer to your question, no, I have not installed that version of OSEPlugin. I'll get on to that this evening some time and I'll plug in again tomorrow and give it another shot. Oh and yes, that's the directory I have the currently installed version in.

After all this I have to work out how to get it movable. I've read the "Basic tuning using 12p" pdf and assume it's similar. I'm also assuming the reason it stalls on initial throttle depression is that it's far too lean in that range (this is why I need to log obviously) and I need to initially make adjustments to the acceleration enrichment in that area just to get some cruising and traffic light to traffic light logs. Hell of a learning curve ahead I'd imagine and somewhat daunting but I really can't wait to get on to it.

I'll get that new OSEPlugin installed, give it another crack and post up my results. Cheers.
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