ECM Unlocking - Bootlock vs Autolock

Bosch Motronic etc ECUs and PCMs
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Tazzi
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ECM Unlocking - Bootlock vs Autolock

Post by Tazzi »

So I have received a bunch of messages from owners of E39/E39A, E78,E80 ect ect, which all indicate that the ECU is 'locked' and cannot be read using any tools, I have been indicated this is something EFILive has implemented.

Now reading up on this, EFILive indicates they have two options for tuner locking depending on the Controller:
1) Bootlocker (Typical custom seed/key)
2) EFILocker Patch (Custom Operating System Patch)

Now, most people are familiar with bootlocker, this is just a custom seed/key implementation. I believe EFILive typically does a 11AA/11CC seed for many of them and a custom key based of the users efilive cable details.

But the EFILocker Patch, this apparently results in the ECU being unable to be read back out, and only write to.
I am assuming these controllers must have their own internal bootloader/kernel which is used for read/writing, which is why EFI has made an OS patch for them, which likely blocks the read access to them (This is the only way I can think of??)

Their documentation (Ill put links at the end) indicates it still allows writing to the ecu, and also removing the lock upon request from the tuner. So if the lock can be removed, then this means the read lockout is also removed.

Making the assumption that all they are doing is removing the 'patch' on the OS, this should be a simple flash of the OS back to stock that removes the lock. I would also assume that the custom OS possibly edits/changes the seed key as well as an additional precaution since it does mention that the security is managed by efilive instead of the user.

Personally, I believe there should always be a method of recovery for an ecu. Most good tuners I speak to just want to wipe it back to factory and start from scratch, so the fact that the custom OS lock blocks reading, which means basically blocks writing as you don't have the base OS/cal to flash it is not very helpful for the next tuner for that vehicle.
Let alone, even efilive says to replace the controller in this circumstance (See post from cindy at August 6th, 2017, 02:17 PM https://forum.efilive.com/archive/index ... 27841.html).
Now, if its just a custom OS patch with a custom seed/key, then this seems plausible to fix without having to:
1) Replace the controller
2) Lose the tune, in the event the owner wants to modify it

Has anyone come across the EFILocker patch before? Or used it?

Some information from efilive:
https://service.efilive.com/kb/articles ... er-locking
https://content.efilive.com/documents/E ... 0Patch.pdf
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The1
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Re: ECM Unlocking - Bootlock vs Autolock

Post by The1 »

Usual old protecting the income thing, but inadvertently driving away business lol
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Tre-Cool
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Re: ECM Unlocking - Bootlock vs Autolock

Post by Tre-Cool »

it still allows you to write either partial or full on the e98's ive tested it on.

you just cant read it, it essentially times out during the read from memory.

once you do a full factory write, it's back to standard.
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Tazzi
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Re: ECM Unlocking - Bootlock vs Autolock

Post by Tazzi »

Tre-Cool wrote:it still allows you to write either partial or full on the e98's ive tested it on.

you just cant read it, it essentially times out during the read from memory.

once you do a full factory write, it's back to standard.
Perfect, this means just writing the Operating system will allow removing the read lockout without losing the entire ecu or tune.

The documentation indicates it also blocks things like tech2 (They mean tis2web) from performing updates also, so this would indicate a custom key has been implemented I would think.
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Re: ECM Unlocking - Bootlock vs Autolock

Post by Tre-Cool »

correct, they wouldn't want dealer tools from updating the ecu and removing the tune.
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