"Permission to upload kernel was denied."

[NSFW]

During the flash process, we:
* unlock the PCM
* switch to 4x
* request permission to upload the kernel

That last step used to fail for me very rarely, and power cycling almost fixed it (sometimes I might have to power cycle it a couple times, but that was rare). Today it's been happening more often than not, and once the PCM rejects a flash that way, power cycling doesn't help. There's no getting out of it without using USB-BDM.

If I use BDM to flash any of my last ~ten versions of my .bin file, I'm stuck with this "denied" error every time I try to do a calibration write with PCM Hammer. I've found the a cutoff point where earlier versions can be flashed with BDM and will accept subsequent flashes, whereas more recent versions just give the "denied" error every time. The baffling thing is that I didn't run into this a couple weeks ago when I was making those incremental versions of my tune.

I tried getting an older (reflashable) bin file and adding the calibration segment from a newer tune, and I get the denied error every time.

So I used BDM to flash a good bin file from a couple weeks ago. Used TunerPro to update a handful of tables. Used PCM Hammer to flash the updated file... the flash worked but now the PCM rejects new flashes with the "denied" error.

I tried three PCMs and I'm still running into this. I've been using Release 21 the whole time.

I'm completely stumped. I've been flashing my car a few times a week for a several weeks with no issues but today I'm cursed.

Does anyone have ideas about what could be causing this, or how to troubleshoot?

Thanks!

[kur4o]

Some debugging will be needed. Can you hook up external tool and log actual communication that happens on bus.

Corruption of eeporm area might explain it. We will also need a bin file when that happens, read with bdm I guess.

[antus]

Good advice. Also try adjusting hammer to report the real kernel size, and test with the smaller assembly kernel bin file from here: viewtopic.php?f=42&t=8300&p=124499&hili ... st#p124499
The C kernel is really huge compared to any tool, and it could have effects nothing else hits, though it does seem specific to your tune somehow, and there are not common reports of hitting it. Just your tune from your car originally.

[Scott68B]

I was encountering the same thing on my spare 0411 with 021. I tried several times last week with no luck. I thought that I bricked it somehow. I tried 020 just now and it worked with a Write Calibration. I then tried 021 again and did a Read Entire successfully. Weird.

Scott