MyE28.com DEV

I've never successfully flashed firmware to an MS ECU, but I would like to take advantage of some of the advances in MS2 Extra firmware in the last five years. How do I do it? Is a USB to serial adapter a problem? What are the odds I screw it up and brick my ECU?

I flashed mine not so long ago with a usb to 3.2.1.
Don't see a huge risk in it.

http://www.msextra.com/doc/ms2extra/upgrade.html

I feel the same way. I finally got comfortable with megatune.
If I do update I think I 'll go all in and burn extra for the 16x16 tables.
good luck
marc

Between Peter and I we are burning firmwares and updating things a couple of times a week. The com to usb adapters work just fine. Some are crappy, but if you use it to turn it will work fine to burn. It only takes a couple of mins to update the firmware. It's very simple and easy.

Nebraska_E28 flashes new firmware every time he fires his up.

The worst I've done with mine was burn the coil driver's out when sending changes. I found out the ignition relay controlled by the fuel pump relay that controls power to the coils was stuck on.

FTDI based USB to Serial adapters FTW.

Prolific based, not so much.

M. Holtmeier wrote:Nebraska_E28 flashes new firmware every time he fires his up.

x2
I've reflashed mine multiples times with no issues. (knocks on wood)
Just make sure you follow the instructions & you should be golden. There may have been once (or twice) that I had to reflash b/c it didnt take. As the script runs, you can kind of watch the lines of code going by to see if everything is going smoothly.

FirstFives Dictator wrote:FTDI based USB to Serial adapters FTW.

Prolific based, not so much.

Here's the one I've had success with on both winXP & win7 machines.
http://sewelldirect.com/USBtoSerial.asp

Very easy, you should have no problems. The batch script is VERY easy to follow. Just make sure you disconnect your coil(s) or use the stim to burn the code. It's pretty tough to brick these things. There was some funkyness with the batch files not running right on 64 bit windows 7, but I think they've fixed that.

I'm running some ancient MS2 firmware and haven't updated just because I'm really lazy and haven't been in the mood to do a potential retune.

You may have to adjust your tune a little, I believe they updated the fueling algorithm or the point interpolation on the maps or something, but it shouldn't be drastic. Plus I think that was eons ago, so I doubt you'll have an issue. Of course you'll have to re-burn your tune, and you'll have to set a few things (new features that weren't in the old versions).

Here's a link that may help.

Worst case scenario is you f%$# up everything.Some people do that on purpose since tuning is good times.

I try not to fuck things up. Especially when it means the car stops running and I don't know how to fix it.

I'm probably going to stick with what I've got for now. Not enough room for improvement to justify the risk and effort.

turbodan wrote:I try not to fuck things up. Especially when it means the car stops running and I don't know how to fix it.

I'm probably going to stick with what I've got for now. Not enough room for improvement to justify the risk and effort.

I think improvements were made with map sampling. Things like closed loop iac operation were also improved. Prob wouldn't help you for what your doing with your car.