Reflashing a Blank ECU

[radsdau]

This probably is probably one mainly for Colby...

I have managed to erase the entire flash on my EVO8 ECU (don't ask me how; things went wrong...). Now I can't upload and run a kernel. Terrific.
Can anyone help with details on how to get the kernel loaded into RAM so I can restore the flash? There is a 3-pin header on the PCB that I'm assuming is used for factory programming; is this part of it?

Many thanks,

radsdau

[cboles]

It depends on how the chip was erased. Have you erased the boot mode flash as well? If so, you could only reprogram the chip in a prom type programmer. If not, you should still be able to upload a kernel, only the ID code will have changed from 00 01 to FF FF, since those locations in the main flash will have become erased. The Evo is very safe from failed flashing because the bootloader is in a completely different memory area than the main flash block.

[radsdau]

Well, I'm pretty sure I've erased from 0-3FFFF. Given that the chip is supposed to be a 256k flash part, I would assume I've nuked the lot, but I'll see what happens with the modified ID bytes; thanks for that tip.

I'll keep you posted.

Ta, radsdau

[cboles]

The bootloader is probably still intact then, give it a try.

Colby

[radsdau]

The bootloader is probably still intact then, give it a try.

Colby

And that it was! Thanks heaps Colby- now the wife won't kill me!!

radsdau

[Mr.Evolution]

It depends on how the chip was erased. Have you erased the boot mode flash as well? If so, you could only reprogram the chip in a prom type programmer. If not, you should still be able to upload a kernel, only the ID code will have changed from 00 01 to FF FF, since those locations in the main flash will have become erased. The Evo is very safe from failed flashing because the bootloader is in a completely different memory area than the main flash block.

Hey Guys,

I've been lurking for quite some time and, well, now I have a question.

There seems to be a ton of info on loading your own write/erase controller program, although Renesas doesn't seem to say where they are writing the program to. Do you know where in mem the boot loader code has placed mitsu's write/erase controller program? A read out of ROM has not shown it's location, although I may be missing something. Has anyone been able to address the boot loader code or mitsu's write/erase controller program directly or indirectly?

Thanks,
Mr.Evo

[Mr.Evolution]

So does the "Colester" or anyone else not know where the boot program is in ROM or are people unwilling to share the good stuff on the "open source" site? Not even an "I don't know"?

[radsdau]

Mr.Evolution: I'm no authority on this, but as far as I can tell, the code to perform the actual flash register accessing etc is done in the kernel, which must be uploaded using the on-chip bootloader; it is not part of the standard ROM. This probably means you need to write some kernel code yourself or find someone who has and is willing to share it with you, or find the Mitsu factory one and learn to drive it (good luck). Similar to Subaru, as written by Colby.

There is then a trick in getting the kernel loaded and running, but there my knowledge runs out. Might be one for Colby (again!); he has some code to do all this, but is holding off on the release for now. And whether or not this is the same across all EVO ECU versions, I have no idea.

Hope this is useful.

radsdau

[AutoXer]

I've been lurking for quite some time and, well, now I have a question.

I'm sure there are MANY of us in the Evolution community that are dying to get our hands on some of this stuff.

<--patiently waiting

[Mr.Evolution]

Mr.Evolution: I'm no authority on this, but as far as I can tell, the code to perform the actual flash register accessing etc is done in the kernel, which must be uploaded using the on-chip bootloader; it is not part of the standard ROM. This probably means you need to write some kernel code yourself or find someone who has and is willing to share it with you, or find the Mitsu factory one and learn to drive it (good luck). Similar to Subaru, as written by Colby.

There is then a trick in getting the kernel loaded and running, but there my knowledge runs out. Might be one for Colby (again!); he has some code to do all this, but is holding off on the release for now. And whether or not this is the same across all EVO ECU versions, I have no idea.

Hope this is useful.

radsdau

Yes, but when the kernal loader (The easy part) knocks there is must be something there to answer. That is the boot program that I'm talking about. Colby sounded like he was able to address that section of memory. I'm looking to find where the boot program is located.

Mr. Evo

[cboles]

I haven't located this on the 7055 yet. There is a published mechanism for the 7058, so that is easy to program the bootloader for. I had a program that was searching the 4GB address space for it, but it was going to take all day, and I had to stop the search to use the ECU for something else. The whole address bus might switch some line while in boot mode, so you may never find it. I haven't really had a need to do this, since for my purposes, I can just peek at the bootloader once it is loaded in RAM using an AUD.

Colby

It depends on how the chip was erased. Have you erased the boot mode flash as well? If so, you could only reprogram the chip in a prom type programmer. If not, you should still be able to upload a kernel, only the ID code will have changed from 00 01 to FF FF, since those locations in the main flash will have become erased. The Evo is very safe from failed flashing because the bootloader is in a completely different memory area than the main flash block.

Hey Guys,

I've been lurking for quite some time and, well, now I have a question.

There seems to be a ton of info on loading your own write/erase controller program, although Renesas doesn't seem to say where they are writing the program to. Do you know where in mem the boot loader code has placed mitsu's write/erase controller program? A read out of ROM has not shown it's location, although I may be missing something. Has anyone been able to address the boot loader code or mitsu's write/erase controller program directly or indirectly?

Thanks,
Mr.Evo