HELP! I killed my ECU

[Hobbes]

Honestly, I think your ECU is toast. If it was cut off on the initial write then there no telling what's lost and where. I don't think you can recover it because there is no starting point to get back into the ECU.

I know sometimes the read/write times vary. Somestimes its quick and sometimes it takes a while. You have to be patient.

Your best bet it to hunt down another 03 ECU.

All,

Once you start the flash proccess you cannot just quit. Because you are so nervous during the flashing process 1 minute seemes like 5 but, be patient and dont abort.

Make sure that you are not running some kind of bogus app in the back ground that may take away from your processor, cut your screen saver off and anything else that might cause a interupt. No wifi connection no nothing.

Hobbes

[jblaze]

It wasn't the actual time to reflash the ECU that phased me.

It's just that ECU flash doesn't successfully connect to the ECU every time (whether you write or read). The problem that I had depends on whether you get your timing right between pressing OK to start the process and turning your ignition on.

I thought I didn't successfully connect, so I keyed off in order to start the process of connecting again.

[05GarnetLGT]

atleast you are lucky in that you can swap in another ECU

it would be a *MAJOR* pain in the ass for me if I killed my ecu.
damn immobilizer!

[EvoKid]

I have a 2003 WRX (ADM).

I lost power via an ignition key off.

When I started the flash process I thought ECUflash didn't make a successful connection to the ECU as it doesn't connect every time (the whole press "OK" then QUICKLY turn your ignition on problem). Then just as I keyed off it connected and started the flash process.

Just to let you know, its say " turn your ignition on, then quickly press ok. Not the onther way around, like you said. I bet thats why it doesnt connect everytime.

[autophysics]

As a safety precaution I do a download first in order to ensure that my connection is "good" then I proceed with the upload/flash using the same session. Unfortunately this is of no help to you now but it might prevent it from happening to others.

The first time I used ecuflash I was very paranoid so I had a second battery hooked up parallel to my car battery, turned off AC fan, radio, or any potential unnecessary drains, and was running my laptop off mains power, turned off all anti virus, turned off wifi, turned off all power saving features.

Now that I've gotten used to using ecuflash I've gotten lazy and don't take any of those precautions anymore. Your situation reminds me not to become lazy.

If you find a way to salvage your ECU please share it in case others run into the same problem from abnormal termination.