OMG. It won't read my PCM.

[Mr. Smith]

It lets me "Gather Info".
It won't "Read".
It starts doing its thing when I click on "Read" then stops/fails at exactly half way.
It says "Controller Unlocker: x36 Exceed Number of Attempts".

Wtf is going on?
I have a feeling my computer is locked. Why the phuk is that even an option?! Should be no such thing!
I see others had this problem too and of course, no mention how they fixed it.. if they did that is.
F this bs.

[Mr. Smith]

Btw it also says "Hardware: blah blah, blah blah... Failed"
And I tried with "Use High Speed" selected and not selected..
And I tried waiting for over 15 seconds after turning on the ignition then opening VCM Editor, AFTER I had already tried to Read right after turning on my ignition the first time. (Would've been good if that was written in the instructions, instead of finding it in some troubleshooting thread).

[schpenxel]

Have you ever read this vehicle before?

[Mr. Smith]

Have you ever read this vehicle before?

No.
I have scanned it using 2 scanners. I have a feeling a tuner locked it years ago. He didn't tune it, just disabled some security crap.
What do you think? Locked???
FML.

[schpenxel]

Yeah I think it's locked

[GHuggins]

If it was locked - it should still read it - just pop up a message afterwords saying it's locked or you don't have access rights or something like that - honestly forgot what the last one that was locked said specifically...

Try unhooking the battery of the vehicle in question and doing the "global power down" by touching the lead you take off of the battery to the one still hooked up to it - discharges all capacitors at once... Hook the battery back up, cycle the key and retry reading without gathering info... Power on the vehicle might also be too low, so make sure it's got enough to turn the motor over and fire it off... If it still doesn't work after that - contact support... No need to let it get to you

[GHuggins]

You beat me to it Carson, but shouldn't it say it's locked and finish the read?

[GHuggins]

Never Mind - according to James, this apparently means they were locked with EFI Live - the one's I had looked at were locked with HPT - my mistake

[Mr. Smith]

Thank you everyone.

This is f-ing BS. I got the code off my tuner to unlock the PCM and still can't unlock it! The code he gave me is a word and the only digits you can enter in "Custom Key" = 4 numbers.
What exactly is Custom Key? Is that where you're suppposed to enter the code to unlock the PCM or not?

Also, why would it say Controller Unlocker 36 attempts after I had tried just 1 attempt?


Speaking of "battery" and a fyi..
I constantly disconnect my battery (otherwise my battery will die as my alternator / volt reg. stays on with key/engine off).
And GHuggins.. you're telling me to touch my earth lead to my positive terminal/lead on the battery??? Not sure if serious.
My battery is fine, has no problem starting my engine. I started my car about 6 times + drove it about 45 minutes ago.


Typical "my luck".

[GHuggins]

Yes a lot of modules have capacitors built into them for powering up and so on like the majority of electronic modules out there... This is actually how the OE tells their techs to completely reset modules in case something funky is going on... As long as there isn't another battery tied in somewhere else - you unhook one lead of the battery then touch that cable to the cable still hooked to the battery - this immediately dischargers the capacitors built into the controllers and more or less 100% resets them... BUT if your unhooking the battery for long periods of time then the capacitors are normally discharging within 5 to 10 minutes anyway, SO this wouldn't benefit you any... Not sure what EFI live uses to lock or unlock their systems, so can't unfortunately can't help you any with that either...

[schpenxel]

Wonder if someone with EFILive can unlock it for you? I'm not sure how locking works their platform

[Mr. Smith]

Thanks guys.

So doesn't anyone know the code to unlock it????????? No one here has ever unlocked a computer??????
Am I meant to type in the code in the "Custom Key" section?? There's nowhere else..
I found a post (which I took a photo of) saying:
Tune Details
Hardware...............
VIN.......................
Serial....................
Operating System...
Security Key 0x01D3 (Unlocked)

Do you think "0x01D3" would work in "Custom Key" and unlock my PCM?

[Mr. Smith]

Found this info on ebay
"EVEN IF YOU KNOW THE UNLOCK KEY SOME SOFTWARE STILL WONT ENABLE ACCESS."


I should've taken that EFI Live attempted purchase disaster last month as a sign.
Tuning software/hardware is absolutely not worth the headaches, time and money for a DIYer.

[Mr. Smith]

So even if I have the correct code, I still won't be able to unlock my PCM without using EFI Live????

U
N
B
E
L I E V A B L E

[LSxpwrdZ]

You should select custom key check box and enter "01D3" in the box for the key. That is if that is the key.

[Mr. Smith]

You should select custom key check box and enter "01D3" in the box for the key. That is if that is the key.

Thanks. I tried that a couple of hours ago and it didn't work.

I'm going to drive to my tuner tomorrow and ask him to unlock it.. since he locked it.

[Mr. Smith]

Curious..
Would it be okay (as in; plug in, turn key, start engine) if I swapped my PCM for another used one? Or will I run into problems (such as Licence, less Credits, new PCM refusing to work with my car/LS1...) from entering my Application Key in my existing setup?


Furious.

[schpenxel]

You can read and log another PCM without having to license anything. You can't flash the new one without licensing it, though.

So, just depends what you want to do...

[Mr. Smith]

You can read and log another PCM without having to license anything. You can't flash the new one without licensing it, though.

So, just depends what you want to do...

Thanks man.
I'm still a bit confused though.
Did I already license this current PCM of mine by entering the Application Key in it???
And if I did license it, can I just enter in my App.Key into the new PCM and all will be good?
Bit of a brainfart
I'm thinking.. I'll be able to scan/tune an unlimited amount of LS1's with my 6 (8) Credits.. so why would it (License) matter anyway?

Oh yeah and what I want to do is..
- Switch my PCM for another (unlocked one)
- Scan/tune my car and maybe 1 or 2 more LS1's in future
- Choose that "unlimited amount of LS1's for 6 Credits" option

[schpenxel]

Application key just tells the interface how many credits you've paid for basically. Using them is a totally different thing

can I just enter in my App.Key into the new PCM and all will be good?

Not sure what you mean here, but no.. once you license a particular vehicle/ECM those credits are gone, can't use the same credits for another ECM on the same car

I'm not very familiar with the 6 credit option to unlock all LS1's (I've only really dealt with gen 4 stuff) so I'm assuming if you decide to go that route then you'll be able to tune all the LS1's you want without having to pay any more

You can log all the vehicles you want, no licenses are needed at all for that.

Normally it's 2 credits per vehicle and changing the ECM out will constitute a new vehicle (requires 2 more credits) but if you have unlimited then I don't think that will apply