1998 Dodge Viper "Write Failed"

[mourat]

Hopefully someone can help. After receiving a brand new HP Tuners MPVI2 cable and using the latest firmware to perform the flash. We were able to read the file off the car successfully, and received an updated file with a tune from a reputable tuner. However upon loading the new file, the write process failed about 45% into flashing. The car will not start / respond to anything.

We tried to disconnect battery, pull fuses etc.. But looks like the ECU may be bricked? This is the first flash attempt ever, and things looked like they were going smooth until the write fail happened.

Hoping someone with experience can shed some light as to next steps. These ECUs cost $3k to replace, and honestly I'm not confident flashing one after this if there is no easy fix. I've tuned hundreds of cars in the past, ranging from LT1s, Hellcats, C7s etc.. No issues until this. I know in the LT1 world, there was a way to "chip" the ECUs in the event flash failed and bricked the ECU. Is there a way to do something similar with these?

Another question, does anyone know if an ECU from a 99 Viper will work in place of a 98? It seems they are different service models, but those years had no changes in engine specs etc..

Thank you so much in advance!

[06300CSRT8]

man lots of people reporting failed writing with the latest beta and standard vcm suites. hopefully HP engineers are taking note.

[Tobbe1]

made a bench wiringharness /good 12v supply and a good internet connection solved my no "write" Jtec ecu

[drumnbasslvr]

Yes it is true that if you had a weak battery during the flash process, then you may have bricked your PCM. I've been bitten before by this with a Gen 2 Viper flashing with SCT in the past. We've never gotten to the bottom of why Gen 2 Vipers have a horrible battery life, it's all of them in my opinion having seen dozens of them. Safely run a battery tender whilst flashing on the underhood positive terminal and I usually grab ahold of the thermostat area for ground or you can use the ground at the bottom just behind the driver front wheel. Try again to see if pcm is recognized and can be flashed. A replacement PCM I've seen upwards of 1500 bucks. Flash a Vin into it with Snapon scanner as they are usually without VIN. IF it is already VIN flashed then change it with Autel Scanner. They can be unbricked, yet that is beyond me about how it is done. Boils down to about 400 bucks. The legendary Chris Jensen knows the secret to unbricking. I'd share his contact info but he wouldn't like that. Have to find him.

[drumnbasslvr]

found this quote in a other thread here...........

If you have an identical vehicle handy, you can do it. You just plug in the other vehicles pcm to the car you want to fix. Once the flash is loaded, you swap pcm's back and continue with the flash. This gets the correct part number and also, the flash loaded. Once it's loaded, the computer doesn't care and will blow it into anything connected. I've fixed a few bricks this way where the controller was stuck in bootloader mode and wouldn't give a part number when prompted by witech. I've also changed vins and backed up to older software this way.