Zeroes in BIN after burn to 29C256

jeepguy553 · Post by **jeepguy553** » Fri Apr 23, 2004 4:15 pm

I have noticed that I can sometimes read the chip that I know I just programmed and ran in the Jeep and it will read random zeroed and other strange numbers throughout the tables, most notably the Main Spark Table...and it makes me screw up a perfectly good BIN if I don't catch it.
Any ideas?

jeepguy553 · Post by **jeepguy553** » Fri Apr 23, 2004 5:06 pm

BTW...this is happening AFTER the swap-over to Win 98SE.

SPOOLD U · Post by **SPOOLD U** » Wed Jan 25, 2006 10:11 pm

This happens to me with my ostrich as well sometimes. From what i can tell, it seems to be some sort of driver or hardware issue with the serial to USB adapter. I foundthat when it starts screwing up i can unplug it, close the software, plug it back in, and open the software back up, and it'll usually start working again.

Post by **dex** » Thu Jan 26, 2006 1:39 am

Do you perform a chip erase before programming?

Post by **Mangus** » Thu Jan 26, 2006 8:41 pm

SPOOLD U wrote:This happens to me with my ostrich as well sometimes. From what i can tell, it seems to be some sort of driver or hardware issue with the serial to USB adapter. I foundthat when it starts screwing up i can unplug it, close the software, plug it back in, and open the software back up, and it'll usually start working again.

Interesting. This is the first I've heard of such an issue with the Ostrich. I'm pretty sure the chip issue described isn't caused by that, but now you have me concerned about the Ostrich and driver issues...

SPOOLD U · Post by **SPOOLD U** » Thu Jan 26, 2006 8:46 pm

Mangus wrote:
SPOOLD U wrote:This happens to me with my ostrich as well sometimes. From what i can tell, it seems to be some sort of driver or hardware issue with the serial to USB adapter. I foundthat when it starts screwing up i can unplug it, close the software, plug it back in, and open the software back up, and it'll usually start working again.
Interesting. This is the first I've heard of such an issue with the Ostrich. I'm pretty sure the chip issue described isn't caused by that, but now you have me concerned about the Ostrich and driver issues...

yeah, I struggled with this at first when i plugged it in to use, i thought i was doing something wrong. I played with some com port options and managed to get it to happen less often, but it still happens. I am pretty sure the serial to USB conversion is the culprit, as I have experienced similar issues with other things on that. AEM EMS for example have lots of problems with USB to serial adapters, and at a friend of mine's shop we had a lot of problems using one for the dyno equipment.

the basic outline of what was going on with me... I plugged in the ostrich, and loaded a bin.. fired up the car, and it ran, but something unrelated was wrong and i had to shut it off. I fixed what was wrong (had something unplugged) and tried a different bin. car ran like crap. would shut off after a few seconds. I tried to load another bin. Every time i tried to load a bin the car would run like crap and hardly run, no matter what bin i loaded. finally i decided to pull the bin to take a look. to my surprise, i did a compare and found a LOT of 0s that seemed almost randomly placed, though, it was consistant, in these same "random" places, every transfer. I unplugged/plugged back in the ostrich, and played with the com port settings, and after a while had it working fairly smoothly. I still run into this problem about once per tuning session. Usually solved by closing the program, unplugging the ostrich, and plugging it back in, and re-starting the program. My ostrich is brand new. I was using Tunerpro RT, but the same error was happeneing with another program as well. the fact that it happened the same under different programs is what leads me to the idea of driver issue. the computer is running windows 2000 professional, with no updates i believe.

Post by **Mangus** » Thu Jan 26, 2006 9:12 pm

It could also be a USB cable issue. I've seen that before. Do you have a different cable you can try?

SPOOLD U · Post by **SPOOLD U** » Thu Jan 26, 2006 9:33 pm

I am pretty sure I have another cable around here somewhere, i will give that a try. You've seen a USB cable cause that problem before? The cable is the new one that came with the ostrich. seems wierd it could be DOA, but i guess it's possible.

Post by **Mangus** » Thu Jan 26, 2006 9:34 pm

Yeah, it would be strange. Other potential causes are USB bus issues with the particular computer you're using, and contention between the ECM and Ostrich (which shouldn't be the case if your Ostrich is brand new).

SPOOLD U · Post by **SPOOLD U** » Tue Apr 04, 2006 10:54 pm

changed cables, made sure port was config'd properly, and the problem is still there. I'm convinced it's a driver issue.

Post by **Mangus** » Wed Apr 05, 2006 4:59 am

What OS? Did you try uninstalling the driver completely (there is an uninstall app for it, or you can uninstall it from the device manager and manually remove the driver files from the Windows\System (or System\32) folder) and re-install?

I hate to mention it perhaps prematurely, but it could be a bad Ostrich, too. Not as likely, but possible.

SPOOLD U · Post by **SPOOLD U** » Mon Apr 24, 2006 12:49 am

running windows 2000 pro. I have uninstalled and re-installed the drivers several times and set up the com ports exactly as the read-me says.

I certainly hope it's not a bad ostrich. I've had such bad luck in the last year with being sent dead on arrival parts.