E38 Locked? $FFFF

[SBTuner]

Hello all, I have experienced a locked ECM twice recently that I am puzzled about. Both came from a powertrain supplier famous for allot of hot rod conversions. I know that they typically use LS2Edit so I assumed that the ECM's were locked by default. However when I went to read the first vehicle I found that I had to use alternate keys and used the $FFFF where I was then allowed to work with the cal.

I then had an E38 ECM shipped to me with a 2008 Corvette cal. I could not read this unit without also entering the alt key $FFFF. I proceeded to check all the checksums with GM and found everything matched.

I needed to convert this to a 2007 Escalade so I used TIS to flash the ECM which was successful. I then needed to read the cal and again I was denied access until I used the Alt key.

This occurred last night with 7.51 (Build 24)

So my question is was the ECM locked with LS2Edit or was EFILive unable so unlock automatically since the Tech2 had no problem?

I of course will be upgrading EFILive today with the latest release, will this solve the issue?

Regards,

[Blacky]

The seed/key values are stored in the ECM's non-volatile flash memory.

When a tuning package (other than EFILive*) is used to reflash an E38, the area of memory containing the seed/key is erased and reprogrammed. If that memory is not programmed back into the ECM then the seed/key data is left at $FFFF/$FFFF - which is why, when you see a seed of $FFFF you can be pretty sure a key of $FFFF will unlock the controller.

* Obviously, EFILive will need to erase and reprogram the seed/key area when performing an ECM lock/unlock. But EFILive will never erase the seed/key when simply reprogramming the ECM.

The reason the seed/key values become $FFFF is because $FFFF is the value that all data is set to when the chip is erased.

I believe the tech2 automatically tries $FFFF as the key to bypass the erase bug/problem. When using EFILive, you should check the Try alt keys check box. The only eason we made it an option was to save time when you know it is not required. The Try alt keys check box also tries known (non-GM-standard) keys.

Regards
Paul

[SBTuner]

Hello Paul, thanks for the info. So should I just check the tick box and not enter anything in the box?

When I went to read the ECM the 1st time, I believe I saw the seed as something other than $FFFF

Thanks again!

Regards,