Few flash scan questions

[Dirk Diggler]

If I have a PCM flashed with a 2001 OS and a 2000 vin will I still be able to tune using flash scan?

If I lose a PCM which is licensed to a vin and I buy anothr PCM do I have to send in any cash to have the new PCM added to the cable, providing the vin stayed the same?

[Blacky]

The terms used by EFILive: "VIN Slots" and "VIN locks" do not actually refer to VINs. The VIN is just an easy way to describe a "unique number that identifies a single vehicle/PCM".
The lock is based on other more "permanent" settings in your PCM.
So it does not matter what your VIN is set to. If it did, we would be shooting ourselves in the foot, because you can use EFILive to change your VIN.

As for losing a PCM, EFILive's reflash process is extremely robust and we do not believe that customers will "lose" PCMs.

A PCM change-over will require the use of a new VIN slot to accommodate the new PCM. We are investigation other options for legitimate PCM changeovers.

Regards
Paul

[jimmyblue]

So does this mean that my spare PCM, which is a dealer
in-car reflash to my vehicle, requires my second "VIN slot"
to be used up if it is to be programmed?

That's not something I will accept. Do I understand this
correctly?

[dissonance]

If I have a PCM flashed with a 2001 OS and a 2000 vin will I still be able to tune using flash scan?

From my understanding this should not be a problem... just remember your editing a 2001 cal and not a 2000, so the VIN should not matter.


If I lose a PCM which is licensed to a vin and I buy anothr PCM do I have to send in any cash to have the new PCM added to the cable, providing the vin stayed the same?

Flashscan comes with two open slots on the cable, this would take up both slots because the 1st pcm would be in slot1 and your replacement pcm would be in the 2nd slot

From my understanding even an extra PCM with the same VIN will need a license on the cable. I’m 99% sure this is how other tuners work i.e. ls1edit and hpturners.

The "vin" of the pcm is very easy to change... so locking only to the VIN will not do much good.

Each PCM has a hardware address that’s unique to it and that’s what the cable locks to. If you know anything about networking it’s kinda like a MAC address of a NIC, each NIC has an MAC address and it hold information about who makes it and provides it with a unique number. A MAC address is sometimes referred to as a hardware address. Now on the other hand a NIC can also has a IP address but that can be changed at anytime. This is the same for IPX and other protocols… so the IP address is like the VIN. Wonder what I do for a living? And the God of Cisco said let there be MAC address so they can have layer 2 switching!

I'm sure Paul will be able to give you more detail on this matter and clear up any confusion I have caused.

[Blacky]

So does this mean that my spare PCM, which is a dealer
in-car reflash to my vehicle, requires my second "VIN slot"
to be used up if it is to be programmed?

That's not something I will accept. Do I understand this
correctly?

If a PCM gets reflashed by the dealer it will continue to work with it's original VIN slot in the FlashScnn cable.

A spare PCM will take an extra VIN slot.
From EFIlive's perspective the "spare" PCM could well be in a "spare" car.

However, I understand what you are saying and we are thinking of ways around the issue of guys wanting to maintain a spare PCM. We may be able to come up with a solution - if we do it will be a fair one. (If you have any suggestions let us know).

Regards
Paul

[Delco]

So does this mean that my spare PCM, which is a dealer
in-car reflash to my vehicle, requires my second "VIN slot"
to be used up if it is to be programmed?

That's not something I will accept. Do I understand this
correctly?

I have 100 spare pcms for my car , should I not accept that I need a slot for each one ???????

A spare is just that , something to get you going IF your original dies , if you had such a unique combo that it could only run with that PCM ( ie a blown 2 bar car or huge cam ) then it would not be a problem to get a tuner or someone on the flashscan team to put your tuned tune into your spare PCM so it could be used as a backup spare - why should you be allowed to tune 2 pcms / 2 cars etc when you have only paid for one ?

[Dirk Diggler]

Cool thanks for all the answers. I case anyone was wondering about my first question regarding the 01 OS with a 00 vin, I have a 00 and I am tuning in SD mode. Because of my 00 OS and cal I have a Secondary ve table that doenst give me the reslolution and access to the cells i need. This table is used in the case of a MAF failure. 01+ cars use the primary table for both sanity checking and maf failure.

I plan on taking my PCM to the dealer and hvaing them flash the vehicle with an 01 OS but I dont plan on running that vin for ever and would change it back to my 00 vin as soon as i was finished getting the flash. I wanted to amke sure there would be no issues with this as i speculate the vin number having something to do with the boot loader and where its located. I may be worng as this is jsut speculation. Someone can correct if i am wrong. Thanks for the responses...

[dissonance]

However, I understand what you are saying and we are thinking of ways around the issue of guys wanting to maintain a spare PCM. We may be able to come up with a solution - if we do it will be a fair one. (If you have any suggestions let us know).

Regards
Paul

how about this:
the 1st time you program the PCM you could have the software save some kind of "married file" so that it has the original cal of the PCM stored in the file with some extra's so the software knows the PCM has been programmed before and then you could use that file to go back to stock and unlock a slot on the cable?

[Dirk Diggler]

Sounds like a good idea. Hypertech does something like that where you cant use it on anything else unless you "go back to stock"

[jimmyblue]

I have one spare and one car; the "spare" is in fact the
original PCM. Reduction to the absurd does not answer
my concern. I am pleased however that the developers
are considering the more realistic practicalities.

For example, I have a non-stock MAF and gears and
other things that would make the car run quite poorly
if I had to revert to a factory tune, and having my
backup PCM good-to-go and safe makes me feel all
warm and happy when I'm reflashing a couple of times
a week (yes, I do). Because recovery from mishap is
a couple of minutes with the nut-driver, not via FedEx
or tow truck.

Maybe you could do something clever, like allow the
vehicle owner some "window" during which they can swap
in a second PCM, have FlashScan verify the vehicle (BCM?)
VIN and the "spare" ID values, and log that as a valid
alternate ID for the vehicle. Like during the first hookup
or something, maybe even lead them through the PCM
swap & unswap? Make something that is reasonable for
a legit user with a spare on hand, but too inconvenient
and limited for cheaters to profit. Though then new users
would have to go get their spare (if wanted) ahead of
time (I bought my spare -after- my first Predator hang).

Or, if you wanted to keep it under more control, you could
have a utility in there that would just "Scan Spare PCM",
put the details in a file to be mailed, and you could send
the user a "spare key" when you judge the results to be
legit. Though this gets into more hand-holding, maybe
us spares-hoarding fools are few enough that it would be
a bearable customer-support burden.






So does this mean that my spare PCM, which is a dealer
in-car reflash to my vehicle, requires my second "VIN slot"
to be used up if it is to be programmed?

That's not something I will accept. Do I understand this
correctly?

I have 100 spare pcms for my car , should I not accept that I need a slot for each one ???????

A spare is just that , something to get you going IF your original dies , if you had such a unique combo that it could only run with that PCM ( ie a blown 2 bar car or huge cam ) then it would not be a problem to get a tuner or someone on the flashscan team to put your tuned tune into your spare PCM so it could be used as a backup spare - why should you be allowed to tune 2 pcms / 2 cars etc when you have only paid for one ?

[ntae]

my understanding is with a new flashscan cable you get 2 vin slots one for your pcm in your car and one for your spare pcm and if you need more you can purchase then online
the way flashscan work it will never lock up a pcm like edit did