Has my Microsquirt died?

[obxer]

I purchased a Microsquirt a while back. Its one from the very first production batch that DIYAutoTune sold. Finally have everything ready to attempt to configure and start the engine. Hopefully this is a newbie "duh" and someone can get me back on my merry way to getting my car started.

I powered the uS the first time about a week ago. I'm running a relay board that I purchased also. The first few times I put power to the uS with everything connected to the RB it cycled the fuel pump on and off briefly as its supposed to. Since then, I've made a few minor changes here and there and ran the fuel pump manually to flush the system, etc.

When I power up now the fuel pump no longer runs. I've also been trying to connect to the uS with a laptop for the first time today (using both MT and the bootloader) and I haven't been able to connect. I've verified that I'm getting power to Pin 1 on the Ampseal and verified that the FP is working when powered directly - jumped pin 8 to ground pin 22 on the RB side of the ampseal and this resulted in the relay and FP kicking in as they should. So it seems the uS is no longer cycling the FP when I power up. I opened the case and everything still looks like new. I've also tried powering up after removing ALL connections from my RB except the FP power out and get the same results. Does this mean my Microsquirt has died or are there other troubleshooting steps to try?

[Bernard Fife]

Allen,

I assume you have also checked the grounds? And the fuses?

Lance.

[obxer]

Lance - Thanks for any suggestions!

The RB fuses and relays are working. I can disconnect the ampseal from the uS and jump pins as mentioned above - simulating the control of FP by the the uS - and the FP cycles as it did previously. I've checked and found that the MS is supplying the Vref power - so it is getting power and it is functioning to some extent. But it doesn't cycle the fuel pump on and off as it did when I first powered it up. I don't know what would have changed to stop the fuel pump cycling other than some sort of failure - I have not been able to connect to the uS with a computer so I haven't been able to change any settings, update code, etc.

Is there some way of forcing a reset or reflash or something similar? I noticed it had some jumper pins on the board.

[Bernard Fife]

Allen,

The first thing is to make sure that the bootloader wire isn't grounded when you are *not* try to flash new code - this will cause exactly the syptoms you describe if the pin is grounded on power-up.

Then, if that is not the problem, try to reflash the code using the donloader (with the bootloader wire from pin#15 grounded at power up). There's additional details here: http://www.megamanual.com/ms2/downl2.htm and the 2.88 code here: http://www.megamanual.com/ms2/code.htm (the donwnloader will fetch the code from the Internet for you if you go to 'files/update').

That will only work if there's a connection though, so it will help us separate comms issues from code issues. So let us know how that goes.

Lance.

[obxer]

Thanks for the help Lance. It seems to be stuck in bootloader mode. This seems to be a known issue - someone else that posted "stuck in bootloader mode" seemed to have the same symptoms I'm having.

I've been emailing Matt and DIYAutoTune and he responded quickly with suggestions and an RMA for returning the unit if needed. So I'll be sending it back in tomorrow. But I'll post what happened here in case its of value to someone having the same problem.

I charged my battery fully before I began working. I'm not sure if that made any difference but I was able to get a connection with the MS II Downloader this time. I can connect with the MS II Downloader and upload and verify code whether the BootLoader lead is grounded or not when powering up. Played with this a bit by repeatedly uploading and verifying against the correct file and verifying against files that did not match and everything worked as expected - other than being able to upload code etc after powering up without grounding the pin. Cycled the uS repeatedly without the BL pin grounded but it always seems to come up in BL mode. The bootloader pin measures 4.86 VDC when not grounded - so there doesn't seem to be any unintended connection to ground.

Can not get a connection with Megatune - except Megatune seems to connect briefly if you attempt to connect immediately after connecting with the MS II Downloader. But I get the error message that is attached.

clip_image002.jpg (18.01 KiB) Viewed 1169 times

I've never been able to make any connection at all with the port checker.

Soooo - we'll wait for another uS and do some cosmetic work, clean up the garage, maybe even do some yard work in the meantime.