MicroSquirt.com read only forum (Jan.15,2018)

how easy is it to fry microsquirt? I was able to get our computer to talk to the microsquirt on the bench. Now that we wired most of the sensors into it I tried to talk to it again and no such luck. We tested 12v at the amp seal plug and there is power going to the serial connector. We have a usb to serial converter that we thought it might be the problem. We then tested it with an a V3 megasquirt and it worked fine. Any suggestions? We had a short at first when wiring up microsquirt, could that have fried microsquirt. Is there any tests I could do to see if some part of microsquirt has been fried?

The first thing I would do is put the micro back on the bench under exactly the same conditions as when it worked: same PC, cables etc. If it works, then look at what is different between the bench and in-car install. If it doesn't, then try reflashing the code. The units are resistant to crossed power leads, and generally won't be damaged. But damage can occur by, for example, putting 12 V to one of the port pins or putting 5 V to and output pin that is in the low state.

I am using the same computer/usb to serial converter as in the test bench so that rules out that part. Microsquirt does get warm when we give it 12V power so i know its getting power. I'll try the bootloader

we tried thge boot loader and was sucessful in eraseing the old code and re-writing the new code. We still can't connect

phazer wrote:we tried thge boot loader and was successful in erasing the old code and re-writing the new code. We still can't connect

If you can connect with the Bootloader application, erase code and reload new code, then the success of this operation means that the MicroSquirt is alive and that the serial port connection is working.

Are you sure the unit is not connecting to MegaTune? When you first connect, you need to set the ECU type, otherwise the gauges and menus will look all greyed-out. Is the RPM gauge jumping from 0 to 8000 and back-forth?

- Bruce

I am just judging my useing the port checker under the communications menu. When I test the com port that microsquirt is plugged into I get no response. Granted only on this port it takes a couple seconds before it says no response. On other ports it goes right to no response. All the gauges remain all reded out with no numbers in them. Does the bootloader program know if its connected to microsquirt? or does i just send out commands blindly. You say that since I was able to sucessfully reflash the code that I was connected?

phazer wrote:Does the bootloader program know if its connected to microsquirt? or does i just send out commands blindly. You say that since I was able to sucessfully reflash the code that I was connected?

If the MicroSquirt is not connected up correctly while you are running the bootloader, it will be very evident - there will not be any activity and you will get several error messages. To see, run the bootloader without the uS connected, you will see what I mean.....

If you have another PC to try, it would be helpful..

- Bruce

I've tried two different computers with two different usb-serial conectors. One of the two computers was the one I was able to connect with on the bench. The two computers are a regular laptop running XP and a Hercules EBX PC104 board running windows 2000. Could I be something in the little min stereo jack to serial plug?. Since you say I must have connection to reflash the code, then it makes no sense that I can't get it to connect in megatune... If it has to do with the serial to usb converter drivers, then I shouldn't have been able to connect to reflash the code. I'll try a third computer tomorrow, third time's a charm....

Even if I have some setting in megatune wrong or the wrong .ini file activated I should still be able get the connection test to say sucess right? When I first got it to connect I had the wrong .ini file activated so It gave me an error and I couldn't use megatune, but i was till able to get a sucessful connection

When you first connect to MT what do the guages look like: are they all pink, does the rpm swing between 0 and 8000 rpm ? can you load an msq file ? Do you get any messages from MT ?

I am having a similiar problem.

I tried using port checker to find microsquirt and it did not find the microsquirt. However I notice that I am able to flash the microsquirt with or without the jumper connected . (strange)

I tried flashing it with and without the bootloader jumpered and it reported that 4 files skipped and 1429 records written.

It seems it is in a continous bootloader mode . This might be the reason why I can't connect to the controller.

Help again please