QSC8.3 CM554 CAPS - How to get .xcal file

[Rawze]

(03-06-2025 )J99 Wrote:  Trying to reflash now with CT 5.16 (after uploading the .xcal file from the ECM, which worked OK, trying to reflash with it back), the reflash fails after around 6 seconds ...

on pre-2007 stuffs, YOU CANNOT FLASH BACK IN, A FILE THAT YOU COPIED OUT OF THE ECM!!!! --- THE COPY-OUT PROCESS CORRUPTS THE FILE!!!!. YOU CAN READ IT, VIEW IT, AND EVEN EDIT IT... BUT YOU CANNOT FLASH IT BACK IN!!!. ONLY INCAL FILES SHOULD BE USED TO FLASH AN OLD GTIS-2x or GTIS-3X ECM, UNLESS YOU KNOW HOW TO hex-edit and REMOVE THE CORRUPTION IN THE COPIED-OUT FILE!!!!!!.. The result is an unstable ecm. Anything from (one or more of...) possible rom-booted, possibly bricked, to maybe vehicle dash not working, maybe to sensors not reading, maybe memory issues, maybe engine running rough, and/or other unpredictable outcomes.

(03-09-2025 )collinthomson1 Wrote:  I had a similar problem replaced ...

some info on flashing those old ecm's ...

Those old GTIS-3.x products of yester-year are finicky, just like the older CM870 ISX's.

They like to rom-boot if things are not done in very specific ways. They will rom-boot if you try to put a copied file in them. They have lots of issues when flashing them and are quirky as all h#ell.

Working with them requires a proper rom-boot bench harness + using the correct procedures for when you make mistakes and cause it to end up rom-booted (or if it becomes completely bricked).

And if the ECM is more than 8-to-10+ years, old then it is a crap-shoot to flash one any ways ... as the flash and other memory wears out in them after so many years. They become stubborn and unstable, or da#$mn near impossible to re-flash properly when they are many years old.

It is also not uncommon to have to use CT version 3.17 on them, as it is about the only version out there that will not corrupt those old GTIS3x ecm's. Even so, if your working with a file that was copied out of the ecm... you should not try to flash it back in at all.. as it will be corrupted (due to the copy-out process itself) anyways.