Reading EWS

S

SeanConnor

Member
 South West (Swindon)
Gang,
I have bought an AK90+ key programmer and a cheap EWS module from eBay to practise with. After some faffing about I have managed to read the EWS and read keys etc. Now doing this to my 'live' EWS unit fills me with a far from warm fuzzy feeling. Ie dropping the unit out of the car and attacking the MPU with a cheap bit of Chinese tat. I have visions of a 'bricked' EWS unit and a car that will not start. I can just see the smug faces at the stealers as I tow it in , tail between legs.

So my question is: Is there any way to read the EWS and dump the bin file via the OBD2 so that I can export it into the AK90+ software ?
I have just installed all the usual BMW programming utilities to a laptop and have a K/Dcan cable. Will any of the tools read the module and dump the hex to a suitable file ?

I'm a micro-electronics engineer so not a complete numpty with these things (but a complete numpty with lots of others :-) )

Thanks in advance

Sean
 
SeanConnor said:
Gang,
I have bought an AK90+ key programmer and a cheap EWS module from eBay to practise with. After some faffing about I have managed to read the EWS and read keys etc. Now doing this to my 'live' EWS unit fills me with a far from warm fuzzy feeling. Ie dropping the unit out of the car and attacking the MPU with a cheap bit of Chinese tat. I have visions of a 'bricked' EWS unit and a car that will not start. I can just see the smug faces at the stealers as I tow it in , tail between legs.

So my question is: Is there any way to read the EWS and dump the bin file via the OBD2 so that I can export it into the AK90+ software ?
I have just installed all the usual BMW programming utilities to a laptop and have a K/Dcan cable. Will any of the tools read the module and dump the hex to a suitable file ?

I'm a micro-electronics engineer so not a complete numpty with these things (but a complete numpty with lots of others :-) )

Thanks in advance

Sean
Click to expand...

Hi Sean,

Nope - there's no way to do it via OBD as far as I know - at least, not without thousands of pounds worth of hardware. Removing the EWS itself is easy, and as long as you're careful, you're unlikely to brick anything.

The AK90 software will prompt you to SAVE the .bin file once it's finished reading it. You can then flash that .bin file to ANY EWS module, plug it back into the car and it will work - I must point out though, there is a set of "rules" to follow so that the key sync and DME etc is not out of sync -- for example, if you're going to clone the EWS, don't then reconnect the original EWS module and start the car - because then the clone is out of sync regarding the rolling codes of the transponder etc, although that can still be fixed via ISTA or another decent OBD tool (C310+ for example)

Bottom line though is no. You need to use the AK90+ on the EWS directly. I found that scratching the MCU pins with a blade GENTLY helped remove the glue gunk that coats the PCB, and then just apply some pressure and hold it in place when reading/writing the EWS.

I've coded loads of keys for other people now over the last year - I've never bricked a single one. I very recently had an issue with my own car not starting which is now resolved, however during my testing, I cloned the EWS to rule out a duff unit, hence how I Know it's possible to clone it etc. So as long as you have a valid dump from the EWS you should be safe... and you can't brick it by reading the data to dump it so it's all good
 
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