I am new to this so please help me out I seriously don't know how to open tunercat after I down loaded it or even If I have it in the right spot some one here hopfully has the time to explain what I am doing wrong.

 

Read the post a few lines down called "Questions about TunerCat" by TruePower.

 

The post mentioned by Glenn has been deleted at the original poster's request.

What are you having problems with? Are you having problems with the install or having problems viewing a BIN?

Tim

------------------
TRAXION's 1990 IROC-Z
Best Time = 12.244 @ 112.51mph (1.778 60' / 7.819@88.32mph in the 1/8)
All Natural. No Force. No Drugs. Stock Bottom End. Stock Body Panels.
Gunning for NA 11's with bigger cam, bigger stall, and bigger exhaust.
-=ICON Motorsports=-
Moderator: PROM board at thirdgen.org

 

Traxion, this question seems to come up a lot. Maybe it is time for another archive on this question "How do I make the TunerCat demo work"?

88, since that post was deleted, to test the demo you need the following:

A BIN for the 42.TDF. The TunerCat demo only gives you the 42.TDF. A .TDF is a definition file to read a particular type of ecm's BIN. You car would use the 32.TDF or 32B.TDF (not really up on my MAF cars). Most people convert to the 6E.TDF as it is better defined.

A BIN is the actual code from the eprom. You can get one from ftp.dyi_efi.org/incoming and go to the 747 folder and grap a bin. The 747 is the ecm that uses the 42.TDF. The "42" is the ECM ID Code in the BIN file that comes from the eprom used by the 747 ecm, hence its name.

Grab a BIN for the 747 at the site I listed above, open it, and the TunerCat demo will display all the tables defined for that ecm.

Unfortunately, those tables are not the same tables as your ecm (32B). You can either purchase the software outright or just the 32B.TDF from TunerCat to test it on your car. Talk to them nicely and they might even waive it, though they probably won't as you would now have an unregisterd TDF. But it's worth a shot. All they can say is "No".

 

well I down loded the softwear but, I can't open it any way at all I am having the same problem with gmpro I don't know where to put the file or what will open them

 

Did you unzip it and then execute the setup file that TunerCat creates? Explain FULLY what you have done and what state your are at. Have you got TunerCat actually loaded onto your system and able to actually run it?

Your not giving us enough information of what phase you are at? Do you have Winzip on your system? If not, you need it to unzip it first, then you can run the "Setup.exe" that the unzip creates, which loads TunerCat and creates a directory called CATS in Programs.

 

you already helped so much you don't even know I did not even relize I forgot to unzip it. even the comp. tells me that I need to well, I feel stupid now

 

No problem, you probably don't have Winzip so it didn't automatically unzip it. Most of us have Winzip (or something similar) so it doesn't occur to most of us that you need Winzip. Goto www.winzip.com and grab Winzip Version 8.0. They "like" you to register it, but all it does is "nag" you if you don't. It continues to work.

I always "extract" the TunerCat.zip file to a temporary file and then exectue the "setup.exe" file.

 

ok thanks for the help so far but, I need plenty more I got the zip and got tuner cat to load but, after I get past the "do you agree" stuff I get to a screen that says tunner cat and at the top it has some icons along with the file one so now that I am there I presume I need a file to read right? but, how do I get it from the pocket programmer buffer to this program disk??? I know you said I will need bin 747 and may wan't to switch mine to 6e.tdf. can I still do stuff with out these? I have a chip for an 89 350 with vats but, I would like to eliminate vats first and then get to the rest later so I can at lest have this in my car for now.

 

In a word no. Like my earlier post said, you either need a BIN for the 7747 ecm from this site ftp://ftp.diy-efi.org/pub/gmecm/bins/1227747/ or you could buy the correct TDF file for your car, or the correct TDF file for the 1989 eprom.

Without doing one of those, TunerCat just stares at you looking silly.

 

I went to this site and did not see any thing that said 7747 but, being bins listed in there for 7747 i down loaded the first one I saw.

 

I saved you the effort and put you straight to the 7747 directory. Just grab a BIN or two.

Still, it is not the correct TDF for your car, so you won't see all the tables that are unique to your car (like the MAF tables), but it does show you its capabilities.

I suggest clicking on the "Help" on the pull down menu and select "TunerCat Help"...read the instructions. There are some pretty interesting tricks, especially dealing with the graphs and rotating the 3D ones.

Also make a few changes and save it under a new name, and then try comparing it to the original to show you "just" the differences.

There are a few neat features that you need to read about first to know that you can even do it.

Have fun.

 

Thanks a ton!

 

Perhaps a little off topic, but that's where I find myself. I've read some discussion of this and I'm considering this conversion ($32B, here), but don't see any real benefit. My cold start injector system works extremely well, and I rarely do any work where its absence would be that big a convenience, so what other advantages are there? You say "better defined" - what do you mean by that?


------------------
'87 IROC 5.7l TPI - original owner!

 

today tunercat sent me the file ECM_32b and stated that after I unzipped it send it to C:\programfiles\Cats\Tuner\. and it would work in demo mode I put it in the same folder as tunercat but, It does not work. I thought it was in demo mod but, nothing what am I doing wrong?

 

That is the correct directory that they give you. The unzipped file should be something like "ECM_32B.TDF" within the directory that TunerCat said.

Also, you must change the "ECM" on the main menu of TunerCat from the ECM 42 to ECM 32B. You will see that on the top tool bar when you first fire up TunerCat.

So, are you saying TunerCat let you have the 32B to try with your demo? Now isn't that nice of them. Told you they were great people to deal with.

 

yes they are nice people! Infact when I get this program to work I am almost 100% sure I will buy it from them. they seem to care what goes on.

 

I just tryed it again but, I see where the ecm is supposed to be switchable at the top of the tool bar owever it is not darkened like file is. so I tryed loading it through the file but I only get
"bad run time error 63" I must have it all messed up right?

 

Try reinstalling TunerCat again and then unzip the TDF into the directory that TunerCat said.

 

YES, I finally got the darn thing to load! thanks again. I still have one little bug and that is I tryed to load a 87 tpi file and It said I needed an $ff file? I thought the 86-88 used the same but, I very well may be wrong perhaps 86-87 is 32 and 88 is 32b. and If I switch to 89 can I turn vats off as easly as gmpro? I don't care about the cold start inj.

 

I got it to take the 32b ecm file but, When I tried to load a 87 tpi file it said I need an $ff definition file

 

?

 

88,

The '87 bin is 32B. If tunercat is saying that you need a $FF then the bin you have is corrupted. Get another '87 bin and try the new one.

Tim

------------------
TRAXION's 1990 IROC-Z
Best Time = 12.244 @ 112.51mph (1.778 60' / 7.819@88.32mph in the 1/8)
All Natural. No Force. No Drugs. Stock Bottom End. Stock Body Panels.
Gunning for NA 11's with bigger cam, bigger stall, and bigger exhaust.
-=ICON Motorsports=-
Moderator: PROM board at thirdgen.org

 

Thanks

 

...Still fishing for an explanation. You say "better defined" - what do you mean by that?



------------------
'87 IROC 5.7l TPI - original owner!

 

"Better defined", means because the 6E (89) has been better hacked, it has more of its features (Constants and tables) defined within the definition file. Thus you have more "things" to play with.

Of course not EVERYTHING is fully defined in the tables and constants. So if you want to adjust that (should you be aware of it through a "hack"), you either have to manually set the bits/bytes in the BIN or (in TunerCats case) use TDF Editor and define it yourself.

Also, the 89 ecm (6E) does not use the cold start injector.

 

Thanks, Glenn.

One thing I do want to do is increase the idle speed (one setting while AC is off and one while it's on), but I'll wait until TC comes out with a revised TDF for that

------------------
'87 IROC 5.7l TPI - original owner!

 

It should be adjustable. You should grab the $32B hack to find the addresses of where this parameter is. You can get a free trial download of TDF Editor to modify you $32B TDF so you can adjust it or just wait till TunerCat makes it a part of the standard 32B.TDF.

It is already in the $8D (SD ecm), but that is of little use to you, other than confirming that it is possible and TunerCat will eventually get to it.

Should co-ordinate with other $32 adn $32B ecm users to "pool" knowledge.