Mylink VIN/EEPROM

[stooge]

I finally got around to upgrading my povo pack vf with a sat nav mylink I scored for $200 and of course they are vin locked.
so I figure I will share some info on the eeprom for others to diy vin program with a cheap Chinese programmer.

it is handy to learn about eeproms and have a programmer as you can change dash clusters and mylinks etc that are vin locked by programming your vehicles vin into the cluster/mylink.

ok..
the eeprom for the mylink is located on the bottom of the main board with the 44pin plug its just behind the 44pin plug.

this is the eeprom

it is a ISSI 41283GLA3 and in your eeprom programmer you will want to select this as the target chip IS24C128 - @S0IC8

if your eeprom is different than in the picture google the numbers/letters on the chip and you should find what chip it is and what you need to select in the programmer software.

the vin is stored in plain text and is missing the first number/letter of the vin so it is the last 16 digits of the vin.
in my mylink the offset for the start of the vin is 337 this could be different for you but it is plain text so you can see it and if you have the vin of the vehicle the mylink came from you will know what to look for.

Spoiler: Vin in editor

its best to pull the main board out of the mylink totally.
you will need to provide power to the mainboard to read and write to the eeprom if you cant do that on a testbench you can plug it into the vehicle using the 44 pin plug only or pin 38 is negative and pin 44 is positive.

make sure you do atleast 3 read dumps, so read save1, read save2 and so on.
its best to hash check all three dumps to make sure they all match, this way you know your data is good.

after that its just as simple as opening one of your dumps with a hex editor and placing your vin where the other vehicles vin is and writing back to the eeprom.

with any luck this might save someone else some time as I couldn't find any info about the vf mylink eeprom.
and yes I know most people with a eeprom programmer know most of the things I mentioned here but I figure I should share some more info than just the chip type and location just incase anyone else is learning.

 

[Clay1391]

Good info, but would you be able to delete pandora and add spotify app to the mylink?

 

[chrisp]

I finally got around to upgrading my povo pack vf with a sat nav mylink I scored for $200 and of course they are vin locked.
so I figure I will share some info on the eeprom for others to diy vin program with a cheap Chinese programmer.

it is handy to learn about eeproms and have a programmer as you can change dash clusters and mylinks etc that are vin locked by programming your vehicles vin into the cluster/mylink.

ok..
the eeprom for the mylink is located on the bottom of the main board with the 44pin plug its just behind the 44pin plug.

this is the eeprom

it is a ISSI 41283GLA3 and in your eeprom programmer you will want to select this as the target chip IS24C128 - @S0IC8

if your eeprom is different than in the picture google the numbers/letters on the chip and you should find what chip it is and what you need to select in the programmer software.

the vin is stored in plain text and is missing the first number/letter of the vin so it is the last 16 digits of the vin.
in my mylink the offset for the start of the vin is 337 this could be different for you but it is plain text so you can see it and if you have the vin of the vehicle the mylink came from you will know what to look for.

its best to pull the main board out of the mylink totally.
you will need to provide power to the mainboard to read and write to the eeprom if you cant do that on a testbench you can plug it into the vehicle using the 44 pin plug only or pin 38 is negative and pin 44 is positive.

make sure you do atleast 3 read dumps, so read save1, read save2 and so on.
its best to hash check all three dumps to make sure they all match, this way you know your data is good.

after that its just as simple as opening one of your dumps with a hex editor and placing your vin where the other vehicles vin is and writing back to the eeprom.

with any luck this might save someone else some time as I couldn't find any info about the vf mylink eeprom.
and yes I know most people with a eeprom programmer know most of the things I mentioned here but I figure I should share some more info than just the chip type and location just incase anyone else is learning.

Just to clarify, it sounds like you managed to program the chip in situ (while still on the board). Is this correct?

I see that the WP (write protect) pin is pulled high by a pull up resistor so I can see how it is possible to put it in to program mode. But what I was wondering is how you overcome any conflicts between the programmer and the logic on the board on the data pins during the programming? Is this why you suggest the multiple read-write-check cycles?

It's all fantastic information and thank you for posting.

 

[stooge]

Good info, but would you be able to delete pandora and add spotify app to the mylink?

not through the eeprom, all the eeprom does is act as a spot to "save settings" like the vin at the hardware level.
to modify the apps on the software level you will need to gain access to the firmware files then unpack, modify, and update the mylink through the usb.


I have access to my colorados mylink firmware and have modified that to allow mirrorlink and can mirror my android phone to the mylink but that is a wince based system the vf mylink is a QNX based system so its different.

now I have my old povo pack mylink so I can tinker with it and see what I can find.

 

[stooge]

Just to clarify, it sounds like you managed to program the chip in situ (while still on the board). Is this correct?

yes onboard using the S0IC8 clip.

by putting power to the board it goes into a dormant state and it allows the eeprom to be read/write, I do this on a bench putting 12v into pins 38- and 44+, I find the same with dash clusters.
so because the board is dormant there is no logic to deal with you are just getting the eeprom data.

I do multiple reads and dumps as a precaution to make sure the read I am getting is just the eeprom data as that wont change and I want to make sure I have proper dumps/backups as sometimes the clip slips off a pin while reading and corrupts the read my clip does because its punched I need a new one lol.
I am pretty sure you know if you only have one dump and it is bad and you write that back you don't have an option to recover again so I always get atleast 3 dumps and hash check to make sure everything is solid then I will modify and write back.

 

[delcowizzid]

Nice write up man you should copy the post over to pcmhacking.net we hack anything we can over there lol

 

[stooge]

I am not going to bother with a whole new thread for this I will just post it here...

this is the eeprom for the instrument cluster in the vf commodore.

it is a ST 24C16WT and in the programmer you would select ST24C16 - @SOIC8

the vin is the first 17 bytes of data which is the entire vin.
the power pins in the clusters plug are pin 10 for negative and pin 20 for 12v positive.

 

[treesnake]

I have access to my colorados mylink firmware and have modified that to allow mirrorlink and can mirror my android phone to the mylink but that is a wince based system the vf mylink is a QNX based system so its different.

now I have my old povo pack mylink so I can tinker with it and see what I can find.

Something like this would be awesome
http://www.naviplus.com.au/single-p...-system-with-android-iOS-Smartphone-Mirroring

would it be a difficult thing to do?

 

[stooge]

you will see places offering products that say "integration into mylink" for the vf commodore like that naviplus one but its just a really cool way for them to say we are using the aux audio input and the gvif connection for the top screen of the mylink and switching it using a canbus decoder that detects a long/double press of the mute/end call button.

they are not altering the mylink software they are just using a box to sit between the mylinks base unit and screen, this here is a basic box that allows you to connect rca inputs to the mylink screen
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/322394752483

you can get the same type of thing that has hdmi inputs and android or wince operating systems on them and they also have connections to splice into the wires from the screen for the touch functions so you can control the android box from the touch screen its self.
something like this
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/252591341143

adding this to one of those boxes above would give you the ability to mirror the phone to the mylink, I would go the hdmi box and this one for the best resolution.
http://www.ebay.com.au/itm/252467194329
you should note this is like mirroring to your tv you cant control the phone from the mylink screen it is just used as a display.


the boxes with the hdmi inputs are far better than some over priced $300 box that sends messages on the can to enable dvd playing while driving(VIM) for around the same price you can add hdmi into the mylink and put what ever you like onto the mylink screen.
I have one in my vf with a cheap android tv box connected to it and it will play movies from usb while I drive.

while I have not seen the naviplus device I would suspect it is one of these types of video boxes with a mirrorlink type application running on it and if you have ever used screen mirror on a mobile phone you will know sometimes it can be a pain in the ass when it wants to not work or drop out and just plain mess with you.

 

[treesnake]

you will see places offering products that say "integration into mylink" for the vf commodore like that naviplus one but its just a really cool way for them to say we are using the aux audio input and the gvif connection for the top screen of the mylink and switching it using a canbus decoder that detects a long/double press of the mute/end call button.

Yes looks like that what they provide for $700-$800 aah

I dont have sat nav or DVD options in my sv6, would I need to get one of these units like you did to be able to connect to the car screen?

i.e does the stock vf mylink have gvif connections ?