My IPK swap saga.

I guess I am like any other average Rover 75 owner, always looking for the next mod to do.



I decided I wanted to upgrade my Instrument Pack to a message centre, my excuse being that I needed the digital speed display.



Easy I thought, just buy a second hand unit and put my EEPROM into it, a couple of changes with the help of a BMW scanner and that would be it.



New unit and scanner arrived so set to work.



First step was to connect scanner to original unit and save the IKE settings, no problem there.



Remove unit from car and strip down for access to EEPROM, easy job.



Remove EEPROM from board, I thought it was glued on as it just wouldn't come off, some advice from Phil-T4 got me through that problem.



Next job strip the new unit, taking great care not to damage the ribbon cable for the display.



Removed the EEPROM, quite easy this time, but no markings on it at all, not even a pin 1 mark of any kind, again help from forum put me right.



Soldered original EEPROM onto new board.



Re-assembled unit and fitted to car.



Read EEPROM, all OK, changed a couple of settings and wrote back, arghhhhhh, EEPROM corrupted.



Wrote back original file and everything back as it was, phew.



Tried again, same thing, only this time the original would not write back, I tried many times but to no avail.



After a few days of failed attempts I began to wonder what I could have done wrong, the only thing I could think of was that my soldering was at fault, now I have been soldering components onto circuit boards for many years (as a hobbyist) and never had a problem, but as this was my first attempt with SMD I figured I had better check.



I removed the unit, stripped it down and re-soldered the EEPROM.



Put everything back together and this time it was OK, well almost, my recorded mileage jumped up by over 500,000, since changing the readout to KPH the mileage has gone to -255,000.



My EEPROM is corrupted, probably by my failed attempts to re-program when I had faulty soldered joints.



Currently I have a car I can use and I have a message centre with digital KPH displayed, I do however need a visit for a T4 session to correct the mileage, I am told that it's OK to drive until I can get that done.



So anybody that is contemplating the same, if you are not 100% sure of your soldering skills then leave it too the experts :)



All the way through the saga Phil-T4 has been there to advise me, without him I would have been in big trouble, thanks Phil :)

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