[obardain]

So I recently purchased the Carly gen ii adaptor and app, and was able to successfully perform some coding,
However when I went to code the Footwell module for the lights, the app told me there was critical faults in the module and would not let me code.
I was thinking my LUX angel eyes or my LED side markers ould be the culprit so I emailed carly,
Got a pretty detailed response, I thought it might be interesting to some of you..

Hi

Unfortunately some FRM2 and FRM3 modules (produced from ca. 2008 – 2012) have a rare firmware fault. If you see this message in the app when trying to code the FRM, the app has found critical faults in your FRM. As a consequence the app does not allow coding of your FRM:
“Critical faults detected, please contact FRM@mycarly.com”

If the app hadn’t blocked coding of your FRM, your FRM would be completely unresponsive now. This would result in a complete failure of exterior and interior lighting, turn signals, window and mirror controls. Repairing an unresponsive FRM (also known as “bricked” FRMs) costs hundreds of Euros and takes several days.
If you’re interested in more details, please click here.

Which FRMs get broken:
Unfortunately some FRM2 and FRM3 modules (produced from ca. 2008 – 2012) have a rare firmware fault. The app checks the firmware of the ECU for this specific fault and blocks coding of these modules if necessary.
In these cases, the following message is displayed within the app when trying to code the FRM:
“Critical faults detected, please contact FRM@mycarly.com”

Only the following models have an FRM2 or FRM3 modules installed:
• 1 series (E8x) 2008 or later
• 3 series (E9x) 2008 or later
• X1 (E84) all build years
• X5 (E7x) all build years
• X6 (E7x) all build years
• Z4 (E89) all build years
• Mini (R55 or newer) all build years

In rare cases older models have FRM2 or FRM3 modules installed as well. This can be the case, if an FRM2 or FRM3 has been retrofitted.
If the following codings are available for your car within the app, your car has an FRM2 or FRM3 installed:
• Welcome lights Key 1
• Welcome lights Key 2
• Welcome lights Key 3
• Welcome lights Key 4

Effects of an unresponsive FRM:
If the app hadn’t stopped the coding, your foot well module (FRM) would now be unresponsive. This has the following effects on the car:
• Complete failure of interior lighting
• Complete failure of window controls
• Complete failure of mirror controls
• Complete failure of turn signals
• Complete failure of high beams and flasher
• Complete failure of welcome lights
• Complete failure of adaptive cornering lights (if installed)


Repairing the car:
There are generally two ways of repairing the car after the FRM has become unresponsive:

1. Replacing the FRM:
• A used FRM costs ca. 150€ - 300€ (depending on the variant of the module). Replacing the module yourself roughly takes 1 – 2 hours.
• A new FRM can only be installed by a professional garage, since it needs to be initialized and adapted to the car. Replacing the FRM (including costs for the new FRM itself) takes 1 – 2 days and costs between 350€ - 700€ depending on the garage and FRM variant.

2. Restoring the FRM via PC:
Removing, restoring and the re-installing the restored module takes ca. 2 – 3 hours. Special hard- and software is needed though.
Cause of the FRM fault:
Some FRM2 and FRM3 modules with very specific firmware-versions develop a fault in the boot sector after multiple years of usage. As a result, the FRM cannot restart, once it has been shut down completely. In order to load the new codings though the FRM needs to be restarted after coding. If it is not restarted the newly coded options will not be loaded by the FRM.
Carly for BMW checks this boot sector (ONLY READING!) among other parameters within the FRM before coding. The app cannot write to this boot sector. This is also the reason why it is not possible to restore this boot sector with the app. The app only takes a look at this boot sector and decides afterwards if it is safe to continue coding this module.
The FRM does not store faults in its own fault memory for this error, since it does not realize it is faulty on its own. For this reason, a seemingly fault-free FRM can be affected by this critical fault. Since the fault lies within the FRM module itself, the same thing will also happen while coding via PC.

How have we figured this out?
In order to figure this out, we’ve worked very closely with ECU-developers and learned a lot about ECU development. During the whole time we’ve had assistance from companies from Switzerland and USA and many experts in Germany in order to analyze FRMs.
Based on a tip, we’ve bought many used FRMs from this period for multiple thousands of Euros. Using special equipment used for ECU-development, we created complete backups of each module (including the boot sector) and coded the modules via PC until they could not start anymore. This way we were able to figure out the exact moment when the FRM will break and implemented this advanced FRM check into the app. No other program or app has such an extensive and specific check for coding.
Can I still somehow code my critical FRM?
If the app classifies your FRM as “critical”, the probability that your FRM will break during the next few codings is very high. We strongly advise against coding critical FRMs, no matter the program or device! Other modules can still be coded, this warning only applies to your FRM.
If you still wish to code your FRM with Carly for BMW, please send us a log directly from within the app to Coding@mycarly.com to get your personalized unlock code. If you enter this unlock code before coding, the app will allow you to code your FRM against all of our warnings.

In case you already sent us a log, here is your unlock code:
log not yet received


Kind regards
David

[adriang]

I'm in the same boat as you. I did some coding, but when it came to the FRM coding I was stopped before proceeding and it notified me that "Carly has found severe faults in your FRM and has therefore NOT coded your FRM".

I don't have any problems with my lights, window, mirrors etc... would it mean my FRM is on its way out in the near future?

[AK.]

I did coding for the FRM module with Carly and it didn't warn me... My FRM got bricked couple days later when I unplugged the battery to do RB PCV. Sounds completely unrelated but it happened right after that.

[TrollToll]

It sounds like neither of you read the entire first post. Read it and the answers to your questions are hidden inside.

[Jozy]

unfortunately the frm is very tricky. if carly says it's risky then don't do it.

don't code a risky frm... because once it's bricked, you would be in for a lot of trouble.
from removing it from the car to hooking up pins to sourcing the eeprom dump to writing it yada yada

[matteblue3er]

This is only an issue when coding with Carly. Having coded hundreds of FRM modules myself, I can say I have NEVER had any issues coding them. This is regardless of model year or chassis (E8x, E9x, E7x, etc)

If you code the FRM with NCS, you will not have any issues.

The battery disconnect issue with FRM failure is a known issue and there is a service bulletin about it. I'm guessing it has to do with a load dump that causes the FRM to fail when disconnecting/connecting battery power.

[Jozy]

Yeah I noticed that carly codes the frm differently.

ncs takes a while to code the entire frm. i think carly only writes in the different values from the original.