Any interest in guide to doing ISTEP update yourself?

[Chgu]

A few weeks back, after being told (yet again) that there wasn't an update for a 2.0 Supra, I finally decided that I'd just update the car myself. Back in my BMW days, I'd acquired one of those OBD to ethernet cables, and had set up virtual machines to be able to do everything. It turns out that there's a little bit of a process with the Toyota Techstream side, but you can actually just get a 2-day license for like $65 and go through the process. Obviously most people on here have been using the remote flashing option, but in case some of you want to save a few bucks or don't want to let people remote control your stuff, I could maybe walk through the process and/or share a VirtualBox image that works.

Obviously, the same warnings would apply compared to having someone do it remotely. Namely that you need a constant charge, a power supply for the laptop, and some patience.

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[JP_]

This would be super useful, does this cover stuff like the recall update too?

Thinking about sticking an aftermarket amp in, and the dealerships round here don't seem to know how to update the car without the original amp connected, so being able to do it myself would get me out of any issues there

 

[zrk]

so being able to do it myself would get me out of any issues there

No it won't, ISTEP will stop you.

 

[Chgu]

There is the option to mess around with the “action plan” when doing the update, but that’s further than I’d be willing to go. Let me see if I can scrounge up the links again and write up the step by step.

 

[JP_]

No it won't, ISTEP will stop you.

There's no way to bypass particular units when running an update, all or nothing only?

--edit, just saw the above. So, probably.

 

[zrk]

There's no way to bypass particular units when running an update, all or nothing only?

--edit, just saw the above. So, probably.

It's possible that it's possible, but when you walk into the dealer to order a replacement ECU because you botched the ISTEP... lol.

 

[Chgu]

Okay, here's the quick rundown. What you need:

• VirtualBox - https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads
• A Windows VM (Edge on Win10) - https://developer.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-edge/tools/vms/
• ISTA: https://www.toyota-tech.eu/DiagnosticTools/Software/ISTA
• Techstream Lite - https://techinfo.toyota.com/techInfoPortal/appmanager/t3/ti?_pageLabel=ti_ts_lite&_nfpb=true
• A BMW ENET cable - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00BFRW6FO/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1
• Possibly a USB Ethernet adapter - https://www.amazon.com/Ethernet-Adapter-uni-Thunderbolt-Compatible/dp/B077KXY71Q/
• Some kind of constant charge to the Supra's battery. ISTA will whine at you and prevent you from starting the "Action Plan" if the battery is under its required voltage.
• A power source to make sure your laptop doesn't die or sleep on you while programming.

The biggest caveat that isn't spelled out elsewhere is that Toyota's ISTA requires a VALID Techstream license to work. It doesn't work AT ALL with any of those "no key" cracks or pirated versions.

For Techstream Lite, you'll first have to buy a 2-day subscription to the TIS website ($65), and then you should be able to find the download link. Honestly, the TIS site is kind of junk and hard to navigate, but the software is there and does work. If you find yourself lost, follow the instructions here. Ignore the Mongoose stuff, but everything else is valid about getting the software and registering it. Page 10 also has a super important note about configuring TechStream so you can properly register it.

Similarly, you can follow the instructions for ISTA here.

I did this successfully using a USB-C only Macbook Pro using the software from the exact same links here. There's one issue in particular with the Windows VM image, and it's that the virtual disk is way too small to install ISTA and Techstream. So, after you import the VM to VirtualBox, you'll have to edit its settings to increase the disk size to around 70GB, or 80GB to be safe. After that, you'll need to go into the Disk Manager for Windows and expand the C:\ drive to occupy that space.

EDIT: The other issue is that the Windows VM by default has very little CPU and RAM, so...you should increase those to as much as VirtualBox will allow while you're editing the VM.

The reason for using this particular Windows VM is that it's free for 90 days, and can be downloaded direct from MSFT. You can use a native Windows computer or different VM if you want.

Anyway, the process from there is pretty simple. Once you have your Supra hooked up to a battery charger, you should be able to connect OBD to ethernet cable to the laptop, then the car. From there, you should be able to follow the ISTA instructions to find the car and connect up. It shouldn't take more than like 10 seconds to find the car if things are working properly. The important things to check are:

• The VM has access to the USB to ethernet dongle
• If you're using built-in ethernet, the interface is passed to the VM in "Bridge" mode
• The car is in "Diagnostic" mode (with the engine off, press the Engine Start button three times in a row. It'll tell you it's in Diagnostic mode)
• WIFI and any other network is disabled for the VM

I personally ended up configuring my USB ethernet's IP address manually, and it worked, following these instructions: https://blog.uobdii.com/how-to-connect-bmw-enet-cable-with-bmw-ista-rheingold/

If all goes well, ISTA will discover the car, and begin grabbing data from it. This process took probably 5+ minutes, but after that, it immediately recognized that there was a software update and created an "Action Plan" to update all the modules in the car. You can edit the action plan, but you're on your own there!

Once I was in the clear from the battery voltage warning (you'll know if you don't have a high enough voltage. It won't shut up about it), I just told it to execute the action plan and waited for about 45-50 minutes while everything got programmed. After the primary phase, there's a validation step, which took another 10-20 minutes.

 

[JP_]

It's possible that it's possible, but when you walk into the dealer to order a replacement ECU because you botched the ISTEP... lol.

It's just ISTA, so as with BMWs, if it's possible to toggle on expert mode you can uncheck the units you don't want flashing. Telling it not to flash an amp that's no longer connected isn't going to cause issues. There's no more danger here than doing an ECU flash with MHD, the software does everything for you

@Chgu did you happen to take any screenshots of the process? Mainly out of curiosity I'm interested in the module tree view of ISTA on these cars. If not I'll stick some up here myself if I need to do this in the future

 

[zrk]

It's just ISTA, so as with BMWs, if it's possible to toggle on expert mode you can uncheck the units you don't want flashing. Telling it not to flash an amp that's no longer connected isn't going to cause issues. There's no more danger here than doing an ECU flash with MHD, the software does everything for you

@Chgu did you happen to take any screenshots of the process? Mainly out of curiosity I'm interested in the module tree view of ISTA on these cars. If not I'll stick some up here myself if I need to do this in the future

¯\_(ツ)_/¯ dealer was bricking headunits during this process, I’m not gonna risk it. Others should know there is a possibility of something going wrong here.

 

[puppers]

Would something like this update the steering and damping from the alleged 2023 model to previous years?

 

[Chgu]

I’m wondering the same. I don’t think there are any public release notes for ISTEP versions, but I’ll check if a new one comes up after the release.

 

[puppers]

I’m wondering the same. I don’t think there are any public release notes for ISTEP versions, but I’ll check if a new one comes up after the release.

Awesome, thanks - definitely going to keep an eye out. I have a 2022 coming in a week or so and I might pass on it while I wait for a 2023. If istep is able to update these modules also, may not be a bad idea to just snag my 2022.

 

[Magna Steyr Supra]

Okay, here's the quick rundown. What you need:

• VirtualBox - https://www.virtualbox.org/wiki/Downloads
• A Windows VM (Edge on Win10) - https://developer.microsoft.com/en-us/microsoft-edge/tools/vms/
• ISTA: https://www.toyota-tech.eu/DiagnosticTools/Software/ISTA
• Techstream Lite - https://techinfo.toyota.com/techInfoPortal/appmanager/t3/ti?_pageLabel=ti_ts_lite&_nfpb=true
• A BMW ENET cable - https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00BFRW6FO/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&th=1
• Possibly a USB Ethernet adapter - https://www.amazon.com/Ethernet-Adapter-uni-Thunderbolt-Compatible/dp/B077KXY71Q/
• Some kind of constant charge to the Supra's battery. ISTA will whine at you and prevent you from starting the "Action Plan" if the battery is under its required voltage.
• A power source to make sure your laptop doesn't die or sleep on you while programming.

The biggest caveat that isn't spelled out elsewhere is that Toyota's ISTA requires a VALID Techstream license to work. It doesn't work AT ALL with any of those "no key" cracks or pirated versions.

For Techstream Lite, you'll first have to buy a 2-day subscription to the TIS website ($65), and then you should be able to find the download link. Honestly, the TIS site is kind of junk and hard to navigate, but the software is there and does work. If you find yourself lost, follow the instructions here. Ignore the Mongoose stuff, but everything else is valid about getting the software and registering it. Page 10 also has a super important note about configuring TechStream so you can properly register it.

Similarly, you can follow the instructions for ISTA here.

...

I've been lagging behind on Toyota's scantools, but the entire Techstream platform getting replaced by ISTA?

 

[JP_]

Did this today, was relatively easy. I just installed GTS Techstream from here: https://www.toyota-tech.eu/DiagnosticTools/Software/GTS though and that worked fine too. Had to buy a license through the EU site but it was only 30 euros that way (one 20 euro subscription for a week, and one 10 euro license for a week). Took about an hour and it definitely whinges at you about battery charge! You also have to wait quite a while for it to scan the car for the first time.

I also didn't need to alter the action plan despite my amp being missing and ASD disconnected. ISTA reported all as working fine.

I then had to bimmercode back what I wanted and re-set my quick actions in the 1-8 buttons next to the volume knob.

Hopefully this latest i-level sorts out throttle hesitation as has been reported in that thread. Certainly didn't happen to me again in the same circumstances that it had done before, but we'll see over a longer period.

Any idea if there are change logs for ilevels from BMW/Toyota anywhere?

 

[Surebob]

did you update a specific ilevel for the supra? or its one size fits all situation?

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