Diagnostic VDI, VNCI, MDI with MG4

[jamakr4]

In addition to @DonBattino452 this was the before condition of the car he is talking about

 

[DonBattino452]

The tricky thing about the calibration routines is that there’s no obvious indication that they’re actually required.


You can accidentally flash as a replacement, and you’ll still end up with green checkmarks . However, before SIPS proceeds to the “Fast Learn” routines, you can abort the process — and that will cause problems later on. In that case, the process is incomplete, even though everything shows .


And then you end up wondering why warning messages appear on the dashboard or why certain functions don’t work properly.

 

[Pisuke]

I’ve attached a few pictures of the process.

Overall, it wasn’t difficult — you just had to know exactly what you were doing. For me and my friend, it was the first time flashing control units as a replacement.

And I’ll stick with this conclusion: this experience confirmed it for me — the MG4 is a “good” car. It’s quite robust and even forgives serious mistakes that can happen during improper flashing.

In general, regarding flashing as a replacement: this is absolutely NOT required under normal circumstances. This function is only intended for cases where a control unit has been physically replaced — for example due to a hardware failure or as part of repairs after an accident.

Some users here have reported that they had to use this method because normal reprogramming didn’t work for them, for whatever reason. But why was that? Because their flash setup had flaws — different kinds of flaws. Sometimes the laptop wasn’t configured correctly, sometimes people hadn’t properly familiarized themselves with SIPS. In other cases, the 12V charger was set up incorrectly: even though it was capable of delivering 5 amps, it was accidentally set to 1 amp, and the voltage dropped critically during flashing. The list of possible mistakes is long… far too long. And in every case, the issue was user error — not SIPS itself.

By now, I’ve accompanied several update processes across different setups — Standard and Luxury, MY22 and MY23. Personally, I don’t believe that a fully functional control unit would suddenly fail out of nowhere. If the setup is done correctly, you can fully update your car via standard reprogramming, and there’s no need for follow-up calibration routines with an “uncertain” success rate.

Fortunately, I have a contact within my family who works with Maxus, which is also part of the SAIC group. He confirmed my assumptions and emphasized how important it is to be thorough: this is not something you do “quickly on the side.” Installing and running SIPS on a regular consumer laptop — while also using it for things like Netflix, online banking, or other software — is absolutely not recommended. Unexpected interactions with other programs can occur. There’s a reason why workshop laptops are set up in a very specific way and are dedicated exclusively to this purpose.

I wish everyone who follows success with their updates, the necessary level of care during the process, and, afterwards, plenty of enjoyment driving their MG4s .

Congratulations on resolving the scare successfully!
When you mentioned TeamViewer, I was thinking of helping a colleague remotely using AnyDesk "remote desktop," but I'm not sure how that would work with an internet connection.