Hey Marty,
I was perusing the litany of horrors over on the other side......
Found this nugget!:

"If you look in the BECM under SETTINGS -> OTHER If one of the software versions is showing as '153', then chances are it's still in alarm lockout, and if disarming it with the Nanocom isn't working, then it's BECM out time I'm afraid."

Had not run across this previously. Is this consistently the case, or only on later versions?
If this is a constant, it is a fantastic diagnostic to tell if it is in stage 1 lock out or stage 2 Defcon 5 lock down, and needs pulling out.
Could save a LOT of stuffing about trying to get something working.
Thanks!
Tom

that's interesting to know, now all i have to do is remember it!

I saw that but don't believe it. The tell tale is a production date of 2025 or something similarly ridiculous, Language set to French when it is obviously in English, manual box when you have an auto, VIN that bears no resemblance to the actual vehicle VIN and numerous other things that are obviously wrong.

Well, I seem to recall on the 2 that I managed to put into Defcon5, I was not able to even speak to the Becm
let alone read anything from it once they went into full sulk mode??

In my experience if they are in lockout, the software version 153 is accompanied by the other erroneous settings - LHD, French, VIN number reading different, and a stupid build date.

I just mentioned the SW version as it's the first thing on the "Other" page of BECM settings, so is quick and easy to open p to get an indication of what is going on.

In theory even if it's in alarm lockout, on the later V36 and above logic boards, you can recover it with the Nanocom and the Disarm function in the utilities section of the BECM, but that assumes you have the correct EKA code for the vehicle. There are plenty that I haven't seen it work on (usually where the battery has gone flat when it's locked) and either the EKA has been scrambled as it's lost power, or quite commonly because the owner doesn't have the correct EKA code to start with - either they've been given the wrong one, or the BECM has been changed before and the EKA doesn't match what's in their handbook anymore.

BECMs also talk best to diagnostics with the ignition OFF. Sometimes they will communicate with Pos I or II on, but I tried mine the other day to look at an input once I'd started the engine and it said no communication. Turned ignition off and connected straight away.

With the ignition off, talking the BECM whether in lockout or not, you should get DIAGNOSTICS MODE on the dash

What's possibly an interesting avenue to explore is what are the diags telling you when it is locked down? Is it just random garbage, or is there some meaning to the stuff it reads back that we haven't figured out?

Now THAT is a fascinating theory!
Sounds exactly like something a code writer would do!
Has anyone ever been successful in tracking down a member of the team who wrote our code to ask them
questions like this?
Possibly one if the wonks at BBS?

Marty, when you say later revs can be recovered from alarm lock down, I am guessing you mean
the mildly annoying state, not total pull it and solder on wires to unlock type of lock down?

BECMs also talk best to diagnostics with the ignition OFF. Sometimes they will communicate with Pos I or II on, but I tried mine the other day to look at an input once I'd started the engine and it said no communication. Turned ignition off and connected straight away.

On this matter I'd like to give thanks again to the PUB for being what it is, because after years of dwindling with VCDS (when you need to have the car in Pos. I or II), when I got the RRP38 and the Nano I was always having issues with the diagnostics for the BeCM, until I got it from here that it should be ignition off .... cheers to all here!

RTFM, it tells you that.......

I went to one car where various people had tried diagnostics and none would connect. I found that none would connect except for the BeCM which would and tested perfect. Turned out the feed to the main Ignition relay was damaged so that wasn't operating so none of the other systems were powered. What was even more confusing was that the dash isn't fed from the ignition relay but direct from the BeCM so everything lit up with the key in position 2. Everything except the Check Engine light as that is fed from the engine ECU which wasn't being powered up.