Unlock MCU IC is a technology density work which would probably occur something that beyond customer or the unlocker expectation, and one of the most unhappy thing about unlock MCU IC is the repeat cost which contain below but not only limit to below situations:
When we receive the MCU IC from customer who request to unlock it, we will firstly test the availability of this MCU IC before doing the unlock, sometimes if the MCU IC configuration bits we extracted after read it shows the MCU IC is in the status of un-encryption, and the firmware after unlock are all FF, we will consult customer first and ensure if the MCU IC is working properly.
If customer confirm there is any firmware embedded inside the MCU IC really need to unlock, we will proceed the work and if the source code being unlock and extracted are all FF, that means the MCU IC itself is empty without any binary or HEX file; in this situation, we will still charge customer the cost of unlocking since we have already invest time and money into this MCU IC;
Sometimes due to the reason of designer, the content inside a MCU IC has been changed only a little bit compare with the old version of MCU IC which has been unlocked last time. And customer would probably ask if the cost can be less than the first one when unlock it due to the almost same content of MCU IC.
We hereby would like to remind our dear customer is unlock MCU IC is an technology process which will need repeat procedure to unlock the MCU IC if the part number is same but the cost will always be the same, as well as the unlock process. So it doesn’t means the cost of unlock a new MCU IC with even the same content will cost less money or time;