Reference: MSD 7730, 7720, 7760, 7761, 7762,7763,7740, MSD Power Grid, TROUBLESHOOTING

Note: This page is a work in progess, I'm adding tips here as I run across them.

MSD Power Grid - Zero or Low Voltage Shown in MSD View Voltage Monitor / Won't Fire

With the power turned on in the car, the engine off and no computer connection, you should see a blinking green light on the Power Grid's LED indicator. If you don't see a blinking Green LED, check out this Diagnostic Chart to see what error code it is indicating.

With a normally functioning Power Grid Ignition, with your laptop plugged into the 7730 box and the MSD View software running, you should be able to see your full battery voltage in the battery voltage monitor when the ignition is turned on. If that voltage is low, or zero, the ignition obviously won't run, and that can be caused by a number of issues. Some of which might be below -

• Cables Disconnected and/or bad connections
  It may seem obvious, but once in a while we all have a brain fart and forget to connect something. The Power Grid 7730 Red box's power is feed by the 7720 (black box) 4 wire power output connector. If that connector with 4 wires isn't plugged into the 7730, then you will not have system voltage shown in the monitor (and it won't start).
  
  The ignition wire that runs to the 7730 Red box will not supply the ignition with power, it's only a signal wire to turn the unit on, the main power supply is in the 4 wire connector to the 7730 (Black box). The 7720 Red box must have 12 volts DC or more on the ORANGE wire on that 4 plug connector, and it must have a ground on the black wire from the 7730 black box. If you don't have power going into the 7720 black box via it's 4 pin input plug (the one that also has two wires going to the coil), it can't output power to the 7730 Red box to turn the ignition on.


• Crank Trigger Wire Shorted Out / Shorted Crank Trigger
  If the crank trigger wire has a dead short or shorted to ground, or your crank trigger sensor is shorting to ground, it can cause the Power Grid to register Zero volts when the ignition is on and all power wires connected. Disconnect the crank trigger wire at the 7730 box connector and see if the voltage goes up to system voltage. If so, you've got a bad crank trigger wire and/or Crank Trigger Sensor. The MSD PN 8276 Non Magnetic Crank Trigger Pickup / Sensor , the 3/4 x16 UNF model should measure 70-90 ohms Resistance between the green and violet wires.
• You can connect to, program & download data from the 7730 using ONLY the USB Cable
  The Power Grid can be powered solely by the USB Cable connected to your laptop for programming and data downloading. You don't have to have the ignition turned on in order to work with the unit. In fact it doesn't even have to be in the car, you can connect to it on the bench if you wish and program it. However, the unit DOES have to have the main power wires hooked up and turned on in order to fire the car!
• You can NOT connect to any other modules on the Can Bus using ONLY the USB Cable power
  All other modules such as the 7761 Arc Module will not communicate if the ignition power is OFF. The ignition must be on to connect to any module on the Can Bus.

Power Grid Firmware Won't Update

When using the "Check for upgrade" option in the MSD View software, the response is "No upgrade available", but you know there is a more recent firmware version available.

• Serial Numbers between 1722 and 2460 for the Power Grid 7730 Red Box must be shipped into MSD to be flashed so they can be updated. You can check your serial number and firmware version by clicking HELP then, ABOUT. Contact MSD and get an RMA to ship unit back.
• MSD's Update Server Offline. It's quite possible that MSD's server they use for updating firmware might be down, broke, or whatever. You might attempt to update again later. One indication the server might be down is a slow response before the system says "No upgrade found for your device". A fast response typically indicates your laptop was able to communicate with the server ok.
• Update your MSD View Software MSD updates firmware at times when you update the MSD View Software on your PC. MSD View4, version 4.2.3.28305 will update the firmware to version 1.7.6.

Problems With Micro SD Card, MSD View 4.2.X and Higher

One user recently reported a lot of problems trying to communicate and write to the Power Grid Micro SD Card. He tried both Fat16 and Fat32 formats, multiple cards, and even a different Power Grid Controller. He was able to resolve the problem by going back to revision 4.1.139 (prior to version 4.2), and that appeared to resolve his problem.

While it's unclear why he ran into this issue when many other people are using version 4.3.3 without issue it might indicate that the MicroSD card formating is very sensative to something when you move to MSD View versions 4.2 and above. I've personally reformatted a large MicroSD Card down to FAT16 and used it just fine with version 4.2.X and 4.3.3, there may be some thing the Grid is picky about when reformating. Just a note to pay close attention if you're formatting your own Micro SD cards and experience this problem.