Can't Get VAGCOM and interface cable to talk

[dalhalvaig 0]

Hi

 

Just posting a short conversation between me and Elliott trying to get VAGCOM working on my laptop.

 

 

Originally Posted by Elliott Coupland

Yeah, it's the free 1.1 lite version your after. You can find it here at the bottom of the pagehttp://www.ross-tech.com/vcds-lite/download/index.html

 

Let me know if it works, you might need to change the latency on the usb port your using?

 

This is handy also. http://www.airbagnews.com/PDF/Fehler...%20english.pdf

 

 

Good luck

elliott

 

Thanks for that. I'll try it again this evening. I was having a problem when setting up the comms port in the VCDS options page. It didn't seem to recognise anything. Can't remember what the message was now. Have deleted all the files and down a system restore back to before I tried loading anything. So hopefully things will work now.

 

Cheers

 

David

 

Have now tried it and still not getting connected. I'm getting the message Ross-Tech USB Interface Not Found! Interface: Not Found

 

Did you get this? I've tried the software you and Easypops sent me and the software on the disc supplied and still get this.

 

Any clues? Oh - I've changed the Latency to 5 as well

 

Cheers

 

David

[easypops 8]

I got mine working last night, I also had the not recognising it problem, You need to have the cable plugged into your laptop and i found that i needed to be able to connect to the internet(wifi) until it was recognised............it only worked on comm port 3. Your welcome to pop over to mine at any point to see if there are any noticable differences............... I didn't get a chance to try it tonight to make sure its still working but i can't see any reason why it wouldn't be :)

[swiftkid 1]

Ooooh, I can be helpful! hehe

 

Right what you need to do is plug the usb interface in and then wait until its loaded and done the beedum beedum sound etc then go to device manager, I'll have to double check when I'm on my laptop but in device manager there should be a heading named ports & interfaces or similar. Expand that and right click on the usb interface, go to properties and in the options somewhere you should be able to change which comm port you want it to use, choose 3 or 4, save settings then go back to vagcom and choose the corresponding port. You'll need to have the usb plugged into your car (with the ignition on) to test it and get an ok.

 

Hope that sorts your problem! Sorry if its a bit vague but my memory is worse than a goldfish.

[Stonejag 10]

Is it a Ross-Tech interface or a cheapy clone one? Mine's a clone (£8!) and it just has a usb-to-serial adaptor inside, with the serial half attached to the car's serial port. When you plug it into the PC, the USB drivers should set it up as a COM port - as swiftkid said it'll most likely be COM3. Once in the Vag-com interface, hit the 'Options' button, then choose COM3 from the options in the top-left corner. Hit 'Test' and it'll pop you up a dialog box saying if it passed or failed. The Save button will light up, hit that to save your configuration and it should 'just work'. If not, try COM4. Can't remember if it has to already be connected to the car when you do the testing bit, try that if it still won't work.

 

Stone

[dalhalvaig 0]

Easypops, Swiftkid and Stonejag. Thanks for your help. Not in any particular order...

 

Stonejag. My cable is a cheapy clone - £8 on ebay.

 

Swiftkid. Don't worry about being vague. I knew the places you were meaning so have had a look. My laptop has 3 USB ports. When I get to the place in Device Manager that you refer to I find 2 RIM Virtual Serial ports and 1 USB Serial port. These are numbered COM 7, 8 and 9. In the advanced settings I can change the port numbers. The dropdown says that COM 1 to 9 are all in use except COM 2. This shows the same whether I look at the USB Serial port or the RIM Virtual Serial ports. Since COM 2 is not in use I'll try that and let you know the outcome. I'm assuming that I shouldn't set the port to any of the COM numbers that say they are 'in use'.

 

Easypops. I wonder if that's the problem. I can't get wifi on my laptop when I'm out in the garage all plugged in. I'll try all the above again and see if I can position things to get a wifi signal. If that still doesn't solve it I'll contact you.

 

Cheers for all your help

 

D

[Stonejag 10]

Are you using XP? Is it one of the blue, transparent cheapy units? Did you install the drivers from the mini-CD that came with it? It sounds like you might have the same driver installed more than once, which would probably confuse it...if it's XP, you could try uninstalling all the COM port drivers and really starting from scratch (right-click the ports in Device Manager and hit Uninstall, then reboot with the adaptor plugged in and let it sort it all out with the Add New Hardware wizard - feed it the mini-CD when it asks). I assume you don't have any other devices that use virtual COM ports - modems etc?

 

Failing that you could revert to an older version of VAG-COM - I use 409.1 with no problems at all, and it still lets you do everything you need it for. Works fine for me without a network signal - even the first time after install.

 

Stone

[dalhalvaig 0]

Are you using XP? Is it one of the blue, transparent cheapy units? Did you install the drivers from the mini-CD that came with it? It sounds like you might have the same driver installed more than once, which would probably confuse it...if it's XP, you could try uninstalling all the COM port drivers and really starting from scratch (right-click the ports in Device Manager and hit Uninstall, then reboot with the adaptor plugged in and let it sort it all out with the Add New Hardware wizard - feed it the mini-CD when it asks). I assume you don't have any other devices that use virtual COM ports - modems etc?

 

Failing that you could revert to an older version of VAG-COM - I use 409.1 with no problems at all, and it still lets you do everything you need it for. Works fine for me without a network signal - even the first time after install.

 

Stone

 

Yes, I'm Using XP and Yes it's a blue transparent one. I've tried various combinations of software - downloading one which has the COM1 to COM4 options, one that has that plus a USB option, the one on the mini CD. In between I've been uninstalling the software to try to ensure that the computer didn't get confused, but I haven't uninstalled the COM port drivers. Other than external harddrives, memory sticks and my phone, I don't connect any other devices - so I'll give it another go.

 

Cheers

 

D

[Stonejag 10]

In that case I'd start by clearing out any and all drivers to do with the COM ports, then a clean reboot to let it sort itself out. Reboot again before plugging the cable in. It should either install automagically or ask you for the CD - then the driver should default to COM3, since 1 and 2 are usually reserved for physical ports. Then you test the interface in the Vag-com software like normal.

 

Fingers crossed!

[Kevin Bacon 5]

8 COM ports in use! Wow! You can over-ride a COM port though. Just pick the one you want, close device manager, go back in and it should be set. The only time it will rebuff your attempt to do that is when the port is actively in use. Assuming you don't have any other devices that use COM ports, it sounds like some virtual ports are being clung onto by a rogue app/s somewhere. As suggested try and uninstall as much crud as you can.

 

It's a right frickin pain. I have a genuine Ross tech HEX+CAN lead and even that still does all this nonsense. I have to shuffle com ports around until it works, but if the test fails, try pulling the USB lead out and putting it back in again. That worked when testing an A4 the other week.

[elliott 10]

How did it go? Have you got the two to talk to each other?

[dalhalvaig 0]

Shelf fitting duties have been imposed and 'get yourself ready for the holiday' so not much progress. TBH, I think that there is so much junk on the laptop that I should flatten it, reload the OS and start from scratch. I've tried most things except Fishwick's suggestion. Will back up the stuff I want and then try that. Thanks for asking. How's the car progressing, did you get to the bottom of the prob you has the day we went to Scone? I've has a Hot restarting problem. I think it's lack of fuel. will idle - though not as cleanly as usual, but as soon as you open the throttle is just tries to die. It eventually clears - 3-5 minutes - then runs fine.

 

D

[elliott 10]

DIY... it never ends...

 

Once you get the laptop sorted any idle problems will be highlighted by vagcom. It's a must have for any vag owner I'd say, only thing is you'll now know about problems you never thought you had...

 

Have fun

elliott

[dalhalvaig 0]

Hi Guys

 

Back to trying to get this to work. I've flattened/reformatted the laptop and re-installed the operating system, and have started again with the Vag-Com installation. Vag-Com is installed and I have managed to get the hardware wizard to recognise the cable...but (you knew that was coming), still can't get Vag-Com to find the interface. On Vag-Com Com3 I get 'Error 32 while accessing port, Interface:Not Found!' and on the Com4 and USB settings I get 'Port status OK, Interface: Not Found!'

 

I've not tried getting the connection while in the car, but may try that later this morning if this storm dies down.

 

Question - can't remember where to go to set the latency to 5, and can't find the places to set the COM Port to COM3 in the Device Manager.

Can someone remind me where these are? I think that the OS reinstall may have altered what I can get access to.

 

Cheers

[dannyboy 0]

i can help you on this one,i had pretty much same problem as you.

Plug the vagcom cable in.Does windows make three short bleeps as opposed to one longer bleep(as when you plug in a usb device)?

 

you need to install the drivers for the cable correctly first.this link will install them

http://www.ftdichip.com/Drivers/CDM/CDM20814_WHQL_Certified

 

Make sure the cable is unplugged first.install the drivers. report back when you got this done and ill help you along the way

[dalhalvaig 0]

Hi Dannyboy

 

I've done that. Windows makes 2 bleeps when you plug in and unplug the cable. When I tried the link, it didn't seem to work, so I used the http: address and worked out what I was looking for. I've used the WHQL_Certified driver on the page at the link below.

 

http://www.ftdichip.com/Drivers/VCP.htm

 

It's and .exe file, that seemed to put something into DOS - a DOS window opened during install - there was no install wizard. I've tried it again with the cable and still not getting a link. Easypops has reminded me about the latency and that is set at 5 now.

 

Do you have further instruction?

 

Cheers

[dannyboy 0]

your trying to use a virtual usb drivers one which is more of a pain than a direct drivers.Im running windows 7 so its a little easier but it shouldnt really matter

 

The link should work,i dont have any problems opening it,it should have a promot to open or save a file.So check your download bar is appearring on top of the webpage (windows xp) or check your security settings

 

plug cable into computer,go to control panel>device manager. when you look down the list you should see 'PORTS'.click on it and drop-down u should have 'USB serial port (COM1 or simialir).double click to view the properties and look under driver tab.The provider should be 'FTDI',the driver date 18/03/2011, and the version should be 2.8.14.0

If it is thats a good start,if not you need to use the direct drivers on the D2XX page,down the page under windows the 2.8.14,click on the 2.8.14(not the beta version) and you can download the drivers

 

Report back when you complete this

[dalhalvaig 0]

Thanks I'll try that. I use Chrome normally, I'll try downloading it via Explorer to see if that helps. It did download, but the computer didn't recognise the file type.

 

Cheers

[dalhalvaig 0]

At last - got it working. Thanks for everyone's help

 

D

[quicky1980 0]

im still having isues with my ebay cable, how did you fix yours then?

[dannyboy 0]

im still having isues with my ebay cable, how did you fix yours then?

I maybe able to talk you through it if u like quickly

I had problems initially but sorted them

[Tigerfish 10]

I have one of the generic blue leads. After much farting about (uninstalling driver, re-installing driver), it finally read the car engine codes. Switched off, plugged back in and tried again, now the vag-com program just fails and windows says it will try and find a solution, but all that happens is I get the option to debug or end the program.

 

running windows vista home premium.

 

Any ideas why it would work once then give up the ghost?

Edited April 19, 2012 by Tigerfish

[elliott 10]

Sounds like you've got a windows problem there and not a vagcom one. Can you try it on another pc/laptop?

[mimjed 0]

X2 tigerfish.

 

Mine did the same got it working after fiddling with ports (put mine on com2) started an auto scan, went the first two scan locations and then crashed. Then when you try and reopen it crashes straight away and then says look for solution online.

 

Mines on windows 7 too, bag of s*it