BMW Icom A/B/C

[///Metal]

So this system (ICOM) is being peddled around eBay as the new generation of dealer level BMW scantools. I have the GT1/Progman setup that has been serving me quite well, but the system is beginning to show its age. Does anyone have any experience with the new ICOM system? Is there any truth to the rumors that once accessed by the dealer computer, any future attempt to access the car with an after-market scan-tool will be disabled?

[enda320]

Is there any truth to the rumors that once accessed by the dealer computer, any future attempt to access the car with an after-market scan-tool will be disabled?


That would go against the OBD2 standard for simple diagnostics, and a number of newer laws regarding pass-thru cables which allow repair shops to upload "calibration" files (ie. software updates) and avoid a main dealer stranglehold on them.

[///Metal]

I know it sounds completely counter-intuitive but I swear I heard such a rumor. From a couple of sources.

[IcemanBHE]

Allowing independents to do diagnostics is way different than programming/coding.

Thats my understanding.

[///Metal]

Seriously? No one has heard of this?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/BMW-ICOM-A-B-C-kit-Diangostic-TOOL-with-software-ISTA-D-ISTA-P-standalone-/160761183911?pt=Motors_Automotive_Tools&hash=item256e1cfea7&vxp=mtr

[enda320]

Search for the word "ISTA", there's plenty of people trying to get various installs going.

[chezz00m]

Is there any truth to the rumors that once accessed by the dealer computer, any future attempt to access the car with an after-market scan-tool will be disabled?

Hi, truly complete nonsense,,
only in the case that the car has been programed by dealer or someone else's ISSS with version e.g. 2.45 you can't get access with progman unless you update your progman to v.2.45 or higher - that's only

[///Metal]

Hi, truly complete nonsense,,
only in the case that the car has been programed by dealer or someone else's ISSS with version e.g. 2.45 you can't get access with progman unless you update your progman to v.2.45 or higher - that's only

Thank you!

[WayneC]

EU 5 is worth reading on this, it is not just about emissions

It specifies independent suppliers (tools and parts) & repairers must be given access to the information needed to produce parts, tools and repair on a fair and non discriminatory basis. Europe was seeing the demise of the after market parts industries with the advent of coded parts

In the case of repairs, authorised dealers are to be considered independent repairers

The methods of achieving the above are being finalised & implemented by all the manufacturers. It will mean availability of diagnostics systems from many suppliers in the future

[David Mc]

If anyone has a working link to the 252Mb I-S-T-A_P_40.part08.rar, I would really appreciate it as I have the other 14 parts and don't want to go through the whole re-downloading process for the entire 3.5+Gb file. Happy to swap for one of the other 14 parts.

[WayneC]

Dont have it for you David but am interested in the Motorrad parts for ISTA/D if anyone has them extracted, I was getting invalid archive errors on attempts to unzip

[David Mc]

If I ever get the missing part I-S-T-A_P_40.part08.rar, I will extract the files and see if I can help.

[Modded E30]

If I ever get the missing part I-S-T-A_P_40.part08.rar, I will extract the files and see if I can help.
David, did u get that part?

[alexmerlin]

Some of you maybe in possession of a working BMW ISSS that includes ISTA/D and ISTA/P. Most of these systems either require a cloned hardware BMW ICOM a b c (http://www.plusobd.com/professional-car-diagnostic-tool/bmw-diagnostic-tool.html)or a virtual emulator ICOM to work. With the ICOMs these will come with an USB security dongle - basically a USB flash drive- this can be easily damaged or lost. So I set out to find a way to clone the USB security and have wrote up a how to in case anyone needed to make a backup.



As most will know some of the ICOM emulator comes with an USB flash drive dongle as copyright protection. Whilst you can do an image snapshot of the ICOM VM when the emulator is running and just revert back to it without needing the dongle plugged in, there's always that fear in the back of your mind that you might lose that USB Dongle or that it might break., rendering the emulator useless. Especially so if the Vendor that sold you the emulator isn't very helpful at all.

So I spent a little time finding a way to create a clone or duplicate of the dongle - and thought I would share the know how here.

Basically the security is two tier based. The ICOM emulator checks for the "Volume Serial Number" (easily changed with software) and the Hardware Serial number (much harder as it requires flashing the USB chip), both of which must match the security check built into the ICOM emulator before it will start up and do the "rollback".

Here's how you duplicate the USB dongle> I will not provide the software required, just a general knowledge of how to do this - as each USB dongle is different and has a different chip set, YOU WILL NEED to find the correct USB factory flash tool to do the necessary cloning.

Mine was based on the SMI chip set SM3257AA

[enda320]

There's a new ICOM Next being rolled out at the moment, and it's about $500 from the dealer which is rather nice of BMW.

They won't always sell it to the public, but the part number is 81.31.2.360.883 if anyone wants to try and order it.

[legoman67]

There's a new ICOM Next being rolled out at the moment, and it's about $500 from the dealer which is rather nice of BMW.

They won't always sell it to the public, but the part number is 81.31.2.360.883 if anyone wants to try and order it.

thats only the cable, then you have to subscribe to the software, which is about $2500 per year iirc.

Buying a genuine cable to use pirated software seems pointless.... I rarely use ISSS as its super slow in a virtual environment. NCS expert, winfkp, and BMW scanner can do all the same stuff much quicker.

[EJ Lewis]

ICOM A/B/C is not the newest system, ISTA-D is the replacement of ISSS, the Reginald (http://www.obdii365.com/wholesale/new-bmw-icom-a2-b-c-diagnostic-programming-tool.html) version comes with the INPA, NCS expert, winfkp, E-sys for F-series..., the ISTA-P is for programming. Even "ICOM A3" is available on the aftermarket.