Body work / Paint on the 'ole girl

[Jamos]

Got it working!

For 20 seconds.

Later realized my card connector is bad. Connectio. In only one very tiny position which only lasts a few seconds now.

Trying to clean the pins up but nothing seems to be doing the trick. Muay annoyingo

[purplecty]

Got it working!

For 20 seconds.

Later realized my card connector is bad. Connectio. In only one very tiny position which only lasts a few seconds now.

Trying to clean the pins up but nothing seems to be doing the trick. Muay annoyingo

Are you using a true rs232 serial port? I believe this is required for ADS connection...

[Jamos]

It's coming right off the back of the laptop. It's about as legit as it can be! =D

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MIND YOU, there is one pin missing on the laptop socket. . . on the end of one of the rows. My father used to use this laptop for all of his programming stuff 15 years ago, so I assumed it was a correct RS232. He now just uses a usb converter for all of his stuff, I don't see why something like that wouldn't work, even though I know everyone says "don't buy that cheap crap from eBay"

The reason I believe my laptop's connection is fine, is because it already let me log in and check the ABS and clear the three faults that were in there. But after that the connection was too spotty, and now it barely works unless it's held in the EXACT right position which ... is impossible for more than a couple seconds heh.

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And BTW the pin missing is pin 5, which is ground. To me that shouldn't matter because the outside shield is ground anyway.

[Sobek]

Have you screwed the cable pins in both sides hard as you can? Or does it not work when tightened up like that at all... would be pretty annoying indeed! Glad to see it does work though! If you'd gone with a standard OBD cable you would not have been able to access that module haha.

Also, PCMCIA or even USB to Serial adapters will actually work, but they can take a LOT of stuffing around to do so and there's no guarantee you won't get intermittent signal failures, they're really odd like that. I've used my ADS cable with a PCMCIA to Serial adapter card and after 10ish minutes of COM port and buffer fluffery, got it going, but it was slooooowww. I'm sure that could be sorted out but it was only a proof of concept for my own curiosity and I had more important things to do so I moved on.

Keep at it man.

[Jamos]

Yeah I've left everything default. This 9600 baud is killing me though haha!

As for the pins being bad, they're bad on my CAR not the computer. I tried to take the connect off of the car but it's hardwires to the harness, would have made it 150x easier to clean the sockets. I think part of the problem is dirty/oxidized socket pins, and the pins on the ADS cable are too thin, so together there is always one or two pins not making contact.

If I push the ADS cable on to the diagnostic port (car connector) it lights up battery briefly, and then as I push it further down it may light up once or twice more, but the connection is so inconsistant.

Again, because I was already able to get in and check stuff I know the system WORKS, it's just a horrible diag port on the car. I'm thinking of either wiring up my own, or just ordering new pins from digikey.

We'll see.

It was cool though to see the three faults in the ABS: Rear left and right sensors disconnected (because they are before I switch out the brake lines) and some other fault that was nothing. Cool stuff indeed!

Next I want to figure out where to change DRL settings and a couple other little tricks. I watched a bunch of videos - all that I could find - on NCS Expert coding, it looks extremely straight-forward and very much similar to programming I've done in the past. My only concern there is hitting WRITE instead of REAR.


Glad to hear that you had it all working with a PCMCIA card before, as I said it makes perfect sense that it should work.

[Hueristic]

I have in the past placed a sewing pin in a connector that had a pin broken off and cut it level with the others with a pair of dykes with good results. It's hack but it works,

[Jamos]

Jesus that's brilliant!

I hate that you thought of this and I didn't hahaha, thanks a lot, I'll give it a shot tomorrow!

[daytonatrbo]

Don't let NCS Expert scare you. I did a noob thing when I first connected it to my e46 and basically reinitialized every module back to stock. Oops. Took a little bit to get the SRS light to go out, turned out the default setting was without rear side airbags, and mine had them. They were unhappy.

Once you connect and READ, just backup the contents of the WORK folder. I created a folder for each module, and I have a backup for each. The WORK folder will hold the file for whichever module you are WORKing on.

[Jamos]

Well well well, guess who spent the entire day taking apart his laptop and rewiring 50 different things? THIS GUY!

So it turned out that the missing pin on the laptop (pin 5) is in fact ground. I didn't think it would matter because of the shield still being in tact. It does.

So I took apart the laptop - seriously EVERYTHING had to come apart just to get to the back of the RS232 connector. Finally got the connector off and started looking around for a pin to stuff in there. Then I thought, "lets just see if this pin will even fit in the female socket that came on the end of my ADS cable.. wait, go .. in.. c'mon FIT, just.. GET IN THERE"

Turns out the cable I got has a messed up ground pin as well! What's the chance in my laptop not having on AND the cable provided having a gummed up socket? (pin was missing before I got the cable, so it's not from my laptop hah)

SO I took apart the laptop again and made sure the ground cable was in fact in line with the shield on the computer. Yes it is. SO that means I can just steal the ground pin and solder it to the shield of the computer and presto.. I have a functional ground pin again.

This would make sense as to why I have such a shoddy connection to the car, without a ground pin on the computer/cable it simply should not be able to work at all - I have no idea how it did in the first place.

Now I'm going to have my round connector, cable to a small project box with the ADS board in that, then out to the normal rs232 to the computer.

Lots of random thoughts in this thread, but it'll all make sense when I get some pictures up tomorrow =)

*tomorrow always TOMORROW with this project haha

[Jamos]

Annd not working, same as yesterday.

I lightly place the connector on the port in the car and two green leds light up on my ADS board, if I push it further, two red leds light up as well as the green. The INPA screen shows BATT/IG "ON" then a couple seconds later they start flickering like crazy on off on off on off.

Every module I try says, "module not found" or "cannot communicate" or "script error keep running?"

NCS says, "Vin is faulty"

Port settings in XP are:

9600 baud
FIFO on
Com 1
no parity

Why the heck isn't this working!?

I hate that it worked before ONCE without a ground, AND NCS found my VIN before but then the other day it just.. stopped working all together. Fixed the ground, and no difference at all. Uh yi yi YI!

Anyway, after trying to figure things out, I opened up the cable from eBay and couldn't fit the board back in! He did some feng shui type stuff to get that in there! SO I took it apart, and made my own version:




646_zps1jsr2zm1.jpg

[purplecty]

Thats why you buy gets cable. Spend the money and save days if not weeks of stress...

[Jamos]

? I paid $100 for this ADS cable. It worked once, but EVERY.. TIME it now just says "sys-0012 IDENTIFICATION ERROR."

Massively annoying.

I deleted everything, re-installed it all again "step 1, step 2, step 3" and it installed 100,000,000 prg files and such, STILL says this crap. Then I go to NCS and it was VIN IS FAULTY. God dammit this is bruttal.

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This is the cable I bought:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/261951836011...%3AMEBIDX%3AIT

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I just don't get it, why the hell would it work once, and never again? All wires are good, all software apparently works fine. Yet I keep getting that stupid error, and the fact that NCS keeps saying there is no VIN is driving me insane.

I try to connect to my 4.0L DME and it just says it's not there. What the hell!?

Maybe the DUDMD tune is doing something? He gave me a whole new DME (no clue where the original one has ended up) could that have anything to do with NOTHING working and not just the DME?

Is it possible that the files I have for the E38 are... wrong and the software is trying to tell me this?

How the hell are idiots - who buy the latest iPhone because it's what cool people do - able to make this work, but me who has built/fixed/used computers for over 25 years can't figure this out!? Damn

[purplecty]

http://www.interfaces4beemers.net/adsobd.html

This is the best cable offered by forum member rv8flyboy (gert)

[Sobek]

I use this same cable, it's very well made and I am absolutely confident that it is not a fault with the ADS cable itself - these are sold very frequently and I have not seen a single complaint leveled at them. I considered Gert's cable but the costs compared to Benemorious' ready to go unit were pretty high. Been using mine for years now without incident, both in ADS and OBD modes for many 7 series and our X5

The fact that it worked just fine, but then you find a pin missing and things start getting screwy tells me it's almost certainly to do with the car itself. If the software and cable worked, the software and cable worked - something is going on with the car (OBD port itself, modules, hard to say). Have you tried a battery nap? If INPA can't even talk to any modules, then NCS is unlikely to have any luck itself, and if it's getting crazy noise on the bus from something being wrong on the cars end, it may just default to throwing a faulty VIN error since that's one of the first numbers it pulls. DUDMD's tune won't affect your diagnostics one bit!

Let me fire up my laptop and check my com settings and such just to be certain you've got everything set correctly. But definitely start with a battery nap and go from there, could be as simple as that. It really sounds like there's something interfering with the OBD port in some way...

[Jamos]

Thanks for the suggestion Sobek.

I wonder if you could send me your e38 prg files and such to ensure I have them and have the correct ones.

[purplecty]

If the bat and ign lights are flickering I'd say your problem is there...

[Jamos]

Agreed.

My father is on the case with me now and he knows rs232 inside and out and I keep saying to cut the connector off the car and fix it.. He has other ideas.

. . . .

Anyway I'm just concerned that I may have mismatching files. When the iggy and batt aren't flashing and are solid.. I'm concerned that OTHER pins aren't connected right.

how can something so simple in theory be so bloody troublesome heh.

Any obd2 95s out there for me to buy?

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One question I do have.. In NCS do I click ews or ike for my 95?

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Chopped the connector off of the car (make sure your battery is disconnected before doing this and only do it one wire at a time to avoid possible shorts!)

Inspected each wire and pin, and they all checked out for continuity and resistance no matter how much I yanked on them or spun them around. Good, connector and connector's wiring is solid. Wired it all back up - pain - and SAME ISSUE! So then I wiggled the RS232 port and presto, THAT is where it has been bad all along. That's fun stuff.

Tried it out, NOPE, error 12 on everything still.

I can only assume it's because I just do NOT have the right files downloaded/installed for my car.

Every single forum I've read is years old, and says to try mediafire/rapidshare files that just don't exist.

When I go to INPA and hit "special tests" I can do the test that finds each component in the car, so I know everything can TALK with my car, but it refuses to connect to any component that I have. I have no idea how I managed to get it to connect to the ABS module the first time, almost feels like I dreamed it up.

I've tried installing everything with UK rectifications, and US. No difference. Tried it with ADS, OBD, and just now installing under "ADS4MOST" although I doubt that will be it, as I"m certain the connection works, but there's something else wrong. I can't find what causes error 0012 and whenever I do people say, "I just bought the USB cable and it worked' which is no good for me and my '95

This is just stupid.

If I try to connect to anything without the cable installed it gives me error-0009 which makes sense, and when I plug it in it shows battery and ignition fine, but then says, ""sys-0012 IDENTIFICATION ERROR."" What's most impressive is that I've yet to throw the computer across the room.

FIFO buffers on, TX/RX set to 8, COM1 in windows and ini, etc.. etc.. everything seems right, but I just have no clue if I have the right files installed. I can click "old models" and see the E38, and select any module I want, but again.. "sys-0012 IDENTIFICATION ERROR."

[purplecty]

What kind of laptop is it

[Jamos]

.. it's a Fujitsu Lifebook from 2001, the stickers are worn off so I have no idea what it is. Pentium III 650mhz, 10gb HDD, LPT, RS232, SVGA, USB, DVD drive..

It's SO annoying that it worked once kind of, and never since. It just doesn't make sense. If I run the "special tests" it finds all of the modules one by one, and says "no errors in memory" if I run the error test in that area, but that's it. NCS no longer says Faulty Vin, it's all german now somehow after the last install. Eugh, I just wish I had access to another copy of this crap so I could be certain it's not my files that are bad. I've only found ONE download location and it had PW with a bunch of Russian text. Where does everyone get their software?

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What I meant about DUDMD's tune possibly messing with things is because he gave me a whole new DME, not just the chip like most people get. So I'm wondering if the DME is causing compatibility issues. Again I have no idea where my original one is otherwise I'd just throw that in there.

[Hueristic]

If you still have the laptop apart then replacing a db9 is pretty easy. http://www.ebay.com/itm/2-pcs-9-pin-...YAAOxyd5tRyKVv

[Jamos]

That's why I took it apart in the first place, but THIS laptop has the db9 on a bloody ribbon, shared with an SVGA and an LPT1 port. So that was a no go.

I'm looking at buying another junker from eBay right now, what a bloody mess this is. My concern is that getting a new laptop won't solve anything anyway, the error I keep getting is software related it appears, not hardware anymore - as I can use that shift+f9 function of finding all the modules just fine, but when it comes to ACCESSING them it's as if I don't have the files I need. I have no idea at ALL where to find them, I've tried looking for three days now.

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And thanks for the suggestion BTW =)

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WELL I just finished researching every bloody laptop that has come out since 2001 to 2010ish. I ended up buying a Dell D630, 2GHz, 2gb Ram, 160gb HDD, and.. SERIAL port! 14" screen, and it looks brand new! Sure beats my Pentium III 650Mhz 10gb hdd and ... 64mb ram system heh.

ANYWAY, fingers are crossed that it is somehow the serial port on my laptop causing these issues, but it is so incredibly unlikely.

I'm begging you guys, if you know anyone who has these E38 files on their system to help me out =D

I just want to get back to work on the car itself hahaha

[Sobek]

I'll send you a PM tonight with some... links

[purplecty]

The D630 will work. I personally use a D610 for mine...

[daytonatrbo]

I'm looking at buying another junker from eBay right now, what a bloody mess this is. My concern is that getting a new laptop won't solve anything anyway, the error I keep getting is software related it appears, not hardware anymore - as I can use that shift+f9 function of finding all the modules just fine, but when it comes to ACCESSING them it's as if I don't have the files I need. I have no idea at ALL where to find them, I've tried looking for three days now.

IIRC When you hit SHIFT-F9, INPA isn't finding anything. Its showing you a list of module files that are available in your INPA install for the chassis you selected. In the case of the DME and EGS and others, its up to you to pick the correct software and hardware revision for your car. If you pick the wrong one, you will get errors.

If you aren't connected properly, and you pick the right one, you get errors.

If you were connected and picked the wrong module revision, it would give you a "version mismatch" error. The error you are getting is either a lack of Comm, or incorrect comm settings.

[Jamos]

That's encouraging information Daytona thank you! Same thing Purplecty!

Thanks guys.

Oh and Sobek. . . . . . . . . :P

Laptop shipped a few hours ago, hooray!!


I woke up to two catalytic converters on my kitchen table! . . benefits of living next door to your mailman! I'm do for a test by the end of May, so I gotta get this girl all strangled again.

Also, anyone ever use exhaust clamps (like the ones already under our cars) to connect their exhaust tips? I think I'm going to do that so I can take them off whenever I want and it will make for easy cleaning! With my rear diffuser I think it will really help with that.

Cheers