Airbag

Well of course it doesn't work.

figured for 10 bucks it might be a neat project. using vagcom 409.1S and my laptop went to work 1.3gig laptop with vista.
got the driver loaded and the pc sees the pc side of the cable reporting back with the led test past port working but interface not found. the blue light is on in the cable and it is seated snuggly but no joy. interface not found no matter what i try , disabled lifo reduced baud rate.

just wondering if anyone else has had any succcess. i have another usb - serial cable with uart so i just might hack this thing up and make a cable with the connector and a serial connector.
Any thoughts before i hack up my brand new cable ?

not any real issues with the car , just a neat project for me.

bigdadi

Interface: NOT FOUND!

"Is the adapter plugged into the car? A Serial Interface that is not plugged into the car will always be "Not Found". It gets power from the car!"

frankinstyn

I always had a hard time installing them till I found this page.

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

Download the appropriate file for you windows version. Plug in the cable and direct windows to use that folder for drivers instead of letting it find a driver.

Because you already have the cable driver installed you'll have to go to device manager and find the item that says virtual com port (vcp) and click update driver and direct to that folder.

When that one is complete, another device will show up and start installing. Do the same thing and direct to choose a driver from that folder.
If that second part doesn't automatically show up asking for a driver then look for the device that isn't installed correctly and do as above for updating the driver.



Once that is all done you need to plug into the car.

Now turn on the ignition but not the engine and go to device manager. Double click on the virtual com port device. Now go to properties and look at what port number is assigned. If it is 1-4 just remember the number. If it isn't then just change it to 1-4.

Now start up vag-com. Use the newest one available for download. don't bother with 409.1. It is " VCDS-lite 1.1" and you can download it here.

http://www.ross-tech.com/vcds-lite/download/index.html

No go to the setup and look in the top left corner. Pick that number you remembered from before and then click test. Once it has successfully tested click apply.

All done! There is quite a bit you can do with the free version. That is mainly the reason I haven't purchased that program yet.

Airbag

Hey Guys thanks for the info. Of course it is plugged in to the car, interface not found means it can't see the car, i know i have a good connection because i see the blue light..
everything else is functional and the PC sees the cable just fine so i know it is not a port configuration. So i will keep reading and report back.

Frank you posted some great info i had not tried so i will get back at it today. The driver seams fine and i get the blue light but i will reinvestigate. Seams like the pc sees the port and cable as it psses the LED test only when plugged in but can't see beyond the uart but i didn't try it with ignition only without the car running as it is freezing here

Will report back ...
thanks guys

9918tcar

Get the real thing you won't have trouble,
http://www.ross-tech.com/Merchant2/m...ry_Code=VAGCOM

you got to set your mind, that the ross tech cable will pay itself off in the first uses , how much these days dealer charge for diagnostics $40-$60 you access your car 10 times it paid itself already..
You will get support and help from them ..
You are supporting illegal company in China they will do anything to make a buck, imagine you are working at your company selling products or services , and suddenly same cheap services/products are available from china that your company does, and your company looses clients , and you lose the job, who do you going to blame ?
my 0.02 cents

SloopJohnB@mac.com

A lot to be said for that.

frankinstyn

A lot else to be said about that as well...

They aren't illegal and Ross Tech supports those cables for a reason. If they didn't want us to use them they could simply not make the free version.

We all know that dealers charge way too much money. This doesn't mean that you are saving that ton of money by spending it else where. The free version of Vag-Com will scan but because I'm too cheap to buy the rather expensive program I have to look in my car manual to see what the code means. Not really a problem.

Yes, you can reprogram many things with the official version. That said, I have only ever had the free version, a cheap obd2 scanner, and the obd2 scanner/bluetooth combo on my phone for the last three years and my car still gets properly diagnosed.


I completely understand the push to support Ross-Tech for the efforts they have put forward to make us less dependant on the dealers. I'm not trying to belittle that.

I'm simply saying that for those of us who simply drive and maintain our cars, there is no justification for spending the $350 for the official cable.


But wait!....I'm almost done ranting about this ridiculous subject. If you go to this page...

http://www.ross-tech.com/Merchant2/m...ry_Code=VAGCOM

You will see that Ross-Tech themselves even realize the cost...they support the CHEAP cables with the full software...how about that?

Airbag

Hey Guys .. Thanks to Frankinstyn I got everything going great . After some Analysis as Frank pointed out i was just running the wrong version of VAGCOM. I got it working with the right version. The driver I had worked fine so hats off to Frank for posting to help a fellow poster and took some heat for it.
If i have fun with this free version i might register it as i do all my own work , which is why rosstech gives it away for free i am sure and there is nothing wrong with that. besides it will be nice to get some documentation and support.

Thanks to all.

BTW there is NOTHING illegal about selling a UART device as you can get them anywhere , what makes it nice is the obd2 connector.

9918tcar

Vcds lite doesn't do what the full version does
http://www.ross-tech.com/vcds-lite/index.html
Copy from their site
Some of the common differences between versions and between VCDS-Lite as Fully Registered versus Shareware:

Shareware:

Cannot do AutoScan
Won't display text for all fault codes
No Basic Settings (so no TBA, Xenon levelling, etc or checking timing on TDI's)
No Adaptation Saving (so no changing of locking/lights/horn behavior)
No Output Tests
No tech support from Ross-Tech

Limitations of VCDS-Lite compared to VCDS even if Fully Registered:

No Generic OBD-II
Won't work with CAN-Bus vehicles
Fewer fault code definitions and label files
No built-in Activation (you'll be limited to a single PC)
No Advanced Measuring Blocks
No Acceleration Measurement


to
frankinstyn
the software that comes with these cheap crap from fleaby is illegal
these are cracked versions of the full version software. so they are illegal to me, and they are everywhere , it is consumer choice don't expect for support here,
you can buy directly from ross-tech site if you don't want to buy from dealer ,
his post shows 409.1S which is illegal no longer exist, but it comes with every flebay cable...

Johann2.7t

if you cant fork up 200 bucks for the real deal its time to look into a car other then those made in Germany.