Problems using INPA and usb DCAN cable
Discussion
Evening all
I have a new to me E61, 2009 525i. There are a couple of niggles I want to sort, and reading up suggests INPA is the tool to do it. However, I'm after a bit of help, and this forum seems like a good starting point.
I bought a white K+ DCAN cable (no switch, as I don't ever expect to have an older BMW) which came with a CD, and I gamely plodded my way through the instructions. Until, I got to the part where you plug in the USB cable in and the computer recognises it as a "serial ports"
In my case, my windows 8 laptop refuses to do this, instead saying "unknown USB device (device descriptor request failed) - error code 43.
I've reinstalled the FTDI drivers a few times - no change. I also used the DCAN driver from the CD that came with the cable, and still no change. When I try to update the driver, the computer says I'm already using the best driver.
I have a VAGCOM cable and another OBD2 cable for my Triumph bike, both of which get recognised straight away by the PC when I plug them in. So I don't think it's the slot itself or the computer as such.
There seems to be something about this DCAN cable that the computer doesn't like. Some articles suggest disabling USB3.0, but my bios has no such option, and others say everything is backwardly compatible anyway.
So my question is really: has anyone had any experience of this problem? or can suggest a place to ask? (I've not yet sussed out which of the various BMW forums I should join)
Of course, it could be a dodgy chip in my cable, but I was trying to make it at least 1 week into ownership before I start replacing things without understanding why they're not working.
thanks
Ian
I have a new to me E61, 2009 525i. There are a couple of niggles I want to sort, and reading up suggests INPA is the tool to do it. However, I'm after a bit of help, and this forum seems like a good starting point.
I bought a white K+ DCAN cable (no switch, as I don't ever expect to have an older BMW) which came with a CD, and I gamely plodded my way through the instructions. Until, I got to the part where you plug in the USB cable in and the computer recognises it as a "serial ports"
In my case, my windows 8 laptop refuses to do this, instead saying "unknown USB device (device descriptor request failed) - error code 43.
I've reinstalled the FTDI drivers a few times - no change. I also used the DCAN driver from the CD that came with the cable, and still no change. When I try to update the driver, the computer says I'm already using the best driver.
I have a VAGCOM cable and another OBD2 cable for my Triumph bike, both of which get recognised straight away by the PC when I plug them in. So I don't think it's the slot itself or the computer as such.
There seems to be something about this DCAN cable that the computer doesn't like. Some articles suggest disabling USB3.0, but my bios has no such option, and others say everything is backwardly compatible anyway.
So my question is really: has anyone had any experience of this problem? or can suggest a place to ask? (I've not yet sussed out which of the various BMW forums I should join)
Of course, it could be a dodgy chip in my cable, but I was trying to make it at least 1 week into ownership before I start replacing things without understanding why they're not working.
thanks
Ian
Not sure if you have already tried these exact steps: http://blog.obdexpress.co.uk/2016/12/09/kdcan-cabl...
Obviously best to virus scan anything you download aswell.
If that doesn't work then may be worth trying a different computer?
Obviously best to virus scan anything you download aswell.
If that doesn't work then may be worth trying a different computer?
Edited by nw942 on Wednesday 4th November 23:31
Hi there,
Thanks for the replies. I will have a go modifying the driver.
In device manager, the computer registers it as a usb device, but fails to recognise it.
It doesn't seem to recognise it as a com port, whereas my kkl cable pops up in that section (so you can set com port number and latency etc)
I read so many sites yesterday my mind was boggling a bit, bit I think with the post 2007 dcan cable there's something more needed than the regular ftdi driver.
I appreciate the offer of use of a working cable
but I'm down near Gatwick, so quite a trek to Herts.
I would not be lying if I said the fuel cost would be more than the cost of a different cable!
I'll poke at it a bit more tonight, but it's annoying as the cel popped up after my auc sensor parted company with the car, and I want to check the loss of this sensor caused it.
Ian
Thanks for the replies. I will have a go modifying the driver.
In device manager, the computer registers it as a usb device, but fails to recognise it.
It doesn't seem to recognise it as a com port, whereas my kkl cable pops up in that section (so you can set com port number and latency etc)
I read so many sites yesterday my mind was boggling a bit, bit I think with the post 2007 dcan cable there's something more needed than the regular ftdi driver.
I appreciate the offer of use of a working cable
but I'm down near Gatwick, so quite a trek to Herts. I would not be lying if I said the fuel cost would be more than the cost of a different cable!
I'll poke at it a bit more tonight, but it's annoying as the cel popped up after my auc sensor parted company with the car, and I want to check the loss of this sensor caused it.
Ian
Thought I'd add a brief update on this.
2 of the computers we have are convinced they have the latest driver for this chipset/cable, and refuse to do any updates - even when I point the "update driver" option at a downloaded ftdi file I have.
There is a way to force Windows to update with a specific driver file I found. But none of the ftdi files or sub menus I've downloaded trigger any action when I select them. I just run out of knowledge here, which is annoying as I have diagnosed the problem (driver related)
Luckily, a third PC we have does recognise the cable as a usb serial port, and has for reasons only known to itself, got the correct ftdi driver.
Which is a result, as it rules out the "cheap eBay cable innit" answer you often see with requests for help.
The downside: this is a desktop pc...
So, I got a 5 meter usb extension cable from amazon, and will attempt to connect through the living room window once I've installed inpa on the desktop.
This sort of stuff doesn't happen to BMW Doctor Dean (as you guys know!!!)
2 of the computers we have are convinced they have the latest driver for this chipset/cable, and refuse to do any updates - even when I point the "update driver" option at a downloaded ftdi file I have.
There is a way to force Windows to update with a specific driver file I found. But none of the ftdi files or sub menus I've downloaded trigger any action when I select them. I just run out of knowledge here, which is annoying as I have diagnosed the problem (driver related)
Luckily, a third PC we have does recognise the cable as a usb serial port, and has for reasons only known to itself, got the correct ftdi driver.
Which is a result, as it rules out the "cheap eBay cable innit" answer you often see with requests for help.
The downside: this is a desktop pc...
So, I got a 5 meter usb extension cable from amazon, and will attempt to connect through the living room window once I've installed inpa on the desktop.
This sort of stuff doesn't happen to BMW Doctor Dean (as you guys know!!!)
What operating system is running on the laptops - and does this matter? I kept an old laptop with XP just for INPA, but when my brother needed it for diagnostics, I gave it to him, and bought myself an identical Toshiba U200 from Ebay, this time running Windows 7.
Last week I upgraded the 40GB HD on this laptop to 1TB, and installed ISTA-D (alongside the usual suite of programmes that come with the D Can cable) - so far so good.
I've had some patchy results with the D Can programme installation over the years. Sometimes it is faultless, other times it says it's done, but functionality is missing. A reinstall usually sorts it out.
I have in the back of my mind that INPA is not keen on newer versions of Windows... but not sure as I haven't tried.
Last week I upgraded the 40GB HD on this laptop to 1TB, and installed ISTA-D (alongside the usual suite of programmes that come with the D Can cable) - so far so good.
I've had some patchy results with the D Can programme installation over the years. Sometimes it is faultless, other times it says it's done, but functionality is missing. A reinstall usually sorts it out.
I have in the back of my mind that INPA is not keen on newer versions of Windows... but not sure as I haven't tried.
Morning all
A bit of an update, and thanks for the suggestions.
The first pc wasn't recognising the ftdi drivers, and attempts to install the correct driver failed (downloaded it, moved it, used "my devices\advanced" to point at it, but computer just wouldn't be convinced to change the driver: "latest driver already installed" or some such reply)
Tried a second pc...same
Tried a third pc...success! This computer recognised the dcan cable as needing an ftpi driver, and correctly assigned it as a com port USB adapter rather than just saying "unknown device".
So, on with the inpa install, which actually went ok following the Noddy guide.
Slight blip when trying to change the driver to com3 on the obi file. This pc flatly refused to let me change any file in c:\windows drive, no matter what I did to permissions. This lefte unable to amend the text file to make port=com3.
Simple solution was to juggle the com ports in my devices so the usb cable was assigned to com1.
Final hurdle was this computer is my son's desktop pc! But a 5 meter usb cable extension gets through the window to the car! Inpa says not to use extension cables, but it worked just fine.
So after 5 or so months I can finally see what's waiting for me, and what all those chimes meant.
(But that's probably a separate thread)
Ian
A bit of an update, and thanks for the suggestions.
The first pc wasn't recognising the ftdi drivers, and attempts to install the correct driver failed (downloaded it, moved it, used "my devices\advanced" to point at it, but computer just wouldn't be convinced to change the driver: "latest driver already installed" or some such reply)
Tried a second pc...same
Tried a third pc...success! This computer recognised the dcan cable as needing an ftpi driver, and correctly assigned it as a com port USB adapter rather than just saying "unknown device".
So, on with the inpa install, which actually went ok following the Noddy guide.
Slight blip when trying to change the driver to com3 on the obi file. This pc flatly refused to let me change any file in c:\windows drive, no matter what I did to permissions. This lefte unable to amend the text file to make port=com3.
Simple solution was to juggle the com ports in my devices so the usb cable was assigned to com1.
Final hurdle was this computer is my son's desktop pc! But a 5 meter usb cable extension gets through the window to the car! Inpa says not to use extension cables, but it worked just fine.
So after 5 or so months I can finally see what's waiting for me, and what all those chimes meant.
(But that's probably a separate thread)
Ian
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