Dell Laptop with VAG-COM advice needed

[LHD_Kid]

I have been given an old laptop from my brother, which I had hoped would save me from dragging the pc and monitor out into the garden.... Unfortunately I can't get it to communicate with my car (the pc communicated fine, so can assume cable and program are fine)
It is (unfortunately) a Dell Latitude, now I know Paul (S2 Central) has said some stuff about problems with communication with Latitudes, but I know nothing about computers and even less about laptops... could anyone tell me what I can do to allow the thing to communicate?
Thanks
Chris

[kninio]

what kind of vag com cable you have? i have one serial not usb and it works fine with dell latitude 845 c but i am to sad that all the new laptops doesnt have serial port which mean i must buy new cable

[LHD_Kid]

This is quite an old laptop, the cable is a serial cable, laptop (like my pc) obviously has a serial socket....

[kninio]

it should works normaly , mine is serial too and the laptop is old and it works fine did u try to detect the port? with the vagcom softwear?

[LHD_Kid]

Yes, I have tried everything I can think of, but it ultimately it won't communicate...
There is a load of stuff on S2 Central specifically highlighting problems when using specifically Dell Latitudes, but unfortunately I dont really understand any of it...
But I am sure there is a way of getting this working... if anyone has got a Dell to work after first having troubles, I would like to know what you did (in simple terms...!)
Cheers
Chris

[Jas11n]

Does the laptop see the car?
Is this just a problem trying to log into the ECU? as it when you click on the engine tab it fails to log into the ECU?
Try setting the baud rate to 1200 and actually have the engine running.
Twice come across this with mine (not a dell).

[LHD_Kid]

no, the laptop does not see the car at all, it wont communicate or find anything... it does however work with my normal pc if I drag it all outside....
is it obvious how to change the baud rate? (I am a pc numpty)
Thanks...!

[Jas11n]

no, the laptop does not see the car at all, it wont communicate or find anything... it does however work with my normal pc if I drag it all outside....
is it obvious how to change the baud rate? (I am a pc numpty)
Thanks...!

Ah, ok. Forgot changing the baud rate then. You'd not be able to do that if you can't even get the lappy to talk to vag-com.
I'll have a play around in the settings of mine tomorrow, see if I can come up with some things for you to check.
May help, may not but I'll have a go.

[LHD_Kid]

Cheers Jas...
If you look on S2 central, about VAG com stuff, Paul says there are issues with Latitudes, but I dont really understand it, so I dont know what to do.... Although it does appear there is a way round it...
Thanks for your help...!
Chris


Just copied this from S2 Central (sorry Paul).... this is what I dont undrestand....!


Some VAG-COM users on Dell laptops reported communication problems that were solved by minimising or disabling the FIFO buffers associated with the COM port. I personally never found this necessary on my Dell machine, but I did have the problem below.

Some PCs suffer from interrupt conflicts more than others. Some Dell Latitude machines have such a conflict between the serial COM controller and some PCMCIA cards. I know of at least three people who experienced conflicts with a Xircom NIC/V.90 combo card in a Dell Latitude machine. It is all to easy to ignore the obvious sometimes, so if you plan on running VAG-COM on a Dell (or encounter the 'incrementing IC' behaviour which means comms are flaky) - save yourself weeks of torture and unplug all PCMCIA cards before you try hooking up VAG-COM to the car

[kninio]

Cheers Jas...
If you look on S2 central, about VAG com stuff, Paul says there are issues with Latitudes, but I dont really understand it, so I dont know what to do.... Although it does appear there is a way round it...
Thanks for your help...!
Chris


Just copied this from S2 Central (sorry Paul).... this is what I dont undrestand....!


Some VAG-COM users on Dell laptops reported communication problems that were solved by minimising or disabling the FIFO buffers associated with the COM port. I personally never found this necessary on my Dell machine, but I did have the problem below.

Some PCs suffer from interrupt conflicts more than others. Some Dell Latitude machines have such a conflict between the serial COM controller and some PCMCIA cards. I know of at least three people who experienced conflicts with a Xircom NIC/V.90 combo card in a Dell Latitude machine. It is all to easy to ignore the obvious sometimes, so if you plan on running VAG-COM on a Dell (or encounter the 'incrementing IC' behaviour which means comms are flaky) - save yourself weeks of torture and unplug all PCMCIA cards before you try hooking up VAG-COM to the car

Easy man, if you have any PCMCIA cards installed on the laptop just pull it out and try again to use the vagcom and see if it will regonise your car , dell latittude have the PCMCIA slot in the right side beside the CD/dvd rom , unplug it and it should works.

if u want more helps i can post u a picture

[LHD_Kid]

I can't find anything, other than removing the cd drive out, like a great big drawer from the front, a matching drawer the other side is the battery...
Would be great if you could post a picture.....

[kninio]

OK this hole is the slot of the PCMCIA cards , i have none pluged in at the moment so its empty as u see check if u have one pluged in and if yes take it off.


Cheers

[s2dude]

I can't find anything, other than removing the cd drive out, like a great big drawer from the front, a matching drawer the other side is the battery...
Would be great if you could post a picture.....

Im guessing this laptop is Wondoze correct?

If so which verison please. It will help a lot with troubleshooting

Go to Control Panel > System > Hardware Tab > Device Manager

There shold be a list of all the hardware etc installed on the laptop

Could you note if there are any Yellow Exclamation Marks in Device Manager > and if so write down the device name, also, double click on it and then write down the status message that come up in the tab

More importantly, in the device list go the the "ports" item and click the + sign beside it. Then go in to COM1 and write down all the info you can find!! Clikc through the Tabs "general, resources" etc . Most important is resources. Write down if there is any IRQ conflicts.

Do the same for COM2 just in case its using that one

hth

[s2dude]

double post

[spink]

I had trouble with a Dell latitude last year,had the very same problem you were having.Turned out that the driver for the cable(usb) wasnt installed correctly,i had the cable from seller called 'alphabid' on ebay and they provide the driver for you.Worked a treat after that.