New cable , no workie ......

[Nasty-Z]

Got my new cable from Robert last week , tried it tonight .

Followed this : http://www.gearhead-efi.com/Fuel-Injection/showthread.php?1557-Cable-Installation-to-TunerPro-RT

Plugged into the laptop , it automatically installed the drivers and assigned COM7 to it.

Went into Tunerpro , Tools , Preferences , Data acquisition , set Com7 and tried to test , says cable not found or functioning.

Plugged it into the '7060 in my 454SS and it will not connect .

I know it has to be something dumb , but anyone got any ideas ?

Thanks

TOM

[EagleMark]

I've had issues with cable installation and that write up has helped a lot of people. I'd try to restart PC, reopen TP, always use same USB port that your originally installed the cable on and try again. Double check Com port on PC with cable plugged in and double check TP settings. Sometimes the cable not found test does work and sometimes not and cable will still work?

[RobertISaar]

depending on what type of cable you were using before, download the most recent drivers to be certain the correct ones are being used.

[Nasty-Z]

OK,

I restarted the laptop (Windows 7) , no dice.

Did an uninstall and plugged the cable back in , it was recognized immediately and drivers were installed , it set COM port to 7 just as before . Tried the test in T/P , no dice. Plugged it into the truck ('7060 , 1992 454SS) , no connection.

Downloaded a different driver , installed , cable test in T/P failed again , plugged it into the truck , no connection.

I know Robert tests these cables so I know darned well its not the issue , I am doing something wrong , just don't know what it is ....... Mad :mad1:

TOM

[RobertISaar]

absolutely certain the ADX is correct?

tried any other vehicles/applications?

[EagleMark]

Are you using $85-16147060-V4.4.adx from this thread?
http://www.gearhead-efi.com/Fuel-Injection/showthread.php?317-16147060-PCM-Information-85

Switch not on 10k?

Didin't we talk about you using remote desktop before. I'd take a look for you?

[Nasty-Z]

absolutely certain the ADX is correct?

tried any other vehicles/applications?

Using $85-16147060-V4.4.adx (http://www.gearhead-efi.com/Fuel-Injection/attachment.php?attachmentid=4402&d=1364831659) from the site here , this is the first time I have been into this truck .

I will go try one of my '7427's and see if we have sucess there .

Thanks

TOM

[Nasty-Z]

Are you using $85-16147060-V4.4.adx from this thread?
http://www.gearhead-efi.com/Fuel-Injection/showthread.php?317-16147060-PCM-Information-85

Yessir


Switch not on 10k?

No sir


Didin't we talk about you using remote desktop before. I'd take a look for you?

I'll P/M you


I will go try one of my '7427's and see if we have sucess there .

No success there either.

TOM

[RobertISaar]

what driver version is being loaded/used?

[Six_Shooter]

Don't even attempt to plug it in to the vehicle until you get a "Found and functioning" result. You're just wasting time doing so.

You might want to try setting the com port to a lower com port. I know V4 had an issue if the com port was above COM9 for a while. I haven't experienced this issue with V5, but you never know. Yes, I know 7 is less than 9, but I find that a lower number com port seems to connect easier, not sure why, it just seems to.

There might also be something else (program) that uses that same com port and it may not be letting go of it completely, so assigning a different com port will also get around that.

[RobertISaar]

i'm up to COM30 on TP V5 without issue?

[Six_Shooter]

i'm up to COM30 on TP V5 without issue?

Yes, liek I said it was V4 with the issue, and I've been up to 11 or 12 without issue, but it's something to consider.

[Nasty-Z]

what driver version is being loaded/used?

FTDI

7/12/2013

2.8.30.0


Don't even attempt to plug it in to the vehicle until you get a "Found and functioning" result. You're just wasting time doing so.


Too late , sorry I already tried it when Mark said sometimes it tested OK and sometimes it didn't.

TOM

[Six_Shooter]

I've NEVER had connection when I didn't first get a "Found and Functioning" result. I've tried sometimes too. ;)

[RobertISaar]

i've had cables(both my own and aldlcables.com) fail the test, yet still function without any problems or configuration changes. it has been a while since that last happened though.

[EagleMark]

I can't see a new driver not working like an old driver? Just checked my cable on laptop and still running:
Driver FTDI
Date 4/10/2012
Version 2.8.24.0

AutoProm on pass through cable found and funtion. Com 4
ALDL cable found and funtion. Com 5


i'm up to COM30 on TP V5 without issue?Com 30 :laugh:

I think I am permantly spooked by TPV4. I uninstall every USB and then restart computer and let it have what it needs. Then install all my cables and tuning devices. All under 7! Then a wireless USB mouse, printer and whatever?

[RobertISaar]

i have the computer set to assign a new COM port for every new adapter i plug in. apparently up to ~30 since the last time i installed windows, which wasn't too long ago.

[Nasty-Z]

Well,

I tried to connect to one of my '7427 trucks with no success , I also downloaded different drivers and tried those to no avail.

Today , Mark was kind enough to take some of his time (THANK YOU MARK !!!!!) to jump on my laptop and poke around a bit , we came up empty there also , after we got off of the phone I uninstalled all USB and restarted , the cable along with all of my other USB devices reinstalled but no success with the new cable.

For now I really do not know what to do , I know that Robert tests each assembly so I highly doubt there is a problem with the new cable .

I give up for now , guess i'll revisit it later and see if I can figure it out ........

Thanks for all of the suggestions , wish it would have worked out.

TOM

[RobertISaar]

i'm working on some troubleshooting steps now, i'm not sure how simple i'll be able to make everything, but it will be in-depth.

in the end, the fastest way to go about it is that the more stuff you have around to swap out to rule out what is problematic, the better. more common/supported stuff will also help immensely.



i believe you're the one that mentioning killing off your last cable? care to elaborate on that?

[Nasty-Z]

i believe you're the one that mentioning killing off your last cable? care to elaborate on that?

The cable I was using was an old setup from Andrew (AKM cables) , truthfully there is really nothing "wrong" with it other than it is old , I have repaired it a few times in the years I have had it and it needs to be re soldered where the ALDL connection is as I pulled the wires out of the junction the other night when I tripped over it ........

Figured it was just as easy to buy a new one that to keep fixing the old.

No problem Robert , I know it's not the cable , its something on my end , just need to find it .

Thanks for the support

TOM

[EagleMark]

Robert does test them all before they get shipped, this is why I thought it would be easy for me to remote desktop and set it up. But you had everything right... ?

Robert, there may be a driver issue? Tom has a 32 bit system, we downloaded new FTDI drivers and they had a date of 7-12.13 IIRC, well the new drivers are dated 8-1-13 and we could never get it installed. The drivers on my PC which is 64 bit are dated
Driver FTDI
Date 4/10/2012
Version 2.8.24.0
If I try to update them it says they are latest?

Could this be an issue?

[RobertISaar]

i've been using the FTDI drivers since..... 2008? and haven't had an issue with any of the versions they've ever released. i just downloaded the newest setup EXE from the ftdichip source while writing out a troubleshooting guide. they updated fine, the last time i did so was probably around 6 months ago. when i go into the device manager, a release date of 7/12/2013 is shown, with a version of 2.8.30.0.

[EagleMark]

i've been using the FTDI drivers since..... 2008? and haven't had an issue with any of the versions they've ever released. i just downloaded the newest setup EXE from the ftdichip source while writing out a troubleshooting guide. they updated fine, the last time i did so was probably around 6 months ago. when i go into the device manager, a release date of 7/12/2013 is shown, with a version of 2.8.30.0.That is what he had installed. But that is not what FTDI website says is latest release?

[Nasty-Z]

Update ,

Just because I was so frustrated with this whole thing , I plugged Roberts cable into my old (ancient) Windows XP MSN netbook that usually takes up residence in my 3500 Dually with the MPFI 502 . I had brought it in the shop on my return trip from VA this past week as I needed a file off of it and was putting the truck in the other garage.

Anyways , plugged the cable in , windows downloaded the driver , installed it (COM 15 ) , looked it up in Tunerpro , set to COM 15 and viola , worked perfect . Datalogged my 454SS without a problem.

Apparently the issue lies with my E5520 series Windows 7 Pro Dell laptop (both of them) , my personal laptop and my work laptop (the one we were fooling with today Mark) are both the same machine , with the same system on them. I don't know what the problem with the machines could be , but tomorrow I intend on trying the cable in my S10 with the Sony Viao (Win XP Pro) . We shall see what happens.

TOM

[EagleMark]

Glad it's not the cable!

Strange a newer laptop is giving us issues? But does narrow the issue to PC/Driver or? and not the cable...

EDIT: Notes to remember, this PC was an I5 processor IIRC so fairy new stuff. But only a 32 bit system? Which I thought was strange, this is what was listed in Control Panel under System.

FTDI did list 32 and 64 bit drivers.

We did try all USB ports and the cable did not need to reinstall on any, it was always there on Com 7.

HTH!

[Nasty-Z]

Glad it's not the cable!

Strange a newer laptop is giving us issues? But does narrow the issue to PC/Driver or? and not the cable...

Yes sir it does ,

I can't thank you enough Mark , for taking YOUR time today to log on and try to help .

I knew it wasn't Roberts cable , everyone else that got one had no problems , I knew it must have been my setup.

Hope I can figure out what is the problem with the Dell , I really like the machine ........ just makes no sense as to the problem.

TOM

[RobertISaar]

well, that is an interesting turn of events.... normally the newer laptops work with the least amount of issues.

tried different USB ports on the machine? i KIND of want to lean towards maybe motherboard's chipset driver(s), or perhaps the USB controller driver itself, i can't remember if they're seperate anymore(i don't think they have been for probably a decade). maybe i'm really off the wall, but if you have a USB hub, try connecting through that? if not, perhaps time spent in the device manager playing with the USB transfer size and the latency timer might solve the issue? otherwise, you might have to contact Dell about any ideas for a fix(or perhaps a Dell forum?). last time i did that, it was pretty useless, i have a hard time understanding the Indian accent.

also(since it wasn't specified), XP SP3 is required for V5. XP SP2 has worked for someone who has downloaded the missing files required that SP3 adds, but i don't remember what they are anymore.

[EagleMark]

This link indicates a BIOS update could be an issue, also has some Dell diagnostic tests at bottm.
http://www.dell.com/support/troubleshooting/us/en/04/KCS/KcsArticles/ArticleView?docid=DSN_361761

[lilhupper]

That sounds like my problem

[RobertISaar]

very well could be. if you have another laptop(or even an easily moved desktop and some extension cords?), that would be one way to see if it could be the problem.

[EagleMark]

That sounds like my problemIs your laptop a Dell as well? Give us some specs? Something is wrong here?

Tom had loads of printers installed on his PC, so it does not look like USB does not work, just not with a cable?

I'm wondering if this issue is more widespread to cable installs?

[lilhupper]

its an hp windows 7 64 bit operating system with a few printer installed on it

[RobertISaar]

have the model number handy?

[EagleMark]

Since the driver update or change makes registry changes I'm wondering if that is an issue? Registry errors?

For both you guys go get Advanced System Care 6.x, it's free. The registered version does more and is like $20 for three PCs. Install and run, when I run this on other peoples PCs I get thousands of registry errors as many as 6,000 on one, 3,000 is normal fixed along with a lot of other things. Great improvements of PC speed etc... it will also make sure your windows updates are done and sometimes needs a restart.

If it does not work you will still like your PC much more... we started using this years ago at "Rehab" which is a bunch of old guys with nothing better to do on Tuesday nights then rehab old corporate computers donated, then we give them away to qualified needy people...

lilhumper, I have 2 HP WIndows 7 64 bit machines and no issues. So this may not be a manufacturer specific. Since the USB ports are working? I'm still stuck on driver issue, registry issue because of driver?

Robert, could PC possibly need a FTCLean?

[RobertISaar]

i wouldn't think it would be, but at the same time, couldn't hurt.

i personally use CCleaner for registry management, among other functions.

[phonedawgz]

FTDI is still having troubles with their drivers. I have two batches of FT232RL boards here. One of the batches works 100% with the 2.08.30 (8.1.2013 release). The other batch works only 10% on the new .30 driver, or .28 or .24. 2.08.14 solves the problem however and works on all of them.

Below is the CDM 2.08.14 exe program. Down load it, unzip it and then run Setup_CDM2.08.14.exe. That will load the .14 drivers onto your PC. Then in Device Manager "update" BOTH the USB Serial Port (Under Ports (COM & LPT) and under Universal Serial Bus controllers update the entry USB Serial Converter.

In Update select "Install from a list or specific location" then choose "Don't search. I will choose the driver to install." Next you should see a screen with the drivers in your computer's library along with the 2.08.14. Select that for BOTH entries in Device manager.

You might have to reboot after this procedure, however I found that I did not have to.

Here is the installer for CDM 2.08.14 in my dropbox - https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/2242747/CDM%202.08.14.zip

Unplugging and replugging the cable shouldn't give you any problems once the .14 is assigned to your cable. However if you use a different FT232RL chip (cable), Windows will then install the latest version of the driver in your computer's library. You either need to delete the other driver versions from your computer or manually update the cable's driver to the .14 when using a board your computer hasn't seen.

I have sent samples Friday to FTDI of chips that work and chips fail.

-------
If you want to see if the drivers are the issue - Download Real Term - http://sourceforge.net/project/showfiles.php?group_id=67297 and install it on your PC. Have your cable plugged into your PC, but not your vehicle. Start Real Term and go to the PORT tab, then select your port and then hit CHANGE! Then click in the black box and start typing. If the characters you type are displayed, your cable is working correctly. If you get a 'nul' for any letter you press, then you have the driver problem.

-----
**To remove the offending .24 .28 .30 driver install programs from your PC, go to "Add or Remove Programs" and under "Change or Remove Programs" scroll all the way down to "Windows Driver Package" and find the FTDI's with the non-working versions. There may be more than one for each version. Click remove, and if the magic of Windows is working, that will remove them from your computer's library. Leaving only the .14 will insure you get the version that currently works.

** Only needed if you de-install and re-install your cable

[lilhupper]

its a dv7 ive tried changing drivers tried the registry still nothing im going to grab a different pc and try it

[EagleMark]

Well I have 2 DV7 laptops and no issues. So it's not brand specific.

Looks like phondawgz has this figured out. I don't have one of his cables but I do have at least one of everything else and been using FTDI 2.08.24 driver on all PCs since it has came out. Same one that is listed in my cable install write up.

Even though there are newer one's out and even auto installed by Windows, I can not update mine, if I try it says I have the latest?

TOM, what drivers were installed on your XP machine when you did the cable and it worked?

[Nasty-Z]

TOM, what drivers were installed on your XP machine when you did the cable and it worked?

Let me look when I get back out in the shop tonight , ill let you know .

TOM

[phonedawgz]

The date code on the chips that have had the highest failure rate with the .24, .28 and .30 drivers is 1213-C. That is 2012 - 13th week.

I have the problem however on other date codes, but rarely.

The guy at FTDI seemed truly excited to get samples of chips from the same lot that both worked and failed. Up to that point I had assumed that FTDI knew about the problems but weren't super interested in fixing them.

.30 is the driver on FTDI's website now. I do have .14, .24 and .28 if you want to play with any of them.

On my install disk I only have .14 so I don'[t get many complaints. I figured it out finally when I put it together that all the failures were coming from people who had more, not less experience with ALDL cables. They were the people who had already had the other drivers on their machines. It then clicked that it wasn't just the cable's driver, but the Universal Serial Bus Controller driver that needed changing. Testing on my computer showed that the Universal Serial Bus Controller driver was the cause of this latest problem.

Weird that chips from the same date would work on the old drivers, but some would work and some would fail on the new ones. Multiple tests showed that certain chips would be the ones that always failed and others were perhaps resilient enough and just always worked with the new drivers.

[RobertISaar]

oddly enough, that is the date of the two i have on-hand.

[lilhupper]

i can get the cable to function but as soon as it is plugged into the truck it is not functioning anymore

[phonedawgz]

That is normal. The cable test procedure is meant to be preformed with the cable disconnected from the vehicle.

Try your .adx and see if you can connect now.

[lilhupper]

do i make my own .adx?

[RobertISaar]

what application are you looking to log?

[lilhupper]

what do you mean?

[RobertISaar]

different vehicles/engines need different ADXs. it's not a one-size-fits-all like OBD2.

[lilhupper]

91 chevy pickup ecm 1227747

[RobertISaar]

you'll need the $42 ADX then, i'm sure Mark about has the link memorized by now.

[RobertISaar]

http://www.gearhead-efi.com/Fuel-Injection/showthread.php?304-1227747-ECM-Information-42

[lilhupper]

sorry im very new to this. how do i get the adx file?

[RobertISaar]

in post #3, there are a few files there than can be used.

http://www.gearhead-efi.com/Fuel-Injection/attachment.php?attachmentid=4972&d=1375131735

i THINK that is the one you'll need.

[lilhupper]

i got it thank you for your help

[Nasty-Z]

TOM, what drivers were installed on your XP machine when you did the cable and it worked?

2.8.14.0 are the drivers XP installed when I plugged the cable in , worked fine on that machine.

I used phonedawgz link in his post to the 2.8.14.0 drivers , downloaded them to my Dell E5520 machine and viola , the cable was found and functions as intended on the machine.

Thank you everyone for all of the responses to my problem , thanks to phonedawgz for the driver link and a big thank you again to Mark for taking his time to try to help yesterday. Time to put this thing to work finally :rockon:

TOM

TOM

[EagleMark]

sorry im very new to this. how do i get the adx file?So you have not read the TunerPro RT tutorial marked Must Read? :innocent2:

http://www.gearhead-efi.com/Fuel-Injection/showthread.php?466-TunerPro-starter-Tutorial!-New-users-this-is-a-must-read!-)

[EagleMark]

2.8.14.0 are the drivers XP installed when I plugged the cable in , worked fine on that machine.

I used phonedawgz link in his post to the 2.8.14.0 drivers , downloaded them to my Dell E5520 machine and viola , the cable was found and functions as intended on the machine.

Thank you everyone for all of the responses to my problem , thanks to phonedawgz for the driver link and a big thank you again to Mark for taking his time to try to help yesterday. Time to put this thing to work finally :rockon:

TOM

TOMThat's great news Tom. And thanks to you for tracking down and testing what phondawgz has reported!

I've changed the TunerPro RT cable installatation tutorial to include these FTDI driver version numbers and linked back to phonedawgz post with the info. :thumbsup:

[lilhupper]

i read the tutorial but i didnt know where to get the files from till i googled it

[RobertISaar]

did some more investigating tonight, i could not get the most current drivers to work the 1213-C batch no matter how much i messed with them. i did get them working with the .28 revision though, after about an hour of cleaning, reinstalling, restarting, etc.

from the looks of it, one of the cables i built back in 2009(my personal cable, complete in it's prototyping case and all) also had issues with the current drivers.

and for some reason, i couldn't get the .14 revision to work reliably... one time i restarted, connects just fine, unplug, wait a few seconds, plug back in, no connection. restart the computer, sometimes fixed it.

it's weird, but i guess it is just something that will need to be tested on every chip until official word gets out on a fix.

[EagleMark]

Sounds like chips have issues and then FTDI has made driver updates while no consistency in chips?

Man I thought we were done with driver issues, seems we had a few years there...

[phonedawgz]

Try removing all the drivers in Control Panel - Add/Remove Programs - Then go to the bottom - Windows Driver Package and remove all but the .14 drivers.

I include the .14 drivers with my cables. I have found that only the people who have had other than .14 drivers installed at one time are the only ones that have problems. First time scanner people never do.

Windows uninstaller sometimes doesn't always work, but that is where I would start. Uninstalling all the other than .14 drivers gives me 100% working on the 1213-C chips.

I will be talking to FTDI again next week about this.

[84Elky]

FTDI is still having troubles with their drivers. I have two batches of FT232RL boards here. One of the batches works 100% with the 2.08.30 (8.1.2013 release). The other batch works only 10% on the new .30 driver, or .28 or .24. 2.08.14 solves the problem however and works on all of them.

Below is the CDM 2.08.14 exe program. Down load it, unzip it and then run Setup_CDM2.08.14.exe. That will load the .14 drivers onto your PC. Then in Device Manager "update" BOTH the USB Serial Port (Under Ports (COM & LPT) and under Universal Serial Bus controllers update the entry USB Serial Converter.

In Update select "Install from a list or specific location" then choose "Don't search. I will choose the driver to install." Next you should see a screen with the drivers in your computer's library along with the 2.08.14. Select that for BOTH entries in Device manager.

You might have to reboot after this procedure, however I found that I did not have to.

Here is the installer for CDM 2.08.14 in my dropbox - https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/2242747/CDM%202.08.14.zip
Was having all manner of problems with bins verifying after uploading to AutoProm (see here: http://forum.tunerpro.net/viewtopic.php?p=12710#12710). So plugged in AutoProm and installed FTDI version 2.08.14 recommended here. Problem solved. Have 2-3 yr old HP laptop Win7 64 bit. Previous version of driver was 2.8.2.0.
But here are deviations from the quoted post:

FTDI Driver installed and automatically updated both the COM Port and the USB Converter to the new Driver version. Nothing else to do.
Windows does not show the installation of the new Driver package in Control Panel/Programs and Features - not listed. And v2.8.2.0 also was not shown.
But Windows does show "Windows Driver package - FTDI CDM Driver package (10/21/2009 2.06.00)", and it's listed twice. Have no clue what these are for, so reluctant to delete them.

Just curious as to why the above are listed and the new installation is not?

[phonedawgz]

Windows by default should be choosing the latest version of the driver. The procedure I described was a driver roll back and thus more complicated. No idea however as to why the new installation does not show in the installed list. Yes you SHOULD be able to now uninstall the old drivers, but why try and fix something that is not broken?

[antus]

Digging up a bit of an old thread, but ive been researching info about the counterfit FTDI chips that have been in circulation in the last 6 months and stumbled on this thread.

I believe the issues is just that, counterfit chips. FTDI appear to have modified their drivers to detect the bad silicon and cause them not to work. This is why the old driver that pre-dates the forgeries hitting the market still works.

According to this site http://zeptobars.ru/en/read/FTDI-FT232RL-real-vs-fake-supereal the forgeries have been made to be API compatible but not a copy of FTDIs silicon at all.

It seems the market has been flooded and many genuine companies have been stung. Ive also been stung, and it seems one must now be careful to buy only though official distribution channels. There are other reports around the net of the same.

[Tyree]

Updated my drivers to 2.0.14 on converter and on comport. Also removed all other FTDI drivers off my computer. Attempting to use Test for Valid interface settings in Tunerpro RT and It keeps failing. I used realterm and still get null characters as I did before.
Dbl check drivers and connections and still nothing. Does anybody know what the problem could be now

[antus]

I'd say you have got a clone chip and havnt ended up with the latest drivers (perhaps windows re-installed the current ones allready?) The description of what happens when the fake chips are detected from the link 2 posts above is:

"It seems that in this case Chinese designers implemented protocol-compatible "fake" chip, using mask-programmable microcontroller. This way they only needed to redo 1 mask - this is much cheaper than full mask set, and explains a lot of redundant pads on the die. Fake chip was working kinda fine until FTDI released drivers update, which were able to detect fake chips via USB and send only 0's in this case."

I think that because you are seeing all nulls in realterm, that shows that you are hitting this issue still.

[Tyree]

I did read that thread about clone chips and I suspected that. Thanks for the response. Look like I am just going to buy a cable from the site this time. Before I spend more money on another cable, is there any other test to verify that this is definatively the problem.?

[89S10_Project]

Subscribed as I am having what seems to be the exact same issue with my system.

I'm on an older Win7 laptop, even considering buying a new laptop (I'm an IT professional so I've been thinking about it for a while, thiw may be the last straw) just to have a known-good clean environment for it to fail on.... :)

I'm up to page 2, will read through and hopefully inspiration will strike and I'll realize how stupid I've been ;)

[89S10_Project]

Digging up a bit of an old thread, but ive been researching info about the counterfit FTDI chips that have been in circulation in the last 6 months and stumbled on this thread.

I believe the issues is just that, counterfit chips. FTDI appear to have modified their drivers to detect the bad silicon and cause them not to work. This is why the old driver that pre-dates the forgeries hitting the market still works.

According to this site http://zeptobars.ru/en/read/FTDI-FT232RL-real-vs-fake-supereal the forgeries have been made to be API compatible but not a copy of FTDIs silicon at all.

It seems the market has been flooded and many genuine companies have been stung. Ive also been stung, and it seems one must now be careful to buy only though official distribution channels. There are other reports around the net of the same.

It sounds like this may very well be my problem. The chips I'm using were purchased circa 2013, and are exhibiting the same flight performance- including not working at all since the latest drivers were installed.

I will be buying a prefab cable with OBD1 connector Friday and will leave the DIY route for future exploration. This way I'll have all needs addressed.

[phonedawgz]

You can try pulling up a terminal emulation program and trying out the port. Due to the nature of the wiring needed, you should get an echo of the characters sent. If instead you get null characters for every one sent you have the counterfeit problem.

[antus]

Its also not true that the chips work with the old drivers, at least the ones I had did not. I was on XP and installed the recommended older drivers and could connect to my ecm. But i couldnt log for more than a minute or two before the com port would crash (not sure if driver or hardware) and TP would lock right up until I disconnected the USB cable at which point TP came back to life but of course only counting data errors. Maybe with a smaller amount of data or at normal speeds they were more stable, or maybe whoever tested did not really give them a hammering, but I would not recommend using them for ALDL even if you do run the old driver.

[phonedawgz]

The data speeds that the GM OBD1 ECMs output is either extremely extremely slow (8192 baud) or extremely extremely extremely slow (130 baud), compared to the limits of the chips used (3,000,000 baud- 3 meg). I have quite a bit of experience with the genuine chips and with the fake chips. I have not seen the lock up problem before but I doubt it is coming from a data overrun of the fake or genuine chips.

[89S10_Project]

I am by no means an expert on GM EFI, but I know a thing or two about computers. Concur with phonedawgz, there's no way in this world that the GM EFI unit is buffer-overflowing the USB chips, real or phony.

Still wasn't able to get mine working. I get paid tomorrow, I need one of these cables ASAP. I'm in Charleston, SC- how quick can you get one to me, phonedawgz?

FTR, I will need a cable for a OBD1 setup in an 89 S10 Blazer. Originally had the "Vin Z" 4.3, now has a similar 5.7 running TBI with the 1227747 (or is it an 8062? Believe they are both compatible) ECM.

[phonedawgz]

PM replied to

[89S10_Project]

Got it working!

Another little bit for those having trouble getting the cable to pass the test out of the vehicle (particularly if building your own, will defer to the manufacturers and let them advise on their product):

Try shorting the TXD and RXD pins whilst testing. This was the final thing required for successful selftest and lead me to successfully getting data from my 89 S10 1227747 ECM.

If using this with a 160-baud ECM (specifically the 7747 above, no experience with others), lift the TXD wire off the arduino board as not only is the unit not needed, it will apparently hinder data transmission with some units.

Just FYI for the DIY set. Some of us can't resist rolling our own no matter how long it takes, just so we can say we did. That said, for testing this and other vehicles with other laptops, etc, I am still buying a set of cables from phonedawg.

[UR86D]

When I try and retrieve the driver out of the drop box I get an error 404, cant find the file. Any Ideas?

[phonedawgz]

Looks like the drivers aren't there anymore. Are you looking to download old drivers that might support suspected counterfeit chips or are you looking for the latest drivers?

Please note - If your chips are counterfeit, FTDI wrote the latest drivers to deprogram your chip. The chip will work the first time you use them with the new drivers and after that they simply fail.

The latest drivers are on my installation disk along with a collection of .ADX files sorted by year/model/engine

Hit the yellow box at the bottom of the page - Yes they will work with anyone's cable as long as it is FTDI based.

http://www.reddevilriver.com/aldl.html

FWIW - I have stopped purchasing boards and modifying them because I have been bitten way too many times with boards with fake chips. I now purchase my my chips from Mouser and simply assemble my own boards.

[UR86D]

That was the driver that eagle mark suggested i use, everything i have is a Moates product. I'm using the autoprom and it wont connect to my laptop during the com port section. 2.12.28.0 is automatically loaded when i connect it after uninstall

[phonedawgz]

The CDM 2.08.14 driver is contained in my zip file. It is in the GM USB Cable\Win x32 x64 ALDL Cable Driver install program directory