Ok got the rar fle still cant seem to locate the pdf instructions

 

The PDF file should be inside the archived files somewhere, they also made a DOC file as well.

 

thats on the site that has the softwear correct? i have sereched and cant seem to find going crazy

 

No, it is not on the site. It is in the files that you extracted from the RAR file. There are numerous directories and the instructions are in the root of the extracted files.

 

Ok,got it ill give it a try

 

Has anyone tried this with any other OBD II cables/interfaces?

Looking around, there are several that are wireless/bluetooth but I suspect they won't make the grade for this application.

This device can be had in a bluetooth, wireless or USB style and going back to the software that can be had for it, they are doing the same things with other cars (Ford, GM, Mazda, etc.) that we'd like to do on our MINI's.

http://www.obdkey.com/obd_support.asp

I'm just curious if anyone has looked at other connection devices or compared them as I am a bit leery of sending money off to a source in China that may or may not have the best quality control.

 

Stobeyprobey, have you found a setting to auto unlock the doors upon parking?

Cmcveay, there is a long discussion over at bimmerfile on interface cables.

 

I did find the setting for auto unlock. I haven't programmed it yet!

It is in the CAS module

ER_KEYOUT_AUTOVR

 

I don't think any OBDII cable will work (by the very definition of OBDII). In order to communicate with the BMW computer system you need a EDIABAS cable to make the connection with their software.

 

So, in looking through the bimmerfest threads, it looks like another big component is an external power source when you're applying your programming.

Has this been your experience strobeyprobey? Any information on your setup if so?

How does that K+DCAN USB cable from eBay compare to the Mongoose J2534 cable? Do they differ in functionality, or is the eBay cable just a generic version of the same thing?

 

It sounds like the Mongoose cable will let you load new or updated software to the modules in the car, while the cheaper eBay cable will only let you flip bits in the current software settings.

If you are loading new/updated software to the modules, you should have an external power supply to make sure the car's battery doesn't die in the middle of an update.

If all you're doing is flipping bits, you probably don't need one.

 

I guess then my follow up Q is does the Mongoose let you do both? I imagine the answer is yes, but better to be sure before spending that kind of scratch.

 

I've heard it said repeatedly that the Mongoose cable "lets you do whatever the dealership can do." I would assume this includes toggling various configuration options.

 

I haven't tried it yet, but I don't believe the Mongoose will allow you to use INPA (diagnostic [only works on a couple of R56 modules]), NCS or DIS. Because that trio of software need a native EDIBAS cable where as the Mongoose uses a J2534 protocol.


That's why I have, unfortunately, have both cables right now.

And fishbert is correct about the power supply. For software reloads on the car it can take many hours to complete and you need to provide the car with at least 25 amps of power at 14V (40 amps is recommended) during the entire process. If the voltage drops below a particular value the programming will abort.

For NCS the actual reading and coding process is a few seconds. But if you are sitting in the car working on it for awhile, I would highly recommend at least a 25 amp digital charger (like a Vector [now Black and Decker]).

 

Thanks for all the information. I decided to pull the trigger on the K+DCAN cable on eBay. I think that everything I'm interested in trying can be doing with NCS Expert (and Dummy). I'll save the firmware updates and retrofits for when I really feel adventurous.

After doing some research, it looks like the Deutronic DBL800-14 is the Rolls Royce of automotive power supplies/chargers. At $1600, it had better be. It also looks as though people have been using a wide variety of stuff without running into trouble, so I bet I can probably find something for much cheaper at Harbor Freight.

 

I LOVE Harbor Freight, but I have had a bunch of chargers that all have failed to work properly from there. I would highly recommend looking elsewhere (like Walmart).

And NCS works great for most retrofits! You could easily use it for IBOC, bluetooth (like I did), fog lights, MFSW, and many others.

 

i use a midtronics psc 550s less then $500

 

I've gotten the requisite cable and I've been able to read the CAS module in my R56, but that's about the extent of it.

I've been able to enable the comfort closing feature, but I'm not able to read any other of the modules. When I try to output the trace files, I get COAPI-2000/SYS-0005 error messages telling my object file not found.

I'm crawling the forums looking to see if there are any solutions to be found out there. Does this sound like something you've run into before strobeyprobey?

 

Make sure you have the R56 v34 or v38 daten files from Progman or ISTA/P in the ncs expert directory structure. As I have been able to read every car so far (including a 2010 car) you should be fine once you get those files copied over.

I do get errors trying to read many modules, but i can read the ABG, RAD2, CAS, and the FRM modules just fine with NCS.

But before you start using NCS, see if INPA will connect to the car. INPA only will connect to a few modules like the radio and a couple of others I can't remember. When you launch INPA you should see the ignition signal light up appropriately. When you hit shift F3 to launch a diagnostic for the radio 2 it should load up a screen where you can view a bunch of info. That insures the EDIBAS (you should see it in your xp tray) is working.

 

Actually it turns out the problem was with permissions on the EDIABAS\ECU folder and it's contents. It may be because I did the install on a Windows 7 machine, instead of XP. For some reason, there was no problem getting to CAS.PRG to read that module, but none of the others were accessible.

I traced the error message with inpa_faq.pdf.

Once I got the permissions problems squared away, I was able to read out many other modules. I'm still missing about five or six PRG files in the ECU folder that are keeping me from reading the rest of the modules like RLS, and SZL. All told, I was able to read out ten modules, while missing files for eight others. The files are probably floating out there somewhere on the greater internets.

Now I get to spend alot of time in NCS Dummy seeing what I can do with ten modules worth of trace files.

One other questions I have is what is the difference between the choosing CAS versus FRM when reading from the ECU? They both seem to list the same modules.

 

I am interested to hear how things go, as I only have Windows 7 laying around to use when my cable arrives… no copies of XP.

 

You know you can run a version of XP inside of 7 right?

 

in some versions (professional, ultimate), yes.
in my version (home premium), no.

 

In this case, my computer is a Dell Mini 1012 I got for small projects like this, running the version of Windows 7 Starter that it came with. I don't get the XP compatibility mode.

That said, I followed the same procedure that strobeyprobey did for the K+Can/OBD cable. The only thing I had to do was fix the permissions on the EDIABAS folder on C:\. Really, the only thing I did was make a new copy of the folder and its contents. The new copy didn't retain the weird perms, then dropped the copy in for the original.

I also did a test run install inside a Windows XP VM running in VMware Fusion on my MacBook prior. Same install procedure, but without any permissions issues. This installation also had no problems interfacing with the car, I just prefer to run native for this sort of thing.

 

Did anything change drastically on the 2011 models that would keep me from doing what you guys are? Anyone know?