I have had a few questions about what interfaces will work with the software. To the best of my knowledge There are two known to work and one other that may work. These are Andy W's interface and Gregg K (which has to be built diy) these two are known working. The other possible is the Jeff Noxon opto=coupler design(do a web search for the url). There are some interfaces that definately WONT work. These include any that have embedded protocol such as the Elm chip devices.Dougs software will not work with these.

 

I hauled an old desktop machine out to the garage and fired it up. I have the jumper on the interface set to position 1, am 100% sure I have the wires into the correct positions on the 19-pin socket. With ignition on, I can measure 12V between the black and red wires. If both leds are connected, the L led flashed on/off when scantool tries to connect. If I disconnect the L-led as per robbed666's post, the K-led flashes. However, none of the modules connect in either of the variations I tried (1 or both led's disconnected or connected). :-(

I cannot get any response from the interface board using hyperterminal with 12V applied.

Before I give up, does anyone have any other suggestions?

 

Jumper on interface should be in position A nearest edge of board. It sounds like it is nearly working as k led flashes. If hyperterminal is not echoing back then there is something wrong with either jumper or possibly lead between PC & interface. Does your lead have all wires connected not just TX, RX & ground?

I shall try to have a go with my new spare interface tomorrow if it is dry. So far I have only bench tested it.

Pete

 

Thanks.

I am using a regular 9-pin serial cable between com1 on the desktop and the interface board. The 3 jumper pins are labelled L, K and 1. I have it set to connect K and 1 (closest to edge). Moving the jumper does nothing.

I am so close yet so frustrated!

 

L K & 1 are abbreviation for link1. A & N are on the other side of the link. Sounds like it is in the correct position though.

With hyperterminal is flow control set to hardware? It might not echo back otherwise. When using hyperterminal check that the DTR signal goes high. If it does not then the RX at the PC will be disabled so the echo back will not work.

DTR should go high when running the scantool software. It will not work if it does not. You are running scantool from the scantool3.zip that I sent you?

Pete

 

Yes, I am running from scantool3.zip.

How do I check the DTR? I only have a dvm. I have tried hyperterminal with flow control set to xon/off and to hardware, no difference.

The photo is how the board that I received from Andy W looks like.

 

The jumper is in the correct position. You can check DTR with a dvm. Check across DTR & signal ground. It should go high & stay high so no scope is needed. If it is not high then the PC RX signal is disabled. When I had the original version of scantool I got it working by pulling the DTR signal high. I disconnected the wire at the PC end and attached it to 5v on the parallel port interface.

Pete

 

Sorry, I am still confused. Is DTR either one of the K or L lines? With 12V applied and hyperterminal connected, the orange wire (K) goes to 12V, the yellow (L) goes to 6.9V, both measured against the black GND wire. No echo though...

 

BTW, with the L led disconnected, the L line switches between 12V and 0V measured against GND when connecting/disconnecting hyperterminal. Still no echo.

 

Hi
Have you done a pin to pin check on your serial cable. Must be wired straight through, 1-1 2-2 etc all 9 pins preferably. if your getting the K LED flashing, that's a good indication that you've got data comming back. My K LED is off, until connected. I f the cable checks out, sounds like a level/threshold problem.

 

DTR is not K or L. It is a signal at the PC end(cant remember which wire) that controls how the interface works. The interface wont work correctly without it.

Pete

 

Thanks for your help Pete.

Can you post a screenshot of your hyperterminal window when the interface echos back?

Le Roux

 

Cant post a hyperterminal screenshot straight away. But if for example I type a single "A" then on the screen I see "AA".

Pete

 

Which type of serial cable are you guys using? The serial port on the back of the pc is male, same with the port wired into Andy W's board. So I have been using a female-female ( :-) ) serial cable, but this is not wired straight through on a 1-to-1 basis. Maybe this is my problem. I will raid a computer shop tomorrow to find a null-modem cable which I assume is wired straight through.

Le Roux

 

That may well be your problem. I have been using a 9f to 25m converter/25f to 25f converter/25m to 9f converter but all wired strauight through.

Pete