Unexpected VCDS discovery

VAG fool

Member
I have had this bit of software onba secondhand GoBook3 for years, never actually paid much attention to it until recently. I bought a Gendan VCDS lite cable and was trying to set up the ports, with no success...I think that I now know why!
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What now?
 
If it is a legitimate license you should be able to update to the newest software under the option button. Have tried this? After the update has been succesfully . Test the usb port. In our A2 the canbus will display not OK. But that is fine.
 
This was installed by the laptop's last owner. I dont have the cable/dongle so I fear that it may actually be useless.
 
Your new Gendan cable does not support full fat VCDS only Lite. That software on the laptop was for a cable you do not have. That version of VCDS should not prevent you setting up Lite. It may actually help as it will have the ports set up so use that information to set up your Lite. May aswell just delete the software.
 
Best source for any RossTech software is always directly from their own site. Best UK source of cables and interfaces is Gendan - they're who I used 20 years ago when I bought my (still working perfectly) Hex+CAN full-fat interface. Can't believe how much they are now though.
 
Downloaded the Gendan instructions to the letter, opened the driver software, but XP is being an arse and the usb lead is not being recognised (it is not appearing on the list below COM 4)
Got the 22 yo IT expert on it (moaned endlessly about the awfulness of XP) but they cant find the fault either.
Downloaded Lite from Ross-tech, just because.
 
Did you note the settings from the other VCDS and then delete it from the laptop? There is a chance the other version USB driver has been modified so that does need to be uninstalled first.
This youtube video may help...


 
Long time since played with lite. IIRC during the install if it found another driver it asked you to remove it first before installing the new driver. Did the video help, especially the part where it shows you which port the computer has set up for the lead, which you then use in the VCDS set up.
 
If I recall with xp you load the driver then insert the cable into the port. You could also try unplugging the cable and rebooting the laptop then plug in the cable to see if that works. Pretty sure if you do it as per the video it works fine. In this case it may either just the wrong order or to do with the other version of VCDS. Do you have another laptop or pc to try?
 
I have another IT friend who uses VCDS and has offered to take a look at it via TeamViewer, its good to have options
 
If you had the cable plugged in, before installing the correct serial/USB driver, the pc will have allocated a default USB driver to the device, (the cable).
You'll need to use Device Manager to remove the device (cable) and driver, then restart the pc, and install the correct driver.
Turn the pc off, plug in the cable, switch on the pc, and, with luck, it'll pick up the new serial driver.
Mac.
 
Finally...I have the cable recognized on the port list as "USB serial port COM8"
My problem is that if I delve into the advanced properties I find that COM 1-7 are all in use...
Although, on the device manager list it only shows COM1, 2 and 4
PS to get this far I had to uninstall both VCDS and VCDS Lite. The full version probably wouldn't have worked without a dongle cable anyway.
PPS I have now set it to COM3, test says Port staus OK, Interface not found.
 
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Finally...I have the cable recognized on the port list as "USB serial port COM8"
My problem is that if I delve into the advanced properties I find that COM 1-7 are all in use...
Although, on the device manager list it only shows COM1, 2 and 4
PS to get this far I had to uninstall both VCDS and VCDS Lite. The full version probably wouldn't have worked without a dongle cable anyway
VCDS Lite selects the port, don't think you can influence it yourself. Just run test on the first vcds screen, to see which port it's using (probably 3 or 4).
Mac.
 
It was selecting COM 8, obviously that cant be in used in VDCS Lite so I changed it to COM 3.
If it still doesn't work I shall walk away and just use my Sealey VAG code reader
 
Vcds only lists comms 1 - 4 on it's options. Where are you seeing comms 8?
Maybe you have old devices/drivers installed, use Device Manager to get rid of them, to free up ports. Then remove the serial driver, restart and reinstall it.
Mac.
 
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