How to use CarSoft cable with INPA and DIS

[randomy]

• Software can be obtained in this thread: http://forums.bimmerforums.com/forum....php?t=1374483

After many weeks of reading, and struggling, finding sparse bits of information here and there, I have finally got DIS working and communicating with my E36, while using the CarSoft interface. Here is an article I wrote up to help anyone else who may be as frustrated as I was trying to get this to work:

• Begin by inserting the CD or mounting the image

• Navigate to the “<CD DRIVE>:\Referenz\INSTALL” folder
• Launch the file “Instprog.exe”

• Select English, then press Continue

• Press Continue

• Leave C:\ as destination drive, and press Continue

• Select BMW Group Recertification programs USA and press Continue

• Place check marks on the option for Complete next to EDIABAS and INPA, then press Continue

• Select OBD as interface and press Continue

• Press End when the installation has completed

• Open Windows Explorer and navigate to the folder “C:\Ediabas\Bin”
• Locate the file EDIABAS.INI, and open it with notepad

• Locate the line for “remotehost” and “port” adjust to “192.168.68.1” and “6801” respectively

• Save and close the file.
• Navigate to the folder “C:\EDIABAS\Hardware\OBD” and launch the file OBDSetup.exe

• A screen similar to this will appear, just press any key to close it:

• Press Windows+Break to open System Properties:

• Proceed to the Advanced tab, and press the Environment Variables button:

• Find the Path system variable, highlight it and press Edit

• At the end of the path statement, add a semicolon, and the path “C:\ediabas\bin” then press OK

Using CarSoft Interface with INPA

• Attach your CarSoft interface cables to the diagnostic port under the hood, and to your computer. Open Device Manager, and make certain that your port is:
  • Assigned to COM1
  • FIFO buffers are enabled
  • Receive and Transmit Buffers are set to 8

Note: I have found it is necessary to run CarSoft once to get the interface to work with INPA. Perhaps this is initialize the interface, if you have more information about this, please let me know.

• Start CarSoft, and perform a diagnosis of the DDE:

When the test completes you can close CarSoft. If it fails, you need to get your communications with your interface and CarSoft working before continuing:

• Start INPA with the shortcut INPA(_.IPO)

• Try and perform a test. ( My car is an E36 328i)

[Rallyfinnen]

Thank you for the great instruction! Will have to try this sooner or later!

[xisco44]

can i use the vag com usb cable instead of the carsoft interface?

[randomy]

DIS with INPA interface

Now that INPA is working, we can get DIS to work with the same interface.

• Open “Manage Virtual Networks” for VMWare and proceed to the Host Virtual Network Mapping tab:

• Click the arrow beside VMnet1 and click Subnet:

• Enter 192.168.68.0 for IP Address and press OK:

• Open Windows Explorer and navigate to “C:\EDIABAS\Bin” and launch the file IFHSrv32.exe.

• A windows does not open, it simply places an icon on your task bar:

• Open VmWare, and edit your DIS virtual machine to only have one Ethernet adapter, and assign it to VMnet1:

• Start the DIS Virtual Machine:

• Click on Administration:

• Under the DIS item, click on Calibrating Touch-Screen.
• Enter password (dealer #) and the following screen will appear:

• Enter “1” to Configure EDIABAS and press enter:
• Then type “2” and press enter to run “API test” - If you see the following menu, the test is successful:

If the test was not successful, there is likely a network communication problem.

• Exit the screen by typing in “0” and pressing enter. Exit the remaining screens by pressing “9” and enter.
• The system will reboot.
• After the system reboots, and DIS comes up again, click on Diagnosis and the following screen appears:

• Select your model of car, and press the arrow to continue:

• You will likely receive errors about battery power, click Ok to these:

• After this, select manual to identify your vehicle:

• Choose your vehicle and press the arrow to continue:

• Choose a module, and press the arrow:

• If you see something like this, then you have read the data from the module, and you can begin further diagnostics

A couple of notes:
-Contrary to popular suggestion, I did not need to use the diagnostic head emulaor
-Did not need to bridge ethernet connections
-Did not need to edit hosts file on either computer
-I named my laptop "diaghead" in attempt to get DIS working, this is likley not neccesarry.
-Nothing appears under "free diagnostic heads" in DIS

[hc1001]

sry for my ignorance, what do these programs do?

i have carsoft and the cables. where can i find INPA and DIS installation files?

thanks =D

[LPCapital]

I'll give it a try tonight... Thanks for sharing it!!!

Any idea if a similar trick wold work with SSS?

Oh, and btw,congrats on accomplisched what couldn't be done!!!!

[randomy]

I got SSS\Progman working also. I'll do a write-up for it later on.

[LPCapital]

Originally Posted by randomy

I got SSS\Progman working also. I'll do a write-up for it later on.

THAT is great!!!

I almost got all the pieces to do the trick: only the DIS is missing and it's soooo hard to find...

[LPCapital]

Greetings!!!!

I got all the pieces of the puzzle and started working it out tonight. I wasn't expecting to get it to work at first trial, but afterall everything went pretty good. Nonetheless I'm encountering some problems.

When I run OBDSetup.exe, I actually get this:



Which I believe is the source of this error which appear when I run INPA(_.IPO) or IFHSrv32.exe:



When in the DIS I run the API test, I get this:



Any suggestion?

Thanks a lot

PS: your instruction are very well done and very easy to follow: great job!!! The only note I have is that what you call "Calibration Touch-Screen" is actuall "Calibration Touch-Shield"...

[randomy]

try deleting the key SERIAL from the registry, and then re-running the OBDSetup file again.

Also, thanks for the feedback,

[LPCapital]

Looks like the registry problem is solved.

I deleted the key and run OBDSetup again but that didn't solve it. So I import my old SERIAL subgroup and edited th key to make it look like this:



I basically had to add the missing DWORD values and modify the value data to what your screen from OBDSetup. The DWORD that were missing were the one causing "failed" line in OBDSetup

This took care of the registry error.

Btw, EVERYONE BE AWARE OF MODIFYING THE REGISTRY. BEFORE YOU DO ANYTHING MAKE SURE YOU EXPORT THE ORIGINAL SERIAL SUBGROUP SO IF PROBLEM OCCUR YOU CAN RESTORE IT... I just added values, so that shouldn't create a problem, but it's always better be safe than sorry

New problem

When I start the virtual machine, I now get to this window:



the problem is I can type a login, but not a password (the only key that would work is Enter)...

This window appear after all the mump jumbo stops and the System is coming up should appear... Any idea other that recreate the VM from scratch?

[Rallyfinnen]

Thank you randomy! Great instruction!

I did everything as described, and installation smooth! I guess theoretically it should work, but when I try DIS diagnosis I only get a time-glass, and nothing happens.

-I use a chinese OBD interface and USB-serial adapter.

-Operating system is XP

-VMWare is v 5.5.1 (I had it installed already)

-Ediabas 6.4.7 & 6.4.3 tested

-INPA works as long as it's configured as STD:OBD, but if it try to run it as ADS there is no connection even if i run the adssetup first.
I also verified this on another laptop with a serial port, but it still only works when it's configured as OBD. Does it need to be configured as ADS for ifhservice to work..?

I can see on the usb-serial converter that the LEDs are not blinking, so there is no communication attempt when I run DIS.

I'm thinking next step would be to try to install everything on the laptop with serial port too, even if it's old and slow.


Randomy: I know your situation, first you invest a lot of time tinkering and making instructions, and then all you get is a lot of stupid questions, so I feel a bit reluctant to post this..

[nele]

LPcapital:
Enter login "dis" than press enter.
Then on prompt for password if any press enter again (don't type anything).
After that you'll probably be in shell, then "su root" and press enter.. I think you'll make it there..

[RavenII]

I have just a few questions that might help others...as they are VERY confusing to me.

1. Round or OBD or Both?
2. Are the eBay cables that come as OBD with BMW round adapters fine to use?
3. Does one do something the other can't?
4. Anything else that should be known?

I really appreciate this thread as I tried to start a FAQ/help thread which seems to have died. Thanks again man.

[David Mc]

You are always better off using the round 20 pin diagnostic port if available as it can access more modules than are available via the OBD port. OBD is concerned primarily with engine and emissions functions only. Most EBay cables originate from China and many do not include a connection to pin 16 of the round 20 pin port, which detects when the ignition is switched on. In practice this is not a huge problem, just annoying if your interface is not wired to allow it to pick up power from another source. I have and do use cables from EBay but there are substantially better cables available.

[RavenII]

So... hxxp://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/BMW-CAR-1-3-6-1-36-PA-SOFT-Diagnostic-PC-Tool-Scanner_W0QQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp3286Q2ec0Q2em14 QQhashZitem33547fe8d1QQitemZ220461000913QQptZMotor sQ5fAutomotiveQ5fTools#ht_4906wt_941

[David Mc]

The item you are referring to is a PA Soft interface and cable set, not INPA or Carsoft.

[Rallyfinnen]

I've been trying to get DIS communicating with my car all weekend, but still no luck.
I installed everything on another laptop with a serial port, but it was still the same, no connection with the car, even if ifhserv shows the configured IP after running the test or trying to connect to the car.
I searched on the internet and tried with diaghead emulator, i also tried to edit the host file in XP, played around with network on VMnet1.
I always get the IP in ifhserv, but never got a free diaghead in DIS even if I was running the emulator.
Seems there are diffrent ways to do this, but the only full instruction I found is by Randomy, the other ones I only found are just bits and pieces, and now I tried so many things I can't even remember half of them. Still no luck..
I'm running out of ideas at the moment. Will see if I find some info about ifhserv, seems to me that is where the communication is interrupted..?

[randomy]

you wont get a free daighead appearing in DIS, I never have. I know the frustration, I could onlyu find bits and pieces which is why I've put these step-by-step article together. One thing that my be missing, that I shoudl perhaps re-visit, is that you must first get INPA working before trying to get DIS to work...well you don't have to, but it will make it easier. Have you got INPA working\communicating to your vehicle?

[LPCapital]

Originally Posted by nele

LPcapital:
Enter login "dis" than press enter.
Then on prompt for password if any press enter again (don't type anything).
After that you'll probably be in shell, then "su root" and press enter.. I think you'll make it there..

Thanks a lot my friend!!!! I'll give it a try tonight

And sorry if my questions are dumb, but I'm no IT geek... I'm just an autodidact...

[Rallyfinnen]

Yeah, the instruction was really good (a lot of companies should hire you to write their manuals!) I had no problems following it, and everything went just as described, with the exception of communication with the car
INPA connects, but no connection when I run DIS even if ifhserv seems to be connected to DIS.
Could it have something to do with my interface that is a INPA OBD, and not Carsoft?

Today I did not have the motivation to bang my head against the wall trying to get DIS to work, so I was digging around in my OBD interface instead. Tried to get the ignition handling to work(after reading about the vagcom interfaces), but for some reason that failed too even if I had voltage on the right rs232-pin.. Maybe I'm cursed with bad luck whenever do something with bmw diagnostics!

[randomy]

So you can run INPA and get information from the DME with it?

[LPCapital]

I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong here, but I can't get out of this screen. Using DIS as login worked to get to the root, but now I'm stuck again...

[Rallyfinnen]

Yes, I had several versions of INPA working since i first started with this, but DIS would not communicate anyway
I have a 740 e38 -95 that I'm testing this on, there are some bugs in INPA when i read DME analogue values (for example lamda voltage) but it has always been like that. Communication in general is ok and works on other ECU's too.

I tried DIS on two computers, both had INPA working, but DIS will not work even if the ifhserv gets the correct IP after running the test or starting diagnostics.

I noticed that after playing around a lot, on one laptop the virtual machine will not restart automatically after running the ediabas test. Test result is ok but when I exit, it will not start DIS again, I have to stop it in VMWare and start it again. This only happened on one of the laptops, the other one is still restarting DIS automatically. But I don't think this is really a problem.

LPCapital: Have you tried a reinstall? Everything worked fine for me on two computers, so maybe something vent wrong on yours during installation?
Just delete the virtual machine and create a new one.

[randomy]

Originally Posted by LPCapital

I'm not sure what I'm doing wrong here, but I can't get out of this screen. Using DIS as login worked to get to the root, but now I'm stuck again...

Try typing "INIT 6" (without the quotes)