Using BMW software and cable

[SpatiallyAware]

I bought a cable last year that connects to my m coupe, but never got around to messing with it.

I started reading up on it last night but there seems to be a ton of outdated information.

Does anyone have any tips for me?

I want to be able to reset the battery life meter, as well as the oil change meter... I also would like to do some amp programming (use the amp sw from the roadster).

I have read about new software referred to as "the chinese software that comes with ebay cables" which is supposedly much easier to use, but there's no documentation or indication as to where it can be downloaded.


Thanks all

 

[iamwiz82]

What cable did you buy? BT?

 

[SpatiallyAware]

http://www.one-stop-electronics.com/shop/index.php?dispatch=products.view&product_id=16

 

[hans007]

i had one of those to get my sirius activated and got to watch a guy remotely hack my car and see him do it.

it seems pretty complicated, but on the newer cars its basically a vpn gateway into the car over tcp/ip.

i think the m-coupe probably uses the older style cables but its similar software. you might want to try to coding forums at bimmerfest.

http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=175

 

[SSSnail]

I read somewhere that you can get an app and a Bluetooth adapter for the ODBII connector, and do everything from a phone. Too lazy to look it up.

 

[SpatiallyAware]

i had one of those to get my sirius activated and got to watch a guy remotely hack my car and see him do it.

it seems pretty complicated, but on the newer cars its basically a vpn gateway into the car over tcp/ip.

i think the m-coupe probably uses the older style cables but its similar software. you might want to try to coding forums at bimmerfest.

http://www.bimmerfest.com/forums/forumdisplay.php?f=175

Bimmerfest is pretty much all fxx cars nowadays.

There's a bmw coding forum but it is extremely advanced.. They don't have much in the way of assistance for people new to the scene.

I'm going to research and mess with it this weekend.

 

[Railgun]

go to e90post then. There are tons of coding resources.

 

[amdhunter]

Nevermind. I don't know anything about this subject.

 

[SpatiallyAware]

Thanks all!

It doesn't matter where you go... e90post, bmwcoding, bimmerforums... No one has an even halfway decent complete 'starter' guide on this.

Past that, even if you find a guide the software is difficult to obtain, requiring torrents and all that crap.

I spent a good 6 hours over the weekend just finding guides and sw, and still haven't gotten anything installed yet.

 

[Apex]

I just ordered the same software/cable yesterday. Got to figure it out too when it comes.

 

[SpatiallyAware]

Just an update, got it figured out this weekend.

I probably spent 6+ hours reading guides and how-tos yesterday. It is REALLY easy to screw up your car. I very much suggest reading and FULLY understanding trace files, the fsw_psw.man file, and how easy it us to 'blank out' your modules if you are just screwing around in ncs expert.

Everything is in german, so make sure you take your time making 100% sure you're using the correct settings and clicking the correct buttons in ncs expert as there is no "are you sure" prompt for anything. None of the tricks to convert to english worked for me, and all of the data is in german anyway, so not much point in changing the language of ncs expert, in my opinion. Also BE SURE to save and backup ANY coding, even if you're only changing 1 thing.

One major problem with all of this is BMW tries to take down all of the downloads. So, good luck following any guide as they routinely change depending on available software. I had to resort to torrents etc to find what I needed, and even then it was a pain.


In summary:

Install cable drivers. I was able to get my cable working using drivers from windows update on win7. Go into device properties and make sure the cable is on com 1. For most laptops you will first have to change your serial port to com 2 or something else to free up com 1.

Download and install bmw standard tools 5.0. Must be 32 bit system. There are workarounds with vm images, but I suggest just finding or buying an old 32-bit laptop to use for coding. BMW standard tools comes with a bunch of stuff, namely ncs expert and its affiliated programs. Apparently you can 'only' install ncs expert and INPA, but in my opinion it's easier to just install the entire package.

Download revtor's ncs expert profile to load into ncs expert.

Download latest daten files for your car/chassis and carefully update ncs expert folders. For my chassis current is v47 and bmw tools 5.0 only came with v38 for my car.


That's about it. I was able to recode my amplifer to a known-better coding and it DRAMATICALLY improved things.. As in, I was on the verge of spending a good chunk of change to upgrade my stereo but it's now not required. I also disabled the driver's seatbelt warning chime (annoying when warming up car).

 

[SpatiallyAware]

<snip>

I have read about new software referred to as "the chinese software that comes with ebay cables" which is supposedly much easier to use, but there's no documentation or indication as to where it can be downloaded.


Thanks all

Also, I figured out more info on this... There is a really easy to use scan tool/software called simply 'bmw scanner 1.4.0'.

The demo, which won't even read codes, it's extremely limited, will work with any cable.

The full version, which appears VERY useful, only works with the official $700 package OR with 'cracked' chinese cables along with 'cracked' chinese software.

Long story short, it's of no use for what I want. I'm not about to plug some janky software cracked cable into my car. It is also not for coding, it's more for reading CEL and resetting service indicators.