RomRaider

The other day i went to log my buddies car after flashing a map and the logger quit working. I was able to flash fine using ecuflash but when i went to use RR to log, the program automatically disconnected after about a minute being connected to the ecu. I would get the same message at the bottom of the screen that refers to you not having the car on. "Unable to detect ecu make sure car is turned on" or something like that. I used a buddies computer to log it to make sure the map i loaded was working well and safe for him to make the 60 mile drive home that night. Well the next day I went to log my car and the same thing. I wasn't able to stay connected to the ecu for longer then a minute. I was able to log a few other friends' cars, 04 sti 05 sti 02 wrx and another 05 a within a couple weeks prior to this issue. Also I havn't changed anything in over 6 months of running RR on this computer. Everything was working fine until the other day.

What I am using
Openport 1.3u
Windows Vista
Toshiba Laptop

Questions

1. My RTC battery is dead so would that effect RR at all. Even if I have my clock and date set current?
2. Any ideas what is going on?
3. Could have just been a bug?
4. My laptop battery doesn't like to hold a charge but I just use an inverter plugged into the car. I havn't had any issues there either in the past couple months that I have had the battery problem, but can this be a problem as well?

I am going to uninstall everything and reinstall it to see if it that helps it. But any other ideas on what could be going on in the mean time would be much appreaciated.

Thanks guys... off to do the reinstallation...

Bubba! Nice to see you on this side of the pond!

I'm sure Dale's going to chime in with you posting a log file from RR, but a re-installation might well sort it out. Also make sure that you're running all the latest definition files whilst you're at it.

I'm thinking that your laptop is picking up some interference in the USB cable which in turn is crashing the USB port/driver. A power cycle probably makes it work again for a few more minutes.

A dead battery is a poor power line filter and since you are on an inverter, unless it's a pure sign wave version (this means $$$ kind) you could be seeing power supply noise too.

Also you could have issues with ground loops which allow current to travel to/from the laptop along two different paths to the car, 1) via the USB cable and 2) along the inverter cable. Since these two connections don't meet the car at the same point you can get a loop and this can be a source of noise too.

Any chance of using a different computer? or get a used or cheap China battery?

I doubt very much uninstall and reinstall will do anything as the only software that is "installed" is the USB port driver for the OS to interface with. The rest is Java based and not installed on the computer, at least not from Windows perspective.

i had/sometimes still have issues like this.

ended up being a loose obd2 connector.

Or dirty USB connector. I clean mine with contact cleaner a couple times a year.

Yeah I lurk around on here and pick up and learn as much as possible from time to time... I have learned alot from here... I didn't even think of the latest definition files so I will make sure that I dl those too.



Well I have already uninstalled everything so I may as well give it a shot. I also got a new battery today in hopes that it will help out. On a different computer I have no problems connecting and staying connected to the ecu. Thanks for the thoughts on the battery I am hoping that is the issue. Also since i have replaced the battery I havn't seen the "CMOS failure" message so I am hoping it fixed that too. As soon as I get romraider installed and if I have time before my wife goes to work I will try a quick log and see if I can stay connected.



I am going to go do this asap since you mentioned it. Great idea thanks



Yeah the odd thing though would be two cars with loose obdII ports though. Unless the cable side ended up getting loose. But last time i noticed the plug fit like a glove.


Thanks for the input guys. I will let you know how it all plays out either tonight or tomorrow

Update:

Im not sure what it was since I did pretty much everything that was suggested at once. I reinstalled ecuflash and romraider, redownloaded all the definitions, cleaned the pins on the the cable, got a new laptop battery and reinstalled Learning View. Everything is working perfect now. Thanks guys for the helps and ideas!