qikslvr

Got a new laptop, so I am having to reload all this stuff and get it all working. Also have another FTDI/dongle/usb-serial driver I'll get posted too. Again, a thread on using this cable to flash with OS software is in the near future. I'll take care of the technical stuff and leave the actual tuning discussion out of it. I'll try to make the first post the homebase for all the relevent data in that one.

I finallly got another cable; so I'll be doing some other stuff with the OS software again too. I'll try to post up a walk through for reading/flashing your ECU image using ECU flash and this cable too.

You may be able to use an STI 5MT clutch fork and return spring setup... Just an update. I'm still rolling fine on my Spec Stg2 clutch and LWFW after almost 18 months and 20K miles. Has never slipped and pedal still feels stock. I get some whining in the morning when it's cold out, but it goes away after the car warms up. Otherwise it's perfect for a Stg2 setup. We'll see shortly how it handles a 20g.

Well, if the laptop is depending on the car charger to get power and all power is cut to accessories while cranking; the laptop and the car both have a power dip right there when you start the car. This could easilly cause communications problems.

Glad to hear you got it working. I know it can be a pain in the azz to get it dialed in, but once it's working; it stays working. Just try to use the same ports everytime to keep the software happy. And good call on the power inverter. That could be what has plagued many of the others who have had the same issue. I'll edit that into the destructions somewhere. Oh and now I know why I felt a little ill the other day:lol:.

Sorry I've been MIA for the last few weeks and haven't been in to check my threads. Looks like the community is getting the hang of this and that's great to see. As stated earlier; you should be able to use any application with this cable once the drivers are properly installed and the communications settings are configured in the apps. The biggest issue with reading/flashing ROM images seems to be related to version of ECUFlash you are using. I use version 1.34 and have had no issues(send me your e-mail and I can send it to you as a .zip). Again, It's just a matter of getting the communications settings dialed in and everything else should follow.

Thanks for posting a success story. I have yet to figure out why sooooo many people have problems with it.

Just an FYI. Nowhere in here have I ever stated that this is the best way to go about it; nor do I recommend it for everyone. This thread was meant to be a "how to" for those of you who had already bought the cable and needed to get it working. No it's not always easy and I guess it just doesn't work for some people, but those who have made it work find it to be just as usefull as the Taxtric cable at a much lower price. I'm no example though since I use my APv1 cable to log and StreetTuner-Advanced to tune and load maps. Again, if you can make it work it's great, but may not be worth the effort for some who want true plug and play convenience. Good Luck All.

The "bad cable" thought has been on my mind, but I didn't want to throw it out just yet. It a possibility. Like Fish says every batch of anything has a couple bad ones in it. As far as we have seen; if it works once on any computer it should work on any pc/laptop, but if it won't work on several puters then it's probably the cable.

I've never tried it with Vista, but I have ECU Explorer, StreetTuner-Advanced, ECUflash, Romraider, ECUedit, LogWorks and a half a dozen other tuning/logging softwares installed an it still worker on my laptop and others. O.K. guys lets run through this one time. 1. While the cable is plugged into the computer go into "windows device manager" and find the COM port that corrosponds to your cable. Then highlight it and delete/remove it. 2. Unplug the cable(cancel out of hardware wizard if it pops up). 3. Try not to use the same USB port that you use for your APv2 if you have one. 4. Shut down the computer. 5 Plug the cable in. 6. Turn the computer back on. 7. After computer hits desktop and starts hardware wiz. direct it to the folder where you extract the FTDI driver. 8. Allow the computer to complete the install. 9. Reboot with the cable still plugged in. At this point you should have the drivers for the cable properly installed. Now don't unplug the cable or shut the computer down... 1. Go out to your car and connect the cable to the car. 2. Turn the key forward to the "ON" position(last click before it cranks the starter). 3. Open RR or whatever you use to log and select your COM port. 4. Open device manager and go to the COM port for you cable. 5. Go to the second tab "port setting" as shown below. 6. Change the BAUD/bits per second drop box to From 9600 to 4800. 7. Look back at the logging software at the top right to see what it says. It should now be green and say "reading the ECU"... or whatever. You should be able to select a parameter form the top left box and see it appear on the right side of the screen. If it is communicating with the ECU then press the Rear Defroster and see if it changes the message to "logging data to file" and press it again to stop. You should now be able to start the car and have the program remain running and reading live data. I've gotten it to work rock solid on several laptops in minutes. The only other thing I can think of is that you guys might have bad cables or something. Maybe try the 7200 bits/sec setting or make sure you got the right cable.

Just a thought. Try 2400 BAUD setting.

Let me think about this for a minute and I'll post what I come up with shortly.

Cool. Once it finally takes the driver; it usually sticks. It helps to plug the cable into the same USB Port every time too. That way the cable is assigned the same COM Port# everytime also. Good luck and let us know how it's going.

+1 We can get it to work, but it going to take a lot of back and forth. A clean install of XP would help greatly. XP seems to have a hard time letting go of old stuff and making room for new stuff after a while.

You may need to disable a different USB device or COM Port in order to free up resources for the cable. I don't think it's the cable or the driver. I think it's something else on your laptop that is hogging resources. Check how many COM ports you have showing and also look under USB controllers and see which USB ROOT HUB the cable shows up on when you plug it in. If all else fails; maybe I can e-mail you a version of the driver that has it's own install shield. That way you can install the driver before you plug the cable in.

Which driver are you using? What is the name of the file it is trying to find when you browse for a driver and it errors out??? You should be able to download it, extract it and install it. Try plugging in the cable and then canceling out of the HW install wizard when it automatically pops up. After that go into device manager and find the errored out device and go to the properties for it. Select the drivers tab and click "update driver". Direct it to the folder that contains the extracted driver files and it should pick it right up. If not, you might have the wrong cable or the wrong driver. If you chose to move the driver into the windows directory; you should have moved it to C:\windows\system32; or placed the driver in c:\windows\drivers in it's own folder so the install wiz can find it.

gigiddy gigiddy, gigiddy gooo

That is the exact symptom of the incorrect BAUD rate in the Com Port settings. It will connect and then be looking for the ECU and then connect, but won't lock in. The computer is trying to read data faster than the car's ECU can spit it out over the wire. When you slow the BAUD rate down to 4800 it will sync and lock in. After that this cable seems to work just as well as any other;).

Finally got my idle to go up to 900RPMs. Was back in an older Basemap doing as many critical changes as I could fit before hitting the byte limit; reflashed and it took this time. That and another little tweak to the TDC(upped lower RPMs to 4.02) keeps it from dipping too low when I put the clutch in and let the RPMs drop. The LWFW feels much better at idle and during shifts.

Thanks for that link Greg. That's the one we were looking for in my garage that night and ended up at the site I linked to. Ya it actually doesn't work. I'm just yankin all yer chains:lol:.

Stairway27: Most of what you are hearing is well, "normal" for these setups. A little clicking off the line is a given and the TOB squeal in neutral with the clutch out can be fixed with the return spring mod or some pedal adjustment. There is no physical damage that is creating the gearbox noise; it's always been there, but now it's being broadcast into the cabin by the shifter since the LWFW won't absorb it. Adding some STI Motor, Pitch Stop and Tranny mounts makes mine even louder, so I just install them on track days. I've found that the best way to keep the gear noise down is to never let my foot completely off the gas pedal. Even when coasting, it makes a big difference if you just lightly rest your foot on the gas pedal. My rolling gear noise is most noticable above 2K RPMs and below 4K RPMs in pretty much every gear. It's bad enough that I've thought about getting an OE flywheel put back in too.

Alright since there are several people trying to get this cable to work; I figured I would throw out some very basic steps that I used to get mine and several others working properly with some of the popular OS logging software. First off you will need a driver for the cable that is not included with it. This is the winXP driver we use: FTDI 2.04.06 Other are available here : http://www.ftdichip.com/Drivers/D2XX.htm (link to driver page http://www.ftdichip.com/FTDrivers.htm) Extract the .zip file and remember where you put it as you will need it when you plug the cable into the usb port and the install box pops up. During the driver install; point Windows Installer to the folder where you placed the unzipped files and install the driver. You may need to adjust the cable's/driver's COM port settings in order to get it to work properly: First, go into Device Manager for Windows(right click "my computer" on desktop, go to properties, then hardware tab and click "device manager button) Then look under ports(COM and LPT) for the FTDI port(cable must be plugged into the computer at this point) and right click and go into properties for the FTDI cable driver. Then go to the settings tab and look at the BAUD Rate. If it is 9600; you will need to drop the box change it to 4800. This should slow the data rate of the driver/port and allow the cable to connect to the car's ECU properly. Be sure to note the COM port number assigned to the FTDI port as you will need to select it in the logging software. I was also able to get this cable to work with ECUflash. The software I used to read my ECU image/ROM is available here: http://www.openecu.org/index.php?title=EcuFlash I and others have also used it to datalog with RR. This is meant to be a quick start or install thread, not a be all end all solution for everybody. You will still need to learn how to use each software package. I would like for this to be a thread where we can all share our knowledge as it relates to this piece of hardware and any software that it works with. Let's keep this discussion positive and feel free to ask questions. Myself and others will do our best to assist in any way possible. My only problem with tech support at the moment is that I don't have one of these cables in my posession. I guess I'll need to buy another. THIS CABLE WILL NOT WORK WITH CAN-BUS(2007+) ECU's. This cable works only with 05-06 LGT's However, if you have done ANY research into the subject; you would know that. That is the reason they created the Tactrix v2 cable...

I'm almost tempted to put a stock flywheel back in (when I re-build my tranny this winter) just to see if the noise is more from the clutch or the LWFW. I get some very mild clicking if I ride the clutch in first, but the jerking is gone and it will almost roll off the line smoothly without giving it any throttle. My biggest issue with the LWFW is the vibe you get under 2000 RPMs in 4th and 5th. I now tend to drive one gear lower and closer to 3K than to 2K RPMs most of the time. Most of the FW noise in mine comes from the gears when coasting in 2nd and 3rd.

Ya, but it's only for the first few thousand miles. I can roll off the line now from 900RPMs and not get any chatter or jerking. It took over 5K miles, but it's back to stock drivability. I think I'm at around 8K miles with this clutch at Stg2+ levels and it's holding strong.

Looks great. Should save some wear and tear on the fins of your TMIC too.