AAARRRGGGGHHHH!!!!! VCDS

[gary3306]

What the hell is wrong with my car? I am trying to get into instruments (add 17) to turn off side lamp bulb out warning. VCDS opens the controller and I click on coding, but almost immediately it freezes and then brings a box up saying 'no response from controller'

Its doing my head in. it doesn't give me chance to change any coding. Its fine on other cars, just seems to be something amiss with my car. It was fine about 6 months ago when I disabled my seat belt chime, but now it won't play. Anybody any ideas what I can try? NHN perhaps?

[Paullie]

Gary, I know that this sometimes happens to me if I don't lock, then unlock my car just before I start using VCDS. Don't know if it will be the same thing on your car, but was just a thought. Hope you get it to work, Bud. x

[gary3306]

Its worth a try. Stand by.....

[gary3306]

Nope. That didn't work

[Paullie]

Aww, sorry dude. Don't know what's up with it

[gary3306]

If i do a full scan, its no bother. Says 'No faults found' at the bottom of the check for that controller. So it must be communicating with it. I'm a bit lost tbh

[gary3306]

I've had a thought, they don't happen often. VCDS doesn't like after market radios, now my radio is still a concert BUT!!! I added an XcarLink a number of weeks ago. Since then I have had bother with VCDS on address 17 and its only started fannying about since I fitted the xcarlink. After my tea I'm gonna go over to work and whip the radio out and disconnect it, then see what I get.

[gary3306]

I give up. Even when it lets me in long enough to change the code to knock the bulb failure warning off, the code I enter gets rejected as out of range.

The coding at present is 0006401
The helper says;
00??xxx
+1 = Tank size smaller for all road vehicle
+2 = side marker lamp bulb failure alert inactive (this is the one I want to change)
+4 = 3 K.Number (rental car)
+8 = 5 K.Number (Australia)
+16= Clutch pedal switch operate in FIS

To my mind, I add 02 to the position where the two '?' are, ie 0008401. Am I getting it wrong somewhere?

[gary3306]

[B5NUT]

Try 0006601

[gary3306]

Thanks Lee, but that second 6 you have put in there would be for another country, ie '4' denotes Gt Britain. I think 5 is Australia etc. I'll try it though, IF the controller will play

[B5NUT]

Sorry read your 3 post up for the value.

Reading the wiki then I' not sure why you have a current value of 6 Audi A4 (8E) Instrument Cluster (8EC/8ED/8HE) - Ross-Tech Wiki

I would say your current coding should 000418 the last number I'm not sure it depends if you retro fitted is or not! And did not it the washer bottle sensor. Try and set 002418 you can always set it back if it does not work

[gary3306]

I have the washer bottle sensor fitted and that works. Yea I couldn't understand the '6' either as in the helper there is no reference to it. The 00 where the '?' are would make sense (Europe etc), so where the hell has 6 come from

I already tried 0002401 (it requires 7 digits so it says), and it rejects that.

[B5NUT]

My cluster is also 0006401 and rejects 0008401 still don't understand why the current value is 6 I would contact ross-tech

[B5NUT]

I have the washer bottle sensor fitted and that works. Yea I couldn't understand the '6' either as in the helper there is no reference to it. The 00 where the '?' are would make sense (Europe etc), so where the hell has 6 come from

I already tried 0002401 (it requires 7 digits so it says), and it rejects that.

When you say you tried 0002401 did you try 002401 as you should add the extra 0

[gary3306]

Yes I've tried that, but it says the coding must be 7 digits long. That in itself I can't understand.

[NHN]

What version of vcds are you using 1st?

[gary3306]

Fully registered version, release 10.6.4. Cable had a firmware update at the same time as I updated the program

[B5NUT]

It's got to be a label file error, otherwise we would be driving around in a rental car with deactivated bulb warring! It's not the first time I have seen an error in a label file, or missing information. Best bet is to email or phone Ross-tech I have found them very helpful over the years I've owned a cable, it's one of the best reasons to get a genuine cable.

[Dana @ Ross-Tech]

Yes, indeed a complete Auto-Scan from this vehicle via email would help determine if the label is incorrect or this particular vehicle configuration is rejecting the coding.

Ross-Tech: Contact

[gary3306]

The strange thing with this, is VCDS will open the instruments controller for a few seconds, then it freezes and a box comes up saying 'no response from controller'. So I used another laptop with VCDS 10.6.4 installed and running WinXP Pro. That got straight into the controller and there was no problems whatsoever (bar rejecting any code I tried to enter), I could've played about in the Instruments controller all day long. This lead me to believe that the VCDS program on the initial laptop may have been corrupt in some way. I totally uninstalled VCDS and re-installed it from the Ross Tech site, plugged into my car and tested (all OK) and saved. Exactly the same thing is happening again. Now I'm really confused. How can it work perfectly with one computer and not the other. I have no problems with any other controller by the way, just 17 Instruments

I will do a full scan tomorrow with the laptop I am having probs with and post the results here, and also send it to support at Ross Tech with my product serial number and interface serial. Thanks for any help.