Picked up BM Technic Diagnostic Cable and software
 

Since I plan on keeping my 6er for a very long time (probably forever) I decided to get me some diagnostic cables and software just to help when I do have issues in the future.

Another forum member (rebel.ranter) suggested I try the BM Technic Diagnostic Cable and the software that comes with it. Seeing all the problems people have installing those programs and realizing my.....ummm....lack of appropriate computer knowledge I decided it was my best option.

Here is what you get along with the cable.....

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g1...cInstaller.jpg

All of this for...what cost me $58 and it truly is a click and install process. No fiddling with registries or command line prompts just click and wait.

With the minimal requirements for operating this hardware/software I found an old Atom powered netbook my daughter had long since abandoned and hooked up an external DVD drive and i was off to the races.

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g1...d/IMG_4824.jpg

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g1...d/IMG_4825.jpg

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g1...d/IMG_4826.jpg

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g1...d/IMG_4827.jpg


Here are some shots of the install process...

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g1...bleInstall.jpg

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g1...CableFound.jpg

http://i55.photobucket.com/albums/g1...eInstalled.jpg


Literally 8 minutes later or roughly the time it took me to tell my 2 year old daughter that throwing her crayons at the TV was not nice....and the cable was recognized and installed.

I won't post all of the loading screens but 2 hours later and everything was installed on the laptop and I'mm ready to screw up my ECU.....Woo Hoo

I don't know if there is a better package online somewhere but this just seems like the steal of the century. Especially for anyone doing DIYs or wanting to do the random programing or whatever. They have a forum for help and the guys are extremely nice and helpful. I can't wait to hook it up and see what I can do.


P.S. I'm doing this right now

http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_m4vznjKdlQ1qd2uyr.gif

Best of luck with the set up! With a bit of research you should be able to do all the diagnostics & coding you need. To start off with have a read of these guides:

http://www.bmw-driver.net/forum/show...98&postcount=1

Once you have graduated on from doing competent diagnostics with DIS (& INPA) you should then start to look at coding using NCS expert. Attached are all the best step by step guides for learning how to do coding via NCS Expert.

I also recommend that you download NCS Dummy, just google it & you'll be brought to a post on a rival bmw forum which is written & regularly updated by the creator of NCS Dummy, the user is "revtor". NCS Dummy is an excellent tool, what it does is translate the FSW_PSW.TRC trace files from the various modules from German to English, it also shows the various settings for each parameter in each module. When you read the guides attached you will soon realise where the FSW_PSW.TRC files come from & how you get them.

Finally, you should always remember that our 6 Series (e63/e64) is really just a fancy 5 Series (e60/e61). So from a coding point of view the 6 Series is really an e60. One of the benefits of this is there is far more support/interest in e60 coding than e63/e64. You can therefore use all the e60 info & resources out there for coding. For example there is a shared GoogleDocs spreadsheet out there in the ethers that lits all the most popular coding changes for the e60, which as I mentioned are equally compatible with the e63/e64.

Enjoy!

Coding is beyond my interest or capabilities - but witness the power of our great forum!! :thumbup:

The diagnostics are worth investigating though? Even if you don't do any work on your own car at least you can do a little investigating before you send it in to get work done?

Yes - valid point... a more-informed "buyer" of repair services will likely result in making better decisions. I've been a little spoiled b/c I still have both CPO and free extended maintenance on my six for another 9 months. After that I will need to get up to speed.

Woo Hoo thanks for all those links.

The only issue I have had so far is VMware player doesn't like this little laptop I dug up. Gonna install everything on a more "capable" laptop. I have a few sittin' around. I'll make a thread or just update in this one as I try to learn more about these programs.

Well the issue is resolved. I went to the forums for BM Technic and found that the resolution for the laptop was set too Low and that was the issue with VMware. Gotta love the internet.