I am using Craig Moates software and it works great for a few minutes but after a few minutes of viewing data it just stops reading data from the ECM. I can go through all the screens and no values are changing. I have to exit or sometimes turn off the car and reboot the computer to be able to make a connection again. At the bottom where it says "Error=" it says "Error=1" when this happens, what does this mean?

A few notes:
- I am booting off a win 95-boot disk then running the software off my hard drive
- It will “Time out” when running the software in Windows NT, DOS or from a DOS bootdisk
- My laptop is a Pentium 120 with 40 megs of ram.

 

Mine does the same thing. I don't know what it is, starting to think it's ECM related. Sometimes it'll be good for 3-4 minutes, sometimes 30 minutes. But yeah, have to turn the car off for 20 seconds or so to make it reset.

 

Well is there anyone out there who does not have this problem?? Please post what ECM you have and the computer you are running the software on.

 

Craig, I downloaded the new datamaster beta for 86-89 TPI and it does not time out. Meaning it probably is not the ECM.

 

I sometimes get timeouts when downloading the .bin - it seems to work better with the key on and motor not running. Otherwise it'll go forever w/o error.

 

I have the same problem with the software. I have been playing with it quite a bit trying to figure out what makes it stop reading data. I have noticed that it usually stops after I rev the engine fairly high. When I just lope around normally I dont really have any problems.

 

Just for giggles what kind of laptop are you running it on? Like which brand and model. I work on laptops all day long and have found some brands prone to have port problems. Like built CMOS power management that will cause the serial ports to stop polling. I have had problems with the ports on Compaqs, Toshibas, and Panasonics.

 

It is a Fujitsu 520T. It is a P120 with 40 megs of ram. The thing is other software like datamaster works fine. So I am pretty sure it is not a problem with the BIOS or BIOS settings, just something to do with Craig's software.

 

I have the same problems as described above. I have tried to different IBM laptops, both act the same. I have run in DOS, Windows, etc. Still no relief from the problem.

I too see to think it related to the RPM of the engine. Seems to get overloaded or something. Could it be from the electric pulses of the engine? Perhaps a ground would help. Just some thought? Someone with some more experience might be able to explain the data loss. Or at least tell us if the data picks up with increased RPM. You would think it would but who knows?

Craigs Software is great and I hope we can resolve this problem. I in no way what anyone to think we are bashing it. Thanks again Craig, you make it possible for some of us to put 100 extra dollars into going fast rather then buying software.

Let's put our heads together people and solve this problem. Sounds like its a pretty common problem.

I am using 165 ECM with 850 software version. Scanner is a IBM laptop 560 EL with 106 Meg of memory and a 760 IBM laptop. Both act the same way. Sometimes good for 1 minute and other times good for 1 hr

 

Mine says: "Err=3". What is error 3?.

Thanks in advance.

 

I'm running an IBM Thinkpad, pentium 166 with 32megs ram connected to '90 '7730 ECM. Mine seems to lock up more as the battery charge goes away. Nothing predictable but seems more common below 75% power. Mine will restart by just hitting the space bar. For what it's worth.

Regards,
Gary Anderson

 

I've had no problem with Craig's software on my car, I've run it for 30+ minutes at a time and all seems well.
I use the 2 transistor cable on a 165 ECM and my laptop is a Toshiba Tecra 500CDT, p133, 32 megs ram, and a minimal install of win 95.

 

Mmm, I Thinks Error = 3 is:

I'm connecting a 730 ECM V6 CAR to my Laptop IBM Thinkpad 160 E/Win 98.