Looking to buy a diagnostic scanner, any suggestions

[omodos]

Originally Posted by e39_touring

It's a bit of work to put together, but nothing compares to a DIS/INPA system on a laptop. You can do the whole thing for <$200 or about $50 if you already have a laptop.

any tips on what products to use would be much appreciated....most of us have laptops.....be good to know if the above will work on an e46 2002 bmw as well as a 2004 x5 e53

[e39_touring]

Originally Posted by omodos

any tips on what products to use would be much appreciated....most of us have laptops.....be good to know if the above will work on an e46 2002 bmw as well as a 2004 x5 e53

I use an IBM T30 laptop dedicated to car diagnostics because it's the last/best thinkpad with a true serial port.

You can use any laptop though as long as you have at least 1gb memory and >30gb free hard disk space.

The hardware you need is a BMW INPA interface. Search ebay and you can find them for ~$25 for the serial version or ~$50 for USB. Don't buy the software on ebay as it's available for download in many places on the net. I can help out with any setup issues you run into. It has gotten much easier over the years!

I use my setup to service a 2000 E46, 2000 E39, and 2005 E53.

[omodos]

thanks e39 touring, very helpful indeed and sorry to the original poster of the message as I kinda hijacked the post....and hope all the answers here will help....I need to get to the case and get these things ordered

[HPIA4v2]

I have bavariantechnic, cause I just want the plug-n-play system running on laptop that works for E53, E60 and E92 cars in one shot. So far so good, hope they stay in business cause I am relying on their updating the S/W for more programming etc. Kinda pricey for $279 (covers up to 3 cars though).

[m5james]

Originally Posted by e39_touring

I use an IBM T30 laptop dedicated to car diagnostics because it's the last/best thinkpad with a true serial port.

You can use any laptop though as long as you have at least 1gb memory and >30gb free hard disk space.

The hardware you need is a BMW INPA interface. Search ebay and you can find them for ~$25 for the serial version or ~$50 for USB. Don't buy the software on ebay as it's available for download in many places on the net. I can help out with any setup issues you run into. It has gotten much easier over the years!

I use my setup to service a 2000 E46, 2000 E39, and 2005 E53.

I've got CDH from Bimmerforums making me the same laptop so I can code my 740iL 6spd swap properly.