I just put a quick vid up of the creator c310+ what i think of it, hope its helpful please subscribe cheers Chris
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K7-q...annel=CarChris

I bought my BMW Scanner 1.4 back in the "Old Days". Maybe things had changed, but back then most adapters weren't compatible.

If people want to learn more about Diagnostic software for BMW I would recommend this website.

https://www.bimmerforums.com/forum/f...ostic-Software

The INPA ISTA factory software is the most complete and best solution and it’s available through many BMW forums. It’s a little complicated to get running correctly and you need a dedicated laptop for it. There’s a very active BMW coding community in the dedicated coding forums. It requires lots of time and effort to learn. Don’t pay for any BMW factory software.

I have a dedicated laptop setup with the full ISTA-D ISTA-P ISTA+ E-SYS Rheingold software, but it’s always a trial to get it working correctly.

For most diagnostics and error codes on my e53, I just use an old Thinkpad laptop with XP and PA Soft 1.4.07 (also called BMW Scanner 1.4]. It’s not fancy or full featured but it works fast and does most of what I need it to do.

The USB DCAN adapter that we all use is a USB-serial adapter. The FTDI chip inside changes the serial signal to USB.

https://ftdichip.com/drivers/



https://i.imgur.com/AkKv4uJ.jpeg


https://imgur.com/a/EKHJGXg

UPDATE (only for those interested):

BMW Scanner: I bid on several WinXP machines with Serial ports but I wasn't willing to pay over $50 and I lost on them all. So I bought a Win 10 computer for $65 including shipping (Dell Latitude 2110 Atom 1.83GHz 2GB RAM 160GB HDD). Should have it by the end of the week. Meanwhile, a cable showed up on eBay for $27.72 (just within my limit) and I ordered it. Should be here in a week or two. Then, let the games begin!

Carly: as I said, I ordered it, based on the return promise. But I went back in to double check the return on the APP license and it now says that you can't get a refund. I'm sure I saw different (if you bought directly from Carly) and in my defense the refunds page does say it was updated in the last day. But maybe I'm senile. Anyway, I know that the Lite App does very little. So I expect I will be sending the Carly back.

Foxwell 520NT: I ordered it from Amazon and should have it next Wednesday. I don't typically abuse my return privileges with Amazon, but I buy enough from them I think I can give this a try out and return if it doesn't beat the competition.

So, by the end of next week I expect to know more. Sorry I couldn't go completely old skool.

You don’t need a laptop with a serial port. Those are expensive now because network techs use them for programming Cisco routers.

Why are PA Soft BMW Scanner cables so expensive? $100 on eBay??? That’s crazy. I bought mine years ago for ~$20. Looks like aliexpress has them cheap.

https://www.aliexpress.com/w/wholesale-bmw-scanner.html

Yep, very familiar with that - but I think UAN was talking about an RS232 to USB converter to be used to connect an RS232 serial (DB9) version of BMW Scanner... :dunno:

BTW, the FTDI FT232RL chip in my INPA cable doesn't support DCAN - it only supports K-Line. You don't need DCAN with an E53 - there is no CAN bus on the diag port.

http://www.one-stop-electronics.com/...&product_id=22

Yep, that is what I have, a DB9 connector for Scanner 1.4. Most serial to USB to adapter wasn't compatible with Scanner 1.4.

Got my first INPA/ISTA/NCSE/etc. for an XP machine (desktop) about ten years ago,which still runs albeit a bit slow. A year ago got a new DELL laptop (i7 CPU) with windows 10 and downloaded the Bimmergeeks suite. Does everything I need and reads anything I want for the E-series cars. I could read a friend's F-10 35d with as well.

Very steep learning curve to master but very rewarding once you do. I was impressed with the accuracy of it pinpointing issues on my E70 and just finished coding an ABS module for my E53. Recommended but take your time learning to use it.