chrdij

iTrader: (1)

My girlfriend just got a laptop from Dell, and paid about $1300 dor the thing and it doesnt even have the hook-up in the back for my Hp tuner cable! My question too you< is there any adaptor piece I could get to make this work? Right now Im using my desktop, hooking it up in the car with an AC adaptor! Thanks, Chris

MeentSS02

iTrader: (11)

Do you mean you don't have a serial port? Most newer laptops aren't coming with them for some reason...you can get a serial to USB adapter, but they almost never work right.

Someone correct me if I'm wrong on the needing a serial port thing...I'm pretty sure that's what they run through.

JNorris

iTrader: (4)

Yep you need a USB or PCMCIA to serial adapter.
I would do a search on the HP Tuners site and see if they recommend a specific brand.

2MuchRiceMakesMeSick

Yeah thats what you need is a serial port. Actually they quit making them cause the data transfer rate over serial is MAX 115k which is pretty slow compared to USB. Most devices are usb/firewire. HP Tuners is the only thing (thats came out recently) that has a serial. I look for them to come out with a usb cable in the future casue your not the only one without a 9 pin serial.

MeentSS02

iTrader: (11)

Yeah, that's what my mom and brother told me (family computer experts) when I was asking about possibly getting another laptop for Christmas. For now, I'll just get by with my 233 MHz Pentium II (!) until HP comes out with a different connection. USB would be nice.

Another_User

I work with computer stuff at work, and I have seen USB-Serial converters do funny things. They work, but I don't trust them with my car's PCM. I use an older laptop strictly for the serial interface. Something that you may want to look into; many laptops have an optional base station and/or port replicator that will allow you to "add-on" a real serial port along with the other ports that it replicates. It might be something to consider.

wait4me

iTrader: (10)

man, whats this world comming too, when we dont even get floppy drives and serial ports...... tis a sad day for sure.....

slow

iTrader: (7)

I use a IO Gear adapter for programming ford tuners and it works fine. But it for programing a handheld, so a connection problem does not cause a bad pcm.

Dell really doesn't have any of their low to mid level laptops that have a 9 pin serial connection.

In tuning its a double edged sword, as many people run older machines for tuning, and win 98SE and USB can cause lots of problems.

For tuning with USB only machines and HP tuners i use a $9.99 off ebay, and it works great, flashed 50+ times. (but i do have a spare pcm in the car )

Ryan

chrdij

iTrader: (1)

Thanks for the replies. From what I gather its a gamble to go with an adapter. Looks like I will check out ebay for some older laptops, unless anyone else is having no problems using theirs?
where can I find the adapter? Radio shack?

SmokingWS6

iTrader: (1)

One of my friends I think uses "keyspan" USB to Serial adaptor and has never had a problem. He did have trouble with previous brands.

JEB99TA

iTrader: (32)

Contact HPTuners folks and have them provide you with an approved adapter. They knew this when they created toheir product. ALL of the folks who worked on creating that product SURELY have the same issues with those high-speed laptops/notebooks they own.

Test out that customer support. They should AT LEAST reccommend something. Free upgrades for a year? Wonder if that includes an adapter? Probably not, but, they should probably provide you with an inexpensive solution.

gameover

the adapter we recommend is the Keyspan unit.

Keyspan (part # USA-19HS)

http://www.keyspan.com/products/usb/USA19HS/

Ones i can recommend NOT buying are anything with Belkin or Targus branding (they use the same chipset) due to crappy drivers they come with. Unfortunately they are very popular (and expensive), weird?...

We are wokring on a USB interface (amongst other things) right now.

Chris...

CAT3

iTrader: (9)

FWIW most HP Laptops can be had with the DB9pin Serial port. Thats the reason I bought mine. Would be nice though to have the transfer speed of USB 2.0! Flash quick.

pknowles

iTrader: (1)

Is the transfer of data from the VCM to a laptop limited but the serial port or the VCM? Would going to a USB connection have any performance benifits or would it simply be just a more common way to connect to the laptop?

samz28

can-bus is probably too saturated when busy.. you could probably get a ton of more bandwidth directly from the ecu if you wanted to hack into it.

gameover

the cuurent VPW OBD2 interface is far slower than a 115k serial port. The new GM-LAN (CAN) on the LS2 PCMs is faster than the serial port, although this is not really an issue for flashing but could be for scanning.

Mark98SS

iTrader: (1)

I have a Keyspan adapter it works just fine.

2MuchRiceMakesMeSick

I would bet that the data coming from the pcm is serialized (meaning it cant be transfered that fast). There would be no advantage from a usb other then the obvious (alot of computers dont have a DB9 pin)

baloga41

i live in the otherside of the world i went looking for keyspan ...and did not find any bought some other kinds all did not work???????!!!!!!! what to do?

White_Hawk

iTrader: (3)

I have a USB adapter running with Win XP Pro on an old Thinkpad (550 MHz). The only problem I have is that it drops out of hi-speed mode all the time. The great thing about HPTuners, though, is that it has automatic reconnect so this is not really an issue.

I don't know what brand I am using but I got it at best buy. The drivers in the package didn't work, but the ones on the internet worked fine.

-Geoff