Running Atap w/USB Serial Adapter
Thread Starter
Teching In
Joined: Mar 2003
Posts: 8
Likes: 0
From: Clinton Twp., MI
Running Atap w/USB Serial Adapter Ok hopefully someone can give me a hand. When I first tried Atap using an older computer w/a serial connection it took a couple times to connect so I hope I'm just having the same problem.
I recently recieved a new laptop without any serial ports so based on the information from a few people on this post I am using a Keyspan USB to Serial adapter. The laptop is running Windows XP and I am using EFILive 5. The adapter is setup for the COM4 port and based on how the LED blinks when Autotap tries the COM4 port I know that the software recognizes the connection. Unfortunately the connection to the OBDII still fails. So I have a few questions for all of you.
1) How critical is it to follow the Atap instructions for the hardware connection to the OBDII connector (When to key on, turn on the laptop, and such)?
2) Anyone running with a config like this, did you have to set up the port in a certain way to get it to work? What baud rate are you asking Atap to connect with?
3) Is there something I'm missing? Any tricks that an Atap newbie doesn't know?
Sorry for the long post. But like I said, when I tried it like two months ago with an older laptop it didn't work right away either...although I don't know what I did to get it to work. Any help is greatly appreciated...I just hope that it's something that doesn't require money to fix. Thanks guys.
I recently recieved a new laptop without any serial ports so based on the information from a few people on this post I am using a Keyspan USB to Serial adapter. The laptop is running Windows XP and I am using EFILive 5. The adapter is setup for the COM4 port and based on how the LED blinks when Autotap tries the COM4 port I know that the software recognizes the connection. Unfortunately the connection to the OBDII still fails. So I have a few questions for all of you.
1) How critical is it to follow the Atap instructions for the hardware connection to the OBDII connector (When to key on, turn on the laptop, and such)?
2) Anyone running with a config like this, did you have to set up the port in a certain way to get it to work? What baud rate are you asking Atap to connect with?
3) Is there something I'm missing? Any tricks that an Atap newbie doesn't know?
Sorry for the long post. But like I said, when I tried it like two months ago with an older laptop it didn't work right away either...although I don't know what I did to get it to work. Any help is greatly appreciated...I just hope that it's something that doesn't require money to fix. Thanks guys.
TECH Apprentice
Joined: Feb 2002
Posts: 363
Likes: 0
From: Brook Park, Ohio
Re: Running Atap w/USB Serial Adapter I tried to run Atap on a computer with XP and a USB to serial adapter. I was able to get Atap to connect, but I got some bad data. For instance, Atap would indicate that I had over 400 hp at 2000 rpms. Now I don't know how accurrate Atap is with hp, but when I was running it on an old computer with Win98 and a serial port the hp rating seemed reasonable. Once I saw the bad hp data I decided not to trust any other info and went back to an old computer.
Keep in mind that I don't know a lot about computers and maybe I did something wrong.
When I bought my USB to serial adapter it came with a driver. Once I loaded the drive, I didn't have any problems connecting. I just didn't get good data.
Sorry, this reply probably doesn't help, but I figured I'd share my experience with you.
Good luck,
Jim
Keep in mind that I don't know a lot about computers and maybe I did something wrong.
When I bought my USB to serial adapter it came with a driver. Once I loaded the drive, I didn't have any problems connecting. I just didn't get good data.
Sorry, this reply probably doesn't help, but I figured I'd share my experience with you.
Good luck,
Jim
Re: Running Atap w/USB Serial Adapter That HP data given off by Atap is purely bs. It can't possibly accurately display the HP. As for the use w/ the USB port I'm interested too as my laptop is the same way. I know LS1 edit will work w/ the conversion FWIW.
Thread Starter
Teching In
Joined: Mar 2003
Posts: 8
Likes: 0
From: Clinton Twp., MI
Re: Running Atap w/USB Serial Adapter Thank you very much for your replies. I finally got eveything to work nicely. It seems that the EFILive V5 that came on the CD with the cable is messed up or something because I downloaded the version from the internet and without changing a thing it connected on the first try. So for those interested in using the USB connection, here is another satisfied Keyspan customer. Talk to you all later. 
