Engh motors GMTD scantech.....

[Warren96]

If I open the software, and perform the ALDL cable test, and click on "Start test", the cable test opens on COM1 with a choice of COM3. When I click on "connect to truck" the software opens on COM4, and tells me that COM4 is in use by another program.This exact same problem first happened on my Toshiba laptop, and now my Dell desktop has the same problem. It was working perfectly for maybe a year on each cumputer, now nothing. It must be the swine flu virus because it seems to be spreading, HAH! Has anybody else had this problem?

[rustyk]

You may have had another device that changed the priorities - in other words, it instructed Windoze to reserve the port. It probably created a "virtual port" by telling Windoze to assign one of the physical (onboard) ports to something.

Got to Start/Control Panel/System, then "Hardware" tab, click "Hardware", then "Device Manager" button.

Scroll down to "Ports", then on each COM ports listed, right click and select delete. Reboot, and Windoze will redetect the onboard ports, and the virtual port assignments should be gone.

You can't hurt anything by doing this.

[Warren96]

Im sorry I couldnt get back to you sooner,family was visiting from out of state, and since he knows more than I about compters I asked him if I was applying your suggestion correctly. Excellant, that at least gets my COM ports on the same page. But now when I "Connect to truck", It tells me I that a "Unhandled exception has occurred.....". You want details?

[SwedeBurb]

Just change the COM port used in the application settings ("Tools" -> "Settings...") to the one that you can run successful ALDL Interface Tests on... probably COM 3 in this case.

/Stefan

[Warren96]

Bump.......

[Warren96]

That is great! Now both of my COM ports are the same. But the software still does not open when I "Connect to truck". The ALDL cable test is sucsesfull, but the status window tells me that it was unable to communicate with PCM. Ocasionaly Windows will send an error message saying "Unhandled exception has occured in your application........." " When JIT debugging is enabled any unhandled exception will be sent to the JIT debugger registered on the computer rather than be handled by this dialogue box." Does anybody know what this means?

[rustyk]

Having built many PCs, one of the hardest things is to solve issues without the unit in hand; now that I've done my whining, I would suspect the cable.

However, there's possibly a solvable issue, and that is COM port protocol. Most common is 9,600 baud, data length 8, parity none (0), stop bits 1. This would be abbreviated as "8N1". This usually (I hate that word) is specified in the software manual, and can be set by going to Control Panel/System Properties/Device Manager, then right clicking on the active port, then the Port Settings tab.

[Warren96]

It sure is nice to bounce ideas off of someone who is up to date on some of the latest software.Thank you very much for answering this post with your suggestions. Let me ask you another question: Wouldn't the ALDL cable test pick up on a bad cable, or does that only check for the cable software?

[rustyk]

It's hard to say; I'm not sure what the ALDL test does. Most likely, it queries the ports to detect the presence of a device to assign a port, but that wouldn't necessarily mean the device would work, and the problem could be in the GMTD or just the cable. "Unhandled exception" can arise from a number of things.

One thing to try is to delete the software through the Control Panel, then reinstall. Another is to install the software on another PC, and see if the thing works.

You didn't mention whether this is a serial cable (9-pin DIN connector) or USB, and if the DIN connector, whether your laptops have serial ports or you're using a USB-serial adaptor.

What Windows version are you running?

[Warren96]

It has been installed on a laptop (VISTA) and a desktop (XP). It has been un and reinstalled. It does use a "framework" which has NOT been reinstalled. Both machines do share the ALDL cable and they both use the USB port. It seemed to start after Microsofts Service Pack was installed last fall, but that maybe just a coincidence. Both machines share the ALDL cable.... I think you may be on to something with the cable being bad. There must be a way to check the continuity,but there seems to be a circuit under some silicone potting compound on the ALDL plug end. Looking forward to hearing from you.

[rustyk]

Oh, boy. Micro$oft has released several NetFramework versions (Now up to 3.5 SP1). It's possible the newer versions don't play well with software designed for earlier versions (although M$ claims backwards compatibility.

Check with the vendor to see what the software is and ain't compatible with.

[Warren96]

OK, I got a new cable and that was my problem. My thanks to everyone who has replied and got me on the way to trying a new cable.I would have never tried that. After all isn't that what the cable test is for?

[rustyk]

Glad you're up and running!