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Versatuner randomly looses connection with Tactrix

Posted: March 28th, 2012, 12:59 pm
by mituc
Sometimes the Versatuner displays a message that it can't access the J2534 adapter. Today it did that while I was attempting to get some logs, I've got the error message and with a message box telling me to confirm that I plugged the J2534 cable in or cancel my request, but in the background the dashboard was actually displaying the PID values.

When that happens you can't log, you can't flash or do anything. This happens randomly and only after a clean PC boot, so once the laptop booted if the versatuner<->tactrix connection worked at first it will keep working until next boot, when you never know what's going to happen.

The only way to fix this is to reinstall the tactrix drivers. However, even though the solution doesn't involve any change to the versatuner installation, since the tactrix adapter was actually working and the Versatuner was displaying the read values in real time I wonder if this isn't a bug in Versatuner rather than the tactrix drivers.
Since that happens randomly I can't blame my laptop, the OS installation or any antivirus software running there. This is just annoying because I need to uninstall the drivers, reboot, install them back, reboot just to be sure, and then after 6-7-8 wasted minutes I can do whatever I wanted to do.

This this happen to anyone else? I don't recall this happening with the first version I received, I think 1.6.1.

P.S.: should we open a dedicated bug reporting section on the forum? Normally these should be reported directly to the vendor, I agree, but sometimes you want to be sure that it's not just you that have a specific problem.

Re: Versatuner randomly looses connection with Tactrix

Posted: March 28th, 2012, 2:44 pm
by manselainen
Has not happened to me. I have flashed maybe 20 times and logged some more with the 1.6.2 version so not so much yet. In the very beginning when I got VT and Tactrix, I had some drop outs but after changing USB cable that came with Tactrix against a shorter one, there has not been any problems. I have Win XP.

Re: Versatuner randomly looses connection with Tactrix

Posted: March 28th, 2012, 9:08 pm
by Steve @ VersaTune
Most connectivity problems with the Tactrix cable are related to a poor connection from the Tactrix to the car or a poor connection from the Tactrix to the usb cable. Also, make sure that you do not have any power management trying to go into standby/screen saver due to user inactivity while logging.

Re: Versatuner randomly looses connection with Tactrix

Posted: March 30th, 2012, 3:34 pm
by mituc
After the driver re-install the cables are not touched.
The laptop doesn't go into stand-by because I'm booting it up to use in that moment as soon as possible.

Ok, so it must be some hardware or software combination I have.

Re: Versatuner randomly looses connection with Tactrix

Posted: April 9th, 2012, 11:25 am
by N3RDPWR
I've had the same problem.
I also have had it drop out on me while loading a tune :(

Being a computer nerd myself. I no doubt suspect its the tatrix adapter it self.

I've unplugged it completely from the car and the computer and it has come good... but on some occations I've had to reboot the laptop.

I've learnt my lesson now and always reboot the laptop before I load a tune :) It's a pain to recover.

Re: Versatuner randomly looses connection with Tactrix

Posted: April 9th, 2012, 4:09 pm
by mituc
Indeed, it's either the tactrix or its drivers.
Last time it happened to me after I flashed a map, and while logging I connected the laptop to the cigarette lighter.

Re: Versatuner randomly looses connection with Tactrix

Posted: April 28th, 2012, 10:20 am
by mituc
After I figured that this happens only when I attempt to switch from off to ACC while the tactrix is connected I never connected the tactrix before turning the key to ON or ACC. ...And the problem never occurred again since then, probably something changes in the grounding connections and makes the taxtrix freak out.

Re: Versatuner randomly looses connection with Tactrix

Posted: April 28th, 2012, 1:19 pm
by Steve @ VersaTune
I suspect that the driver has issues with the OS power management. I have not narrowed it down farther yet.

Re: Versatuner randomly looses connection with Tactrix

Posted: April 28th, 2012, 2:41 pm
by mituc
Maybe... anyway, I managed to find a way to avoid that and considering how the problem manifests itself it's clearly not a versatuner problem.