Bought a cheap Windows 7 laptop off eBay.
Looking to dabble with BMW Scanner etc and see what its like, but not sure where the best place is to get the right dongle and cable.
Heard stories about OBD dongles needing pins soldered etc.
Anyone any links/recommendations?
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Cable to connect laptop to car
- chanlon1
- Member
- Posts: 470
- Joined: Mon Jan 02, 2023 11:36 pm
- Location: Belfast
Cable to connect laptop to car
E86 Z4 Coupe 2006 Silver
- enuff_zed
- Lifer
- Posts: 15066
- Joined: Wed Oct 26, 2016 11:05 am
- Location: Attleborough, Norfolk
Cable to connect laptop to car
If you want Scanner 1.4 then buy this:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/154021453500
If you want to use INPA/Tool32/NCSExpert/WinKFP then you need:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B09 ... UTF8&psc=1
(But you may struggle to find where to download the software now as it's all been clamped down on)
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/154021453500
If you want to use INPA/Tool32/NCSExpert/WinKFP then you need:
https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B09 ... UTF8&psc=1
(But you may struggle to find where to download the software now as it's all been clamped down on)
- chanlon1
- Member
- Posts: 470
- Joined: Mon Jan 02, 2023 11:36 pm
- Location: Belfast
Cable to connect laptop to car
thanks enuff_zed. I've ordered the ebay one to start with.
Managed to pick up a Dell Win 7 laptop with two batteries and charger for £30 including postage
Its a bonus that it even works...had a good play around with it earlier.
There's no disc drive in it, so it's good that the software is on the USB. I want to minimise having to have it online to download stuff.
Managed to pick up a Dell Win 7 laptop with two batteries and charger for £30 including postage
Its a bonus that it even works...had a good play around with it earlier.
There's no disc drive in it, so it's good that the software is on the USB. I want to minimise having to have it online to download stuff.
E86 Z4 Coupe 2006 Silver
- chanlon1
- Member
- Posts: 470
- Joined: Mon Jan 02, 2023 11:36 pm
- Location: Belfast
Cable to connect laptop to car
So my eBay software, cable and obd dongle arrived. Got all the software working and the dongle talking to the car.
Discovered I had quite a few historic codes still there, so cleared them all and rescanned. Now I am code free which is good.
Are there any suggested coding changes that I should look at?
Secondly, now I have the scanner working and that ticked off the list, what’s the next software to chase after?
Discovered I had quite a few historic codes still there, so cleared them all and rescanned. Now I am code free which is good.
Are there any suggested coding changes that I should look at?
Secondly, now I have the scanner working and that ticked off the list, what’s the next software to chase after?
E86 Z4 Coupe 2006 Silver
- colb
- Senior Member
- Posts: 1670
- Joined: Wed Nov 13, 2019 9:45 pm
- Location: Newport, South Wales UK
Cable to connect laptop to car
BMW Scanner 1.4 is a good starter for diagnostics and some coding, explore the coding options for the lighting. If you want more in depth software then the BMW software INPA with include software like NCS Expert, DIS and Winkpf would be the way to go on a laptop. it can be problematic getting it set up on a laptop but plenty of guides out there to help you to get it running. Usually available on ebay, it comes with its Interface and cable.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/386963324017 ... BMzMuwpOlj
Note it comes on a CD so you may need a standalone CD Drive to use with your Laptop.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/386963324017 ... BMzMuwpOlj
Note it comes on a CD so you may need a standalone CD Drive to use with your Laptop.
Z Shed Cymru member
1999 1.8 Z3
2003 2.5 Z4
If the forum helped you, why not help the forum back. Thats the Z4 way!
https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?c ... source=url
1999 1.8 Z3
2003 2.5 Z4
If the forum helped you, why not help the forum back. Thats the Z4 way!
https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr?c ... source=url