megatune freezes

[tomo iowuk]

hi all, new here as im getting no where in sorting this out, running ms1 extra v3 i think ,im little unsure with the whole megasquirt /tune process so bare with me.

ive got my laptop running vista and using diyautotunes usb to serial adapter , everything runs fine there.

started megtune, clicked com port 4 that im using, tested connection, success. start engine and all the dials are working,

then after a few seconds or when i dip the throttle megatune freezes , all dials stop and whole screen is frozen, if i unplug the usb cable and re-plug it , its fine again, untill few seconds later it does the same thing, is that a driver problem with the usb cable, ? this does the same on twp laptops, im running the lastes megatune software, but im also unsure if ive got the right drivers for the usb cable, from diy autotune did that driver disc came with blu small disc or pink ? or does it simply install the drivers it self from the usb cable without using the discs?

anyone can throw some light on this that would be greatfull,

cheers

tom

uk

[Matt Cramer]

Sounds like the USB cable is a bit loose in its socket. Check to be sure it's not vibrating out - the extension cable helps with vibration issues usually.

[tomo iowuk]

checked the cables and there fine. I uninstalled megatune and installed tuner studio to see if this happens on a diferent program and it does the same.

On TS program.

i open megtune file that i saved and all the guages are working, start engine and thats all responding. but after a few seconds it freezes again, but i noticed in the corner of TS that it said " offline " . i clicked again to bring it back online and its saying cant open com port 4 { the port im using }, I have to un-plug the lead , click online then connect the lead, it then respondes for a few seconds and repeats its self, keeping switching it self offline for some reason,

im now thinking that this is a com error between laptop and ms, the usb cable must be playing up ?

[Matt Cramer]

im now thinking that this is a com error between laptop and ms, the usb cable must be playing up ?

Sounds like it; you may need to increase the interwrite delay settings.

[tomo iowuk]

how would i go about in changing that ? also do you know if i need to use the disc with that usb cable ? i bought it from diy auto tune, but i have two disc pink and blue one, both contain usb drivers, but when installing the cable, it auto installs , so im un-sure if i needthe disc or not. when trying to install from the disc nothing happens,ie no sutible drivers were found. just trying to eliminate the driver discs and drivers if ive not installed the drivers correctly

[tomo iowuk]

ok its now 100% com problem, the cable it self is not working properly, ive just wired using serial leads from megasquirt [ from car } straight to my home pc threw the garage into the conservatory and plugged it in the serial port on my pc and have no problems, been tweeking the warm up settings and nothing was freezing

[d962r]

i too have been having the same problem just yesterday. wasted a whole day on the dyno and got nothing done because of trying to chase this issue. what might have changed with the com ports or with the drivers or even the cable? it worked great friday then Sat. it went all wiggy. Also.. my LC1 is not reading the same on both outputs. the serial is 2.0 leaner than the diggi readding so MS reads 12.5 and the Diggy out reads 10.5 as well as the dyno's wide band.

Any help?

[Bert-Ola]

I have the same problem with Megatune freeze.
It have been working for several months on my laptop but now freeze after a few seconds.
Took the same cable and hooked up my old IBM laptop and no freeze, but this IBM are very slow to use.

Problem must be in some settings or driver getting changed/corrupt in my Compaq Laptop running Vista.
Same problem both with Tunestudio and Megatune.

[LT401Vette]

This is usually caused by a cable that just isn't shielded well enough for automotive use.

the inside of a running car is full of EM fields, a cable that isn't shielded well acts like an antenna picking up these waves and corrupts the real data you are trying to get to the PC.

I bought a whole bunch of usb cables for testing to make sure TunerStudio could support as many as possible. Nearly every one seemed to work fine, I couldn't understand how so many people had trouble.... But I was running on the bench. Once I used some of these cables in a real car, it would act just like this. Either getting blibs in data or going off line, then back on, or just off never to return..

Try a different cable. My Belkin always works great.

[Bert-Ola]

Thank you for fast answering.

The very same cable that didn´t work on my Compaq worked well with my old (and slow) IBM.
Now I tried another transparent cable I had where you actually can see the shield, same bad result.

I have also uninstalled all USB drivers on my laptop via regedit and it did not help either.

I have had this car running with the same cable and computer two days ago with just minor problem, now it freeze after just a few seconds.

I think it has to do with some problem in Windows operating system, but I don´t like to reinstall it now and time are running, the engine have to be running soon.

All ideas are appreciated.