@combo351

where did you get the upgrade pro firmware for your clone mongoose mate?

i got one mongoose but cant find any info how possibly i can upgrade it to pro...

plain one's driver that came with the pack is refusing to read VIN or gather data.

drew toolkit says it is mongoose, it has connection to car but ids says it cant read data. even though it shows mongoose connected...

can you point me to link for the upgrade firmware?

can send me email: ferdik at walla dot com

and thank you guys for all your contributions about these tools and warnings for clone/originals...

 

Well, just to add to the knowledge out there, grabbed a copy of 131.01 from Ebay, installed to a VirtualBox WinXPSP2 32bit vm. Grabbed a ""Mongoose"" from ebay (Spanish Seller, although parcel had UK stamps on it)
Plugged it into the car 2003MYS-Type, manually entered the VIN, It tried to launch the Legacy IDS, did nothing, the car has now decided it has, a Gearbox fault, DTS not available, Engine warning light, Restricted performance and a Handbrake fault, so simply plugging this thing in seems to have killed the car.... *sigh*

 

In addition to other possibilities, the unique problems are:

1. virtualbox hardware emulation might be imperfect

2. if the ebay seller was a one-off, it may have been some random person dumping a damaged unit

 

Well, I'm fairly good at the computerey stuff, For a living I work for a company that designs the hardware for the graphics chips in most of the leading phones these days, so I don't think I've done anything wrong there, but yes the unit could be faulty. The ebay seller appears to be selling multiple of these units.
As to what I do next, anyone nearish to Hertfordshire with a working system want to come and help reset my kitty? Don't have a lot of spare cash but can pay in beer, or if needs be can provide some service as a pretty good highland piper if anyone has a wedding or a funeral happening that requires a piper.

 

If you have determined that the unit is defective you should definitely pursue the seller for reimbursement or replacement. For all you know, he sent out a unit that was previously returned as defective.

If someone with a working sytem close by volunteers soon enough, you can also consider hooking up your unit to their laptop as a final test. But, nonetheless, go after reimbursement in a timely manner according to the ebay and paypal rules if it is bad, or you cannot wait. Some people prefer to go directly to paypal rather than through ebay.

If it runs more than a few degrees over room temperature while connected to the laptop but not connected to the vehicle, or the leds do not light ... it is likely defective.

virtualbox or hypervm might seem like a good idea, but as you know emulation is another layer and is dependent on the skill of the implementor.

Have you tried a full reset on the car by disconnecting the positive cable at the battery and shorting it to ground?

At least one member in the posts above has used it multiple times on his S-Type, as well as various other models and continues to do so without problem.

Multiple members have had to get replacement units, not because they were DOA, but because they deliberately upgraded the firmware or let the upgrade happen by installing toolbox3 which forces the upgrade. This bricks the device.

There is no need to upgrade the firmware because its claimed benefit is speed. As hobbyists, speed is not exactly a priority.

 

I could not get XP SP3 on VirtualBox to load IDS. it came up with the splash screen and did nothing else.

Built a Win7 Enterprise laptop from scratch and it worked first time.

TT

 

Only my second post I'm afraid - I've been a lurker around this forum for quite some time and been following this thread lately. Please see my maiden post in new users section to see that I am genuine and not trolling this thread or otherwise.

I have both a 2007 Range Rover TDV8 VSE and a 2002 Daimler X308 Super V8 so have been looking to the best diagnostic interface. I have all the usual ELM interface and software for basic OBDII and data logging etc and also a dedicated interface for the the Range Rover that some of you may be familiar with called IIDTool which plugs in to the OBDII socket and allows read and clear of module faults, air suspension test reset and calibration and changes to the vehicle (dealer) options via the CCF file. This is a brilliant device that lives in the glove box to be used whenever needed.

However I wanted to dig deeper and get as close to dealer level diagnostics on both vehicles as possible. After research on many forums including this one and several other JLR based forums, it seems that the SDD/IDS is the way to go along with a Mongoose interface. I downloaded all the necessary software (v130.7) and just needed a Mongoose which I bought through an e-bay seller and it arrived a couple of weeks ago.

I was inspired to write this long post as I believe it must be the same seller as referred to by wearlej above and wanted to inform others of my experiences.

When I received the Mongoose (that I now know to be a clone as although it looks authentic it bears the serial No. 000442 that several others have identified on other forums) I brought out of storage an old laptop that I had with XP Pro already installed.

I installed the DT drivers and when the Mongoose was connected it was recognised correctly. I then went ahead and installed the v130.7 and patches as detailed on several forums and carried out the offline activation. All good so far!

When I connected the Mongoose to the Range Rover it was already showing the mongoos interface as green status and the battery status indicator in SDD also changed to green indicating that there must be some sort of connection. However, the SDD was unable to read the VIN so it had to be entered manually. SDD correctly indentified the vehicle details from the VIN I entered.

When the Mongoose started to read the vehicle data a complete range of error codes appeared on the dash warning lamps and text display covering just about every problem and failure possible! It read slowly through to 55% during this and then suddenly jumped to 100%. When the modules display appeared, SDD had identified the four busses and some 36 modules, but all had either red crosses or yellow question marks through them. I believe that the module list came from SDD's own internal database derived from the VIN and not through any sucessful read by the Mongoose which had failed to read any modules. I backed out of the session and rebooted the laptop having removed the Mongoose from the OBDII socket.

The Range Rover took two engine restarts before the error codes finally all disappeared from the dashboard. I repeated the entire exercise and had exactly the same result.

I then tried the Mongoose on the X308. Again no read of the VIN. This time I did not proceed to attempt to read the modules and I had no fall back tool (like the IIDTool for the Range Rover) if anything went wrong!

I re-read the forums concerning the software installation and laptop and decided that I'd remove the laptop from the equation and try something a bit newer / more powerful.

Yesterday morning I obtained a Dell Inspiron M60 and new 120GB hard drive. I did a brand new virgin install of XP Pro then SP2 and Acrobat reader 6 from a memory stick. I then installed the DT drivers and again the Mongoose was correctly recognised when connected. This was followed by installation of SDD v130.7 + patches etc as confirmed after researching the steps that others had taken. Offline activation was done and I was ready to go.

Exactly the same results but with one exception. I was unable to start the engine afterwards.

It appears that ther immobiliser went offline because the remote in the key fob would not work either. I plugged in the IIDTool and it confirmed that the immobiliser module was not responding so I could neither read nor clear any faults. Getting dark by then, the only option was to use the central locking button on the dash to lock all the doors, open the drivers door and lock it manually with the key, go away and have a think!

This morning nothing had changed - no key fob and the IIDTool unable to find the immobiliser module to interrogate for faults. The only option left was a full battery disconnect for 20 minutes and reset by shorting the battery cables together for 30 seconds to drain any remaining power in the modules thus forcing a reset when the power was reconnected (Ctl-Alt-Del).

When I did finally reconnect the battery there was a big sigh of relief when the key fob opened the doors and the engine started! Finally i used the IIDTool to clear any remaining faults.

I am firmly of the belief that the cause of this problem was the faulty Mongoose clone interface and that this may also be the cause of the problems experienced by wearlej above (does yours have the same serial number???). Before contacting the seller through ebay this afternoon I had a look at his recent feedback and seems that I am not alone - in the past couple of days two more 'interesting' feedbacks. I will keep this thread informed of how I get on with the refund.

I hope that my (long) post is of help to others. I fully intend to cary on down the Mongoose route but without an impulse buy this time - it will be a genuine one and I regret not having carried out more research first.

This could have ended up as a very expensive exercise at the dealers getting a replacement module and configuration. I realise that I am relating my experienced on my Range Rover but the interface covers both model ranges and I'm glad I didn't risk bricking my Daimler!

 

Same serial number as mine.So far I have only had one hiccup---when i returned from Florida a couple of months ago my laptop battery was depleted,I connected it to the charger and plugged my Mongoose in and it would not connect.However it was fine after the battery on the laptop was fully charged.

You say you downkoaded the DT drivers---plural so which driver is actually being used?When I had both DT drivers on my laptop,the Pro version was used automatically.As you know the Pro version should not be used with 00422 so I deleted from my laptop.

 

Having recently spoke to another owner just recently who "emptied" the contents of his ECU
by plugging in a clone and then spending a fortune getting his original software from Jaguar Cars UK, it's pretty clear to say if your thinking of going down the "clone" route then a spare $1000 in your account should cover the cost of putting your cat back on the road.
Personally I went for the real deal & when I plug it in I don't have to pray that everything will be alright at the end of it.

 

Yep, serial number 000442. I threw a different hard drive into the laptop and did a clean native install of XPSP2 today, still no joy getting the thing to even be recognised by the software. Did a hard reset of the car, cleared everything but the Engine light, hooked up the elm327 I've got to the car and got P1642, P1000 & an Unidentified code, EasyOBD did let me turn off the warning lamp though. Can we name the ebay seller at all here?

 

The original Chinese one is already named--there is a link to the website waaaay back.
I know of 2 working properly in the Toronto area.

 

From the limited sample in this thread, it seems the most serious problems have two common characteristics:

1. the unit was bought on ebay rather than one of the original larger vendor sites

2. the purchasers show a location in the UK, which may be driving the preference for ebay

(the above is verifiable by reviewing the thread)

That is aside from compounding the difficulty by:

1. upgrading the firmware, which is associated with bricking the device

2. installing the DT Toolbox3, see above

3. installing the DT driver pack in full rather than just the bare driver, see above

4. installing in a virtual machine

Then there is the matter of usb power management under windows which many users have not considered. There is also the matter of user account security restrictions. In the supported notebook configuration, there is a large executable whose sole purpose in life is to setup the notebook itself. This is only really usable on the one brand and model of notebook that is officially supported.

There are installations working well all over the world. These are users who frequent JF as well as other related forums. The list includes known users in Australia, Britain, Canada, France, Switzerland, and the United States.

BTW, manual entry of the VIN is not indicative of anything other than the fact that the particular vehicle model under examination does not have automatic VIN retrieval support in IDS/SDD. It would be the same using any device. That is fact and can be confirmed by reading the IDS/SDD software release notes.

 

That's a nice data point. It's a pretty clear indicator that virtualbox is asking for trouble, and that Win7 Enterprise/Ultimate is not a problem.

32 bit?

 

Mine came from a different reseller I think, the ebay listing said "From Spain" and postage was about £17, it arrived in a padded bag with a Royal Mail postage sticker on it having cost £4 or so.... Looking at the feedback for "diagnosekit" I see recently a few others complaining, I wonder if I got sent a returned one.

 

Opened a Paypal dispute, got this reply:
I'm certainly not closing the dispute as once closed I cannot reopen it!!!!!

 

Welcome to clone world.
In March I rec'd a defective OBD scanner through E BAY . Before returning it I checked the model's reviews [ in another venue} and found a fellow in Bruneii in the previous December had complained and returned that specific model .He had also referenced the units S/N. In checking my units S/N to see if it was from the same batch I found it to be the exact same S/N . I returned unit and posted negative reply.
It might be good practice when commenting on Scanners to post S/N's it helped in my return/complaint.
In dealing with Amazon's offshore vendors I find they are extremely concerned about negative comments . Not quite the same for E-Bay vendors.

 

No, that's not quite what I said. What I actually said was "I installed the DT drivers and when the Mongoose was connected it was recognised correctly."

The DT drivers (my apologies driver), was on a DVD that was supplied with the Mongoose cable by the vendor. It is a standard DVD-R brand MINJI disc with the logo of a hippo on it. Is that the same as wearlej received? All I've done is install the vendor provided (so presumabley approved?) driver.

I've not raised a dispute with the vendor yet (same vendor as identified above by wearlej), but sent a message requesting a full refund. I received a broadly similar reply including "Please close any eb/pp case you have and if not please sort it out with me before you go any further". I've since replied again requesting a full refund before I take it further, which I will do if I don't receive a full refund voluntarily.

Plums, from your post ...
/QUOTE/
That is aside from compounding the difficulty by:

1. upgrading the firmware, which is associated with bricking the device

2. installing the DT Toolbox3, see above

3. installing the DT driver pack in full rather than just the bare driver, see above

4. installing in a virtual machine

/QUOTE/

In my case I have done none of those things. All power management has been disabled (through bios and windows settings) on both laptops that I have tried. New installs only had administrative level accounts. I am also aware of the information that you quoted regarding the VIN. However many have been able to on the Range Rover without any problems.

I hope the above information is useful?

 

Yup, same DVD with the cute cartoon hippo....

 

No surprise there then!

 

I did not use the software from China,some of the data files were corrupted,but there was no hippo on the CD! I used DT driver and a JLR 130.7.