|
Ah, as a technology professional, here's a Jag upgrade I might actually be able to help y'all with! :) You want to be careful with the flash drive as a replacement in WDS. The problem with early Solid State Drives (SSD) was that operating systems designed for the strengths and limitations of magnetic disks had a write pattern that wore out the SSDs, which was a much newer technology [ok, an old technology that finally became cheap enough to take on a new role, but we won't split hairs here]. Win98, in particular, got bad marks early on for burning out SSDs FAST because rather than use the entire drive's memory slots, it would continually write and rewrite on the same location (which over time breaks down an SSD drive, like how the driver's side mats get worn while the back seat's carpet is like new). Later OS and newer SSDs incorporated technology to use the full memory locations (think rotating tires). It's called wear leveling. Long story short, if you use an SSD or flash drive in the WDS machine, it should have it's own wear leveling technology incorporated in the drive, because Win98 won't do it on it's own. The WDS also uses an old standard for drive communication- Parallel ATA (PATA- or you may be familiar with the old term IDE), as opposed to the newer technology Serial ATA (or SATA), which allowed for faster transfer speeds. A drive can be either Magnetic or Solid State, and each of those may be either PATA or SATA. A PATA drive is further broken down into various speeds, termed Data Memory Access (DMA), based on it's transfer rate. Higher rate, higher number. Just to REALLY make you go cross eyed, you will read multiple terms for the exact same speed or type of drive, depending on when the article was written. Think World War I- it wasn't WWI until AFTER WWII, so in some places you'll read "The Great War" and in others "WWII"- but both refer to the same event.
If you haven't clicked to the next thread or fallen asleep yet, I'll get to point. WDS infrastructure is old- PATA UDMA-2 (ATA/33)- so you need a drive that will dumb itself down to not only the Parallel standard, but also UDMA-2, BUT has incorporated wear leveling, which came about well after this drive was abandoned. And it needs to be the smaller form factor for a laptop. Luckily, I think I've found just the thing: Kingspec PATA 2.5in IDE SSD I bought one of these drives, but had a little snafu with getting my WDS- so I haven't actually installed it yet. So I can't tell you for sure if it works. But for $50, it's a cheap and REALLY worthwhile upgrade. Not only are SSD much much much faster than magnetic drives, they withstand shock and take less energy, so your battery will last longer and there's less chance of data damage if you drop it. This drive's connector is compatible too- just open up the WDS, pop it in, ghost it, load the software, Bob's your uncle, you've got yourself a WDS with a supercharger! (oh, and while you're at it- throw one of these in: 512MB SDRAM PC66 So if you've got 70 bucks burning a hole in your pocket, go for it and tell us how it goes. Or when I get my WDS situation finally worked out, I'll post my experience. If you already installed an SSD, then it's not the end of the world. In the real world, your WDS probably isn't getting enough use to wear things out too quickly. And if it is, the drive I listed should help you out. |
Can say that the Hama SDD woked without an issues, and as long as you put in enough memory (to avoid the swapping which makes the unit so slow), not much will be written to disk anyhow. With the extra memory and SDD disk, the unit is fast enough for its purpose imho, and a gem for the few under us that know what you can do with it :icon_wink:
|
WDS Error Codes
Would anyone have any information on Genrad WDS error codes?
Over the past week I have had “System errors 1208 & 402” and an intermittent “Fatal Error 56”. The system errors cleared after a software re-load and 56 will clear after shutting down and re-opening. On the System Utilities Screen, can anyone explain what the password-protected functions (Engineering Mode & Special Function) are used for? Thanks.... |
Ford Forum???
I have not gone to this forum in a while but you might find alot more Ford WDS users that have info on the error codes and general info. Due to the sheer number of dealer mechanics that used the WDS there has to be some who knows. Ford Forums - Mustang Forum, Ford Trucks, Ford Focus and Ford Cars - The Premier Ford Discussion Site on the Web Aston Martin Forum : Aston Martin Forums I have not posted there recently but I am 'motorcarman' there also. bob gauff |
Help Please
Has anyone got a copy of WDS disc Black C1 cash waiting my WDS has died :icon_no:
Many Thanks , pete |
Originally Posted by demonpete
(Post 404331)
Has anyone got a copy of WDS disc Black C1 cash waiting my WDS has died :icon_no:
Many Thanks , pete Cheers, |
I have the set of discs. I have A6 (red), B43 (blue), and C5 (black) disc 1 and 2, do you have the other 3 discs??
I have the latest Ford and C5 is the latest but but it came bundled with B40 and is needed for B41,B42 and B43. I can copy it but maybe someone in the UK has it. It will take a little longer from the US. bob gauff |
This thread is full of awesome tips, thanks!
|
$50.00 and five minutes of soldering gets you a new PTU battery. Take the old battery apart and use the original internal circuit board. Part HHR-380AB27F8
Digi-Key - P018-F081-ND (Manufacturer - HHR-380AB27F8) Tip: use a zip tie to secure the 4pin connector, just like the originals. I inadvertantly pulled the ground off the circuit board and fried it. Luckily I had a spare. |
Originally Posted by Crispy
(Post 423603)
$50.00 and five minutes of soldering gets you a new PTU battery. Take the old battery apart and use the original internal circuit board. Part HHR-380AB27F8
Digi-Key - P018-F081-ND (Manufacturer - HHR-380AB27F8) Tip: use a zip tie to secure the 4pin connector, just like the originals. I inadvertantly pulled the ground off the circuit board and fried it. Luckily I had a spare. The battery consists of 8 "4/3rds A" batteries. All-Battery.com: Tenergy 4/3 SubC 2300mAh NiCd Flat Top Rechargeable Battery These are only 3.22 each on sale 9with solder tabs) a extra five minutes of soldering will save you $25. I think I'm going to buy the pre-solderd pack... My hands shake too much to solder.... But you can use any size 4/3rds A battery... |
Those individual arent the same- they are shorter and fatter and won't fit in the compartment when connected together. You need to be careful and ensure you use the L-A size (17mm diameter, Aka 4/3 A). Even the L-Fat A won't fit and they are just 1mm more each. There's no room for fudging in the WDS compartment. I fried the battery circuit board trying to force 8 L-Fat A's into the space- jogging the ground wire loose. *Take my advice and buy the prepackaged. It's worth the 25.00
|
I bought the larger batteries and configured them differently, stacking them vertically and horizontally until they fit and THEN soldered them together with the circuit board, then heat shrink and black tape.
The pack does fit but NOT in the original configuration. I would have left the rear HDD/Battery compartment lid off if the battery did not fit without damage. I might have even removed the compartment divider to get the battery in. I leave my PTU docked 99% of the time so I did not worry about the battery or Hard Drive Disc dangling from the case if I had to leave the rear cover off (DUCT TAPE????) bob gauff |
Hi "first post"
I was just reading this very good thread and I´m also looking into modding my PTU. I´m also up for a battery change but i want to get my unit working before. I had issues with the harddrive as the bios is set to fixed sector size etc i changed to Auto as it will then adapt to the new harddrive. For people who dont now their bios password you can try "dmwhjw" i think this is the master password for all units. If it dosnt work download cmospwd and restart youre comouter in dos mode and run both apps in the dos folder and look in the AMI section. Ps: Can anybody be soo kind and help me out with the cds as my drive was dead. I have the wds 34 cd. |
I have the FORD and Jaguar discs. I can send them in the mail but I need to know what you need. Ford?? Jaguar???
The latest version for the U.S. is..... Ford A6, B43, C5 disc 1 and disc 2 Jaguar CD2, 42a, 43 I can send the software on 1 DVD in folders to split up and burn onto the CDs or the individual CDs the way the WDS needs them to install. I got 2 more CDs from a guy in Romania? and they are claimed to be FORD CD B44 and B45 but we don't have some of the European cars here to see if the software works. I have not tried the B44 and B45 on my Ford WDS. Someone might have a way to upload the CDs to a large file server but I just make copies and mail them!!!!! Keep in touch ZIZIP and let us know how you are coming along. bob gauff |
I want to reinstall my ptu so i guess i need 42a as i allready have the 43 but i also need the cd2 to ghost the system. The question is if it will work on my European Unit?
Btw would you please be so kind and make a iso. file of it and i will arrange hosting for the files (easy ftp from the browser) Once more thank you for the help |
Originally Posted by zizip
(Post 429114)
I want to reinstall my ptu so i guess i need 42a as i allready have the 43 but i also need the cd2 to ghost the system. The question is if it will work on my European Unit?
Btw would you please be so kind and make a iso. file of it and i will arrange hosting for the files (easy ftp from the browser) Once more thank you for the help Cheers, |
Originally Posted by xjrguy
(Post 429185)
Bob isn't setup for uploading, at least I don't think he is. Do you have an email I can contact you? We'll see if we can't work something out.
Cheers, zizip:icon_beerchug: |
i may have access to one,ill be selling my SDD with laptop vcm caples and laptop soon
pm me if you have any questions |
Originally Posted by Crispy
(Post 402627)
Ah, as a technology professional, here's a Jag upgrade I might actually be able to help y'all with! :) You want to be careful with the flash drive as a replacement in WDS. The problem with early Solid State Drives (SSD) was that operating systems designed for the strengths and limitations of magnetic disks had a write pattern that wore out the SSDs, which was a much newer technology [ok, an old technology that finally became cheap enough to take on a new role, but we won't split hairs here]. Win98, in particular, got bad marks early on for burning out SSDs FAST because rather than use the entire drive's memory slots, it would continually write and rewrite on the same location (which over time breaks down an SSD drive, like how the driver's side mats get worn while the back seat's carpet is like new). Later OS and newer SSDs incorporated technology to use the full memory locations (think rotating tires). It's called wear leveling. Long story short, if you use an SSD or flash drive in the WDS machine, it should have it's own wear leveling technology incorporated in the drive, because Win98 won't do it on it's own. The WDS also uses an old standard for drive communication- Parallel ATA (PATA- or you may be familiar with the old term IDE), as opposed to the newer technology Serial ATA (or SATA), which allowed for faster transfer speeds. A drive can be either Magnetic or Solid State, and each of those may be either PATA or SATA. A PATA drive is further broken down into various speeds, termed Data Memory Access (DMA), based on it's transfer rate. Higher rate, higher number. Just to REALLY make you go cross eyed, you will read multiple terms for the exact same speed or type of drive, depending on when the article was written. Think World War I- it wasn't WWI until AFTER WWII, so in some places you'll read "The Great War" and in others "WWII"- but both refer to the same event.
If you haven't clicked to the next thread or fallen asleep yet, I'll get to point. WDS infrastructure is old- PATA UDMA-2 (ATA/33)- so you need a drive that will dumb itself down to not only the Parallel standard, but also UDMA-2, BUT has incorporated wear leveling, which came about well after this drive was abandoned. And it needs to be the smaller form factor for a laptop. Luckily, I think I've found just the thing: Kingspec PATA 2.5in IDE SSD I bought one of these drives, but had a little snafu with getting my WDS- so I haven't actually installed it yet. So I can't tell you for sure if it works. But for $50, it's a cheap and REALLY worthwhile upgrade. Not only are SSD much much much faster than magnetic drives, they withstand shock and take less energy, so your battery will last longer and there's less chance of data damage if you drop it. This drive's connector is compatible too- just open up the WDS, pop it in, ghost it, load the software, Bob's your uncle, you've got yourself a WDS with a supercharger! (oh, and while you're at it- throw one of these in: 512MB SDRAM PC66 So if you've got 70 bucks burning a hole in your pocket, go for it and tell us how it goes. Or when I get my WDS situation finally worked out, I'll post my experience. If you already installed an SSD, then it's not the end of the world. In the real world, your WDS probably isn't getting enough use to wear things out too quickly. And if it is, the drive I listed should help you out. thanks to this topic i got my broken WDS to work! thanks all! Can anyone comfirm wich sdram will work on WDS? somewere else on the internet i read that only 128mb sdram wil work. i would be nice to fit a 512mb sdram! |
I remember that all of my Pentium I 233mhz computers were maxed out at 256 RAM.
I am running a 128 in the expansion slot. The board has a 32 soldered permanent. That total gives me 160 RAM. I don't know if an additional 128 will just max out at 256 or not even boot up with the incorrect RAM???? (kinda like trying to install an HDD larger than 8gb, it only sees 8gb MAX) I had a mechanic buddy that came over to use my shop and clear gearbox adaptations with my WDS and he could not believe how fast it was compared to the one at the dealer we worked at. That WDS had the original 32 RAM and a cluttered up hard drive. He commented that it seemed faster than IDS with all the clutter and daily updates that Jaguar requires VIA the internet. You can try 512 but it will have to be PC66. It might fit and then just SEE 256???? If you do get it to work, LET ME KNOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! bob gauff |
Thanks for responding Bob.
A buddy of mine installed manny different 128 mb pc66 but not all of them worked. eventually he installed a 128mb pc133 kingston memory wich worked. only on the speed of pc66 memory. i have tried several but on installing the wds wont boot. before ordering de 512 mb ram i would like to know if annyone have tested this :) |
Tested and failed. Waiting for the (more expensive!?) 256mb. I'm going to run an ID utility on the processor as well, to see what spec supports. I'll report back.
|
So I have yet to crack my WDS open. I've got a question before I do.
Are the motherboard, hard drive, and RAM sticks housed in the tablet or the docking station? Thanks Wes |
The only thing in the docking station is basically the expansion section of a computer.
The PTU is a 'stand-alone' unit with a Windows type computer in one half and a VCM (vehicle communication module) in the other. The 2 sections are electronically connected by a set of 'PINS' that must be aligned when connecting or disconnecting the halves. You need to split the halves STRAIGHT away from each other. Do not slide the halves sideways or tilt them too far or the pins will bend. The RAM is on the computer side of the unit (the front side with the screen). There is room for one stick of RAM and the other 'slot' has 32 soldered direct to the board. The hard drive and battery MUST be removed before the case halves are 'split'. bob gauff |
Taking the PTU apart was a little scary at first, but like mentioned, pop the hard drive and batter, and pull the two halves STRAIGHT apart and it's fine. I stuffed 128mb of PC66 in, and it feels snappier. I think a faster hard drive would make a HUGE difference though.
I know this is out of place, but seeing as how this is the most comprehensive WDS thread I can find on the internet... I'd love it if anyone could PM me with a suggestion as to the value of a functioning WDS (bad battery) w/ tons of cables, docking station/cabinet, newest ford software (I'll get and include Jag) manuals, etc. My business is changing, and I'd rather buy a slightly less comprehensive tool that does more brands.... |
There are a bunch of WDS units on eBay for around $400.00 but most are not complete with cables and software. I paid $400 for a Ford with software, cabinet and cables but the docking station had problems. I bought a docking station for $100 and some cables for $100 so I have some money invested but I work on several Jaguar a month so it has paid for itself.
The WDS is good up to 2006 cars so it is still a useful tool. I can programme keys and configure modules so it works for me. I would guess $500 to $800 would be reasonable for a Ford/Jaguar with separate Hard Drives and booklets/cables/software. You might get more if the setup includes what the buyer is looking for. You can get more diagnostic equipment for Fords than Jaguar so you might convert it to Jaguar and advertize Ford as secondary?????? Just a thought bob gauff |
So on the VCM half...can you transfer the WDS to a knock off VCM housing and turn it into the same kind of VCM module that ford now sells with a manditory subscription to use? I ask because it's my understanding that the WDS did not require the subscription...so in theory, you might be able to convert it to a more modern VCM/IDS unit that is subscription free and access ford's network without any legal issues.
Wes |
I have no idea how that would be possible. The WDS is a Windows 98 Pentium I 233mhz computer. The software supports Jaguar from 1995 to 2006.
The IDS/VCM software requires XP Pro and a laptop with USB. If you completely understand computers and hardware modifications you might 'bodge together' a diagnostic 'frankenstien' to communicate with a Jaguar. What software would you use?????????????? bob gauff |
steve my wds docking station ps went bad and i see you have converted a new ps to operate yours!
please tell me what you did to do so since i don't want to fry the mother board thanks tom ace595@hotmail.com |
Hi Guys. My names Mark i am a senior bodyshop technician for a Ford main dealer, our service dept has 3 WDS units that do not work anymore and i have brought them all home to try and get at least one working to get us out of trouble as IDS struggles or does not work on really old fords that WDS used to so occasionally we become unstuck at work as u can imagine!
The service dept senior tech is ok with loading the cd's etc BUT thats as far as it goes for him but i am more into computers too so i have offered to help out as best i can........ Right i'll list the faults below to see if u have any ideas...... WDS 1. worked fine , one day would not turn on. always cared for and now totally unresponsive - no lights or anything. original battery but even on 12v cable or base station absolutely dead. i have removed the hdd and put it in a caddy and it is fine, no errors. partitioned into 2 sections. WDS 2. worked fine , newish battery one day would not load windows. service tech reinstalled cd's (not me) and still the same. it loads bios and gets halfwas through windows where u see the little bar moving from left to right at the bottom of the windows logo and freezes. Boots in safe mode ok, wont load TABMAN.EXE comes up with an error. If i try loading GDSshell.EXE i get the blue screen of death and computer crashes. WDS3. wont turn on, when power button is pressed the power LED comes on but i get a flashing ( ! ) light on the LED panel and thats it (LED 5). newish battery and HDD is fine in a Caddy. tried HDD from WDS 1. and its still dead. HDD does not power up or no noises from WDS. - LED 1 and 4 stay on and 5 flashes when green button is presses. if i hold green and red buttons it beeps and then does the same. basically i got 3 hdd's working, 2 batteries i know are good, 1 WDS that loads in safe mode but not normal and when thew cd's are reloaded its still the same and even with different HDD's in again it still wont load windows normally. The battery on the motherboard must be ok as the clock is still spot on after months of no use. Ford Technical wont help us as this is obsolete but there are cd's kicking about at work if i need them. cant get into BIOS as we dont know that password...... i am powering from home by 12v cable and a keyboard plugged into the top of the WDS, if i need i can bring the basestation home for cd drive etc. basestation PSU got replaced a few years ago. Any ideas????? Thanks in advance! Mark --------------------- UPDATE - i have took apart WDS 1. to see whats what and cant see nothing obvious its a total strip to get to the power board in tha very back of it and in tempted to try changing boards over one at a time from the other that wont start. theres 3 boards by the looks of things , the motherboard is on the back of the screen then theres the board that looks as if it is the data collector board from the inputs in the top of the WDS and finally the power board. there is no extra RAM in anyone but the CPU looks removable if ever needed. I took pics too and when i get a min i might upload to photobucket and put the link on here incase it helps anyone one day...... Mark |
Dead WDS
Hi Mark,
I think I can help. I had the same kind of troubles with my own WDS as you have with WDS 2 and 3. The problem with mine was the battery. What I've learned is that both during win 98 start-up and during WDS start-up the battery level and resistance (as a measure of ability to function properly) is being checked by the system. If anything is not allright with the battery, the system will halt - for instance at the Win98 screen as you described. Running the system on 12v or on mains won't help because the battery is still being reported as faulty to the PTU. If the battery chip is reporting to the PTU being 'dead' it won't be charged by the PTU - so the problem won't be solved by letting the PTU connected to the system. What I did to start the system - I 'fooled' the system by taking the battery out, removing the shrink foil, so you can see the individual cells. Then I connected a NIMH charger directly to the cells for a couple of hours - so bypassing the built-in chip in the battery pack which is preventing charging the cells. In this way you can put some current in the cells, so that at the end the pack is giving you 9.6 volts. Put it back in the system and start the system on mains. If you are lucky the system will start-up and will start charging the battery again. In my case it worked, but the battery lasted at the end for only 1 minute, so I replaced all the cells in my pack with industrial cells from Sanyo, giving me almost one hour on battery power!! I hope this ‘trick’ will work for you! If you need help with your battery pack, please let me know. Yvo
Originally Posted by Mark Coe
(Post 465869)
Hi Guys. My names Mark i am a senior bodyshop technician for a Ford main dealer, our service dept has 3 WDS units that do not work anymore and i have brought them all home to try and get at least one working to get us out of trouble as IDS struggles or does not work on really old fords that WDS used to so occasionally we become unstuck at work as u can imagine!
The service dept senior tech is ok with loading the cd's etc BUT thats as far as it goes for him but i am more into computers too so i have offered to help out as best i can........ Right i'll list the faults below to see if u have any ideas...... WDS 1. worked fine , one day would not turn on. always cared for and now totally unresponsive - no lights or anything. original battery but even on 12v cable or base station absolutely dead. i have removed the hdd and put it in a caddy and it is fine, no errors. partitioned into 2 sections. WDS 2. worked fine , newish battery one day would not load windows. service tech reinstalled cd's (not me) and still the same. it loads bios and gets halfwas through windows where u see the little bar moving from left to right at the bottom of the windows logo and freezes. Boots in safe mode ok, wont load TABMAN.EXE comes up with an error. If i try loading GDSshell.EXE i get the blue screen of death and computer crashes. WDS3. wont turn on, when power button is pressed the power LED comes on but i get a flashing ( ! ) light on the LED panel and thats it (LED 5). newish battery and HDD is fine in a Caddy. tried HDD from WDS 1. and its still dead. HDD does not power up or no noises from WDS. - LED 1 and 4 stay on and 5 flashes when green button is presses. if i hold green and red buttons it beeps and then does the same. basically i got 3 hdd's working, 2 batteries i know are good, 1 WDS that loads in safe mode but not normal and when thew cd's are reloaded its still the same and even with different HDD's in again it still wont load windows normally. The battery on the motherboard must be ok as the clock is still spot on after months of no use. Ford Technical wont help us as this is obsolete but there are cd's kicking about at work if i need them. cant get into BIOS as we dont know that password...... i am powering from home by 12v cable and a keyboard plugged into the top of the WDS, if i need i can bring the basestation home for cd drive etc. basestation PSU got replaced a few years ago. Any ideas????? Thanks in advance! Mark --------------------- UPDATE - i have took apart WDS 1. to see whats what and cant see nothing obvious its a total strip to get to the power board in tha very back of it and in tempted to try changing boards over one at a time from the other that wont start. theres 3 boards by the looks of things , the motherboard is on the back of the screen then theres the board that looks as if it is the data collector board from the inputs in the top of the WDS and finally the power board. there is no extra RAM in anyone but the CPU looks removable if ever needed. I took pics too and when i get a min i might upload to photobucket and put the link on here incase it helps anyone one day...... Mark |
thanks for your reply! today i got a new battery delivered so i will try that. the docking station is at work and i am wondering if i need that to fully charge the battery or can it be done by plugging the 12v lead into it overnight?
i have tried a different battery from another machines and also changed over HDD's on the one that freezes on windows start up with no luck BUT i forgot to bring the new battery home with me tonight so will have to wait til tomorrow night. Its a little fustrating with 3 units sitting around me and they all have different problems that are prooving fustrating to get going. i hoped by swopping a few bits over i could at least get one going easily but as you say you had these probs from a faulty battery i will definately wait to try that before i pull my hair out lol thanks again for your help!! Mark. |
Charging at 12 volt or mains
Hi Mark,
I'm pretty sure it won't charge on the 12v supply. Looking through manual it states that the battery will only be charged when the PTU is in the docking station - one of the main functions of the docking station. When it is in the docking station and when is has powered up you can run the battery conditioning software in WDS. This program will fully charge the battery (which should take a couple of hours) and then drain the battery (which should last for 20 min) and then re-charge it. I still think that at least 2 of your machines will work with a new battery pack and placed in the docking station - so good luck! Yvo |
Originally Posted by zizip
(Post 428966)
Hi "first post"
I was just reading this very good thread and I´m also looking into modding my PTU. I´m also up for a battery change but i want to get my unit working before. I had issues with the harddrive as the bios is set to fixed sector size etc i changed to Auto as it will then adapt to the new harddrive. For people who dont now their bios password you can try "dmwhjw" i think this is the master password for all units. If it dosnt work download cmospwd and restart youre comouter in dos mode and run both apps in the dos folder and look in the AMI section. Ps: Can anybody be soo kind and help me out with the cds as my drive was dead. I have the wds 34 cd. THANK YOU zizip!!!!!!!! bob gauff |
Hi all,
Worked also for me - many thanks!!
Originally Posted by motorcarman
(Post 467065)
I did try this password and can verify that it is correct.
THANK YOU zizip!!!!!!!! bob gauff |
Originally Posted by y.roos
(Post 466939)
Hi Mark,
I'm pretty sure it won't charge on the 12v supply. Looking through manual it states that the battery will only be charged when the PTU is in the docking station - one of the main functions of the docking station. I still think that at least 2 of your machines will work with a new battery pack and placed in the docking station - so good luck! Yvo I got WDS 2 working with just a new battery - seems windows does have a command on start up to check the batt and if it fails then it just wont load!!!! - one to remember!!!!! WDS 3 asscording to the install guide has - Diagnostic LED (E) Troubleshooting section.This RED lamp illuminates to indicate that the PTU has a fault. If this lamp flashes or illuminates, refer to the This is flashing and in the troubleshooting section it says call ford technical - who now dont help us any more but before i go any further i will try the new battery in the other 2 but WDS 2's HDD needed formatting so its running on WDS 3's at the moment with the new batt. Another one to remember the battery DOES charge just on the 12v lead!!!! I went into the system information once it was running and could see the battery charge percentage going up so i left it powered up all night and will check it later on when i get back from work. I will try the other 2 batteries to see if they are dead in WDS 2 now i know thats running and if need be i will follow your trick to get the batteries to come alive again Getting there fellas! - THANKS for ALL your input so far.... Mark |
Help with a faulty wds No Charge of Battery
Hi , i have just got hold of a ford wds with docking station from ebay and i am in the process of repairing the system. The wds and the docking station is completly dead with non lights etc. I soon confirmed that the power solve 250w power supply was faulty. I removed the power supply and found capacitors faulty and burnt printed tracks . I got holt of a atx power supply and rewired the P8 plug to have three blacks and three orange in the correct order and removed the spare cables from the 20 pin power plug. This was then pluged into the mains and lights came on the dock but the green led on the docking pcb that checks +16 volts was dim due to this power supply not giving 16 volts out unlike the power solve gr250. I read that another member had done the same as i have but they stated that the 16 volts to 12 volts from the replacement pus was not a problem.
The WDS is still dead with no lights even pressing the green button does nothing. The next stage was to open the wds up and look at all boards and all looked ok and does not look like other people have been in the unit so that was good. I then dismantled the batter pack and disconected the pcb within the battery and then charged the battery pack direct for 1 hour at about 700mA and charged up ok. I then refitted to the wds and a press of the green button started the wds in windows 98 mode so was a good sign. The first question is will the wds power up on the dock with no battery pack ? I have no power or lights with a discharged battery when on the dock. I can only think it may requre the 16 Volts to power the wds from the dock and 12 volts is too low ? or the power supply pcb may have a problem . I looked for smd fuses within the wds but did not see any with a good look over the pcbs . I work with electronic repaires so just need any help on how the system should work and where to start next . Thanks from your help in advance . I am new to WDS and have the ford discs with this but would like to make a Jaguar hard drive if i can find a member with the jag discs etc. |
There are several of us with the Jaguar software. You will need the A-204 battery cable and a B-203 Diagnostic cable.
The A-204 will provide 12V power to the PTU without the Docking Station. The B-203 will also power the PTU when the cable is attached to the vehicle. The battery must be installed at all times the unit is booted up. The PTU will 'check' to see if the battery is in the circuit. A battery fault will be displayed by a 4 digit number and a message to contact a service center. I had a faulty Docking Station when I bought my WDS. I found a used DS on eBay for $50 + Shipping so I got it and now everything operates normally. I was still on good terms with the Jaguar dealer I previously worked at so I asked if I could test my PTU on the Dealer Docking Station and they agreed to let me load some software to be sure the PTU was OK before I bought another DS. Technically, you don't need the docking station except to use the printer, load software, transfer data to the 'floppy drive' and condition the batteries. I have not taken my power supply apart so I have no advise on that. I did provide 'pinout' info on the A-204 cable to someone who wanted to power the PTU with the 'A' socket. It might be on the forum somewhere. bob gauff |
Thanks for the info . I have a cable that is the obdII to the PTU and is the large square type of plug but do not have the 12 volt power cable and plug. I did a few more tests and think i know why my ptu was dead when pluged into the dock due to the 16 volts being low by the test led within the dock being low . The 16 volts is supplied via the orange cables to the P8 plug but the Orange wires from a AXT PSU are for the CPU and are only 3.3V DC . That would explain while the PTU would not power up as it was only getting 3.3 volts instead of 16 volts dc.
I now have the power supply apart and am looking into see if i can find a point where i can tap off a higher voltage . Do you know if i can still get a 12 volt power cable or just a multi plug to fit the ptu so i can make a power cable . Do you know the maker of the multi plugs on the rear of the PTU. Thanks for your help |
There are several OBDII cables for the WDS. The B-203 is the Jaguar and early Ford cable.
The later Ford cable is a BLUE end (B-259) cable and will not work on the Jags. I found some A-204 battery cables on eBay but none lately. Do a search for WDS A-204 battery cable and see if you can find one. The power cable is necessary for the Jaguar (and Ford??) for configuring modules. If the WDS PTU requests the A-204 12V supply and you don't connect it, the PTU will detect it and the procedure will stop and the application will shut down. Keep at the power supply or find a good used on the internet for sale 'cheap' and install it. bob gauff |
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