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

 

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

 

Care to elaborate a little? Disc Black C1 doesn't tell me enough.

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.

 

So thats 8 batteries already tied together?

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

 

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,

 

You can contact me at my temporay email zizip60@gmail.com

zizip

 

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

 

Hi all! i have been reading in the background for some time.
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