FIXED ? No longer connecting DiagBox V07.62 with the a 9780.Z5 VCI

[spiff]

Good evening from a sunny at last Mullion Cove Cornwall : )

I hope the weather is same same for you all : )

Citroen C5 petrol 2003 estate automatic.

I have used this DiagBox V07.62 with the a 9780.Z5 VCI once before and it worked OK.

Today I decided I would clear any previous fault codes.

I should have left it along.

The unit connected and found the vehicle VIN OK, I just had to enter the RPO.

I selected the auto gear box which works OK, there were some faults listed.

I returned to the previous menu to select delete faults.

It said I had to view all the faults at least once before I could delete them.

I clicked each one up then went back to the delete menu.

Not sure what happened then so tried to close the program, I either tried the incorrect way or it hung, not sure.

CTRL + Delete closed it, after this it would not find the ECU

I have closed it this way before with no problems.

The instructions that came with it say to close it this way if it hangs.

Re booted, still no go.

I then reinstalled the C drive from the ghost, I had created a ghost awhile back when all was OK.

The ghost installed fine, I then tried to connect again, but I still had the same problem.

I tried entering the VIN manually as it would no longer find it automatically, but it still will not find the ECU.

The VCI connects via USB with three flashes as it should.

I did try the two other USB sockets, it connected OK but no go.

The interface connecter to the car appears to be connecting physically, or at least as it has before.

The laptop is an IBM think pad running W7 Professional.

Any help would be much appreciated : )

The USB device is shown as working correctly in Device Manager as ACTIA USB Devices.

UPDATE : -

I HAVE JUST RELOADED THE GHOST AGAIN AND TAKEN THE LOT BACK DOWN TO THE CAR AND IT WORKS FINE ?

PREVIOUSLY I HAD NOTICED WHILE HAVING THE PROBLEM, THAT THE CAR HAD GONE INTO BATTERY ECONOMY MODE ?

COULD THAT HAVE HAD ANY BEARING ON THE PROBLEM ?

I HAD DISCONNECTED AND STARTED THE ENGINE, RUN IT FOR A SHORT WHILE AND TRIED AGAIN, ON THAT OCCASION IT WOULD STILL NOT WORK.

OR HAS DRIVING THE CAR INTO THE GARAGE CLEARED SOMETHING ?

God Bless Spiff

[MikeT]

The VCI connects via USB with three flashes as it should.

It's known that not all VCI's are equal but thought you'd like to know that mine lights up solid as soon as I connect it - even before Windoze has caught up and emits the "da-dum".
Perhaps your VCI usb-driver went awol?

[GiveMeABreak]

Spiff - Yes, economy mode can prevent the diagnostic form connecting. On the earlier C5s you had about 30 minutes tops before economy mode kicked in, but frequently less. A run will have allowed some additional time. Normally, the best way to proceed it sot start up your laptop in the house. log in and all that, launch Diagbox and get it ready to the point of where it asks you to connect the VCI. This saves a lot of time faffing about when the car ignition is on and using up your economy mode 'allowance' as it were.

It can be disabled in Diagbox when undertaking some tests for about 60 minutes on my car - but at least getting laptop ready in advance should save you some time.

Also, one further tip if you run the laptop on battery node - is to go into the control panel, find your Power Saving option, go into Advanced Options, and customise the power plan. You need to look for the feature concerning the USB options and disable any option to suspend the USB ports to save power - the laptop can often s**t these down when it does not detect any activity and this can also affect communications.

[spiff]

Thank you both MikeT & Mark : )

The economy mode is a strange beast to me, the Xantia did not have one, no more sitting in the back with the lady friend listening to radio Luxemburg or Caroline : )

The laptop was connected to the mains when the trouble occurred, as despite disabling all the power saving options it still dims the screen on battery.

On the later successful try it was darker and the car was in the garage, so I did not plug the laptop in.

It was also as you suggested Marc already booted with the program loaded and the USB connected.

The car did not go into economy mode so it probably was the problem.

I have never been sure if a ghost program copies the USB ports ?

The battery is fairly new, but with the ignition on the volts will soon drop.

My first cars had a starting handle so no problem with low battery volts : )

The front suspension is now going harder so it looks like new sphere's are required.

God Bless Spiff

[Hell Razor5543]

I would be inclined to do a Citrobics session first, to see if that helps the suspension. Basically, take the suspension to its' full height, wait a minute or two, then drop it to its' lowest setting, and wait a minute or two again. Then repeat half a dozen times or so. That helps to keep things moving freely.

[MikeT]

UPDATE : -

I HAVE JUST RELOADED THE GHOST AGAIN AND TAKEN THE LOT BACK DOWN TO THE CAR AND IT WORKS FINE ?

PREVIOUSLY I HAD NOTICED WHILE HAVING THE PROBLEM, THAT THE CAR HAD GONE INTO BATTERY ECONOMY MODE ?

COULD THAT HAVE HAD ANY BEARING ON THE PROBLEM ?

I HAD DISCONNECTED AND STARTED THE ENGINE, RUN IT FOR A SHORT WHILE AND TRIED AGAIN, ON THAT OCCASION IT WOULD STILL NOT WORK.

OR HAS DRIVING THE CAR INTO THE GARAGE CLEARED SOMETHING ?

God Bless Spiff

EM shouldn't prevent diagbox initially connecting if that's what you mean. Would be a PSA/Actia home-goal if it did.
Case in point, non-start Pug306 battery drained and EM is invoked. Hooked up Diagbox and, luckily, found option to bypass EM for a timed period - allowed us to wind down window and reset BSI.
My C5 also went in EM once but diagbox still connected as usual. I guess certain tests, such as window winders, radio, etc, would need EM bypassing but I was only interested in Engine ECU and the relevant sub-systems.

I do wonder if you left the car in some in-between "stasis" when you failed to complete the clear faults procedure and the subsequent key-on/key-off events eventually cleared it allowing connection again?

Glad it's all working again for you, either way, Spiff

[GiveMeABreak]

Thank you both MikeT & Mark : )
My first cars had a starting handle so no problem with low battery volts : )

The front suspension is now going harder so it looks like new sphere's are required.

God Bless Spiff

Yes my Citroen GS days - I fondly remember the jack handle doubling as the starter handle too - glad to say I never needed to use it!

Well assuming there's no air in the system Spiff, try bleeding the system, details in my post here (for the X7, but still applies).
viewtopic.php?f=3&t=59694&hilit=bleed#p569407

Even the smallest 'fizz' can be enough to cause problems and I know you have been doing a fair bit of suspension work lately, so may be worth another bleed. If the ride is still hard, then maybe time for some new spheres - after all, 15 years if these are the originals is not bad going!

[spiff]

Good evening gentlemen.

Many thanks for all the advice regarding the Lexia and the suspension : )

Today I raised and lowered the suspension eight times and also did the full locks on the steering.

The ride did feel better afterwards, but still not as good as is once was, we are fairly sure of this : )

I shall bleed the system next using the Lexia as suggested.

When pushing the front and rear of the car down by hand, I was familiar with the amount of bounce to expect on our Xantia.

The rear on the C5 has a lot more bounce than the front, is this to be expected on the C5 ?

God Bless Spiff

[GiveMeABreak]

All the weight is on the front axle Spiff, so you'll find it harder bounce by hand and get the same reaction.

[spiff]

Thank you for your reply Marc : )

I have been looking online for sphere removal tools just in case.

There is a low cost one on eBay, the seller kindly came back with £13.75 plus post to my un-generous offer of £10 : )

The feed back for it on eBay is very good, but no so on some forums for the same item a couple of years back ?

If the gentleman has improved it or not I cannot tell.

Looking at my Pleiades Xantia tool, a longer bolt with a bend in it to allow for the increase in diameter might work ?

The nut would have to be used to tighten it as the bolt would not rotate far due to the bend.

Just a thought, has anyone else tried this ?

God Bless Spiff