DAS Star Diagnosis multiplexer communication error

[perdikoula888]

Hi everybody,

I bought an original MB caesar Actia multiplexer a few months ago. However I still have a few problems making the multiplexer to communicate with my laptops and my car. I have tried a few dell and vaio laptops (6 laptops altogether). I have not tried a thinkpad yet (i do not own one) however I doubt if this will make any difference. Dell laptops are pretty steady, reliable and compatible.

I am using DAS 02/2006

Serial rs232 Configuration:
Com port 6 (I have tried all ports from 1 up to 6)
Bits per second: 19200
IRQ: 04
I/O Range: 03E8 03EF (I have tried also 03F8 03FF)
All the rest of the settings as default.


All I get is 3 different errors at different times when I choose w203 in the model series selection page in DAS:

1) Fault (1.1)-1.501.9323
Intitialization of diagnosos multiplexer failed. Possible causes: The link between the diagnosis multiplexer and the diagnostic socket is interrupted. The link between the diagnosis multiplexer and the diagnostic unit is interrupted. The voltage supply at the diagnostic socket (circuit 30 and (or) circuit 31) is faulty.

2) Fault (1.17)-7.870
Internal error: Communication software error (CAL Error number 870). Please contact the STAR DIAGNOSIS call center.

3) Fault (1.13)
Communication error: The RS232 interface of the PC is occupied by another program (e.g. HHT-WIN); please end this program

I have tried also CAESAR self diagnosis with the following results:
CAESAR STOS+ Rev.:2.10 from Mar 11 2004
generated protocol file from 29.05.2006 22:58
SystemCheck :
Check serial ... 0 Ok
CAESAR HW Detection :
D2Access ... 0 Ok
D2DownLoad ... 0 Ok

CAESAR Part D2 detected on COM6 with baudrate: 19200
CAESAR version check :
D2CheckSNVER ... 0 Ok
User is Daimler-Benz AG
User Authentification 1
Classification 0
Serial Number 02xxxx
Authorization Level 3
Part D
Hardware Authentification 011200
Hardware Date 032001
Special EEPROM check :
D2 Special EEPROM check:
Inst. date registered ... 0 Ok
D2 Special CAN Test :
Special Test ... 0 Ok
CAESAR version check :
D2CheckSNVER ... 0 Ok
User is Daimler-Benz AG
User Authentification 1
Classification 0
Serial Number 02xxxx
Authorization Level 3
Part D
Hardware Authentification 011200
Hardware Date 032001
Slave check :
D2 Slave check
D2 Processor ... 0 Ok C165 (mask step CA) is mounted.
D2 RAM ... 0 Ok
D2 FLASH ... 0 Ok
D2 EEPROM ... 0 Ok
D2 SERCTL1 ... 2003 DSR / DTR lines at UART1 not connected
D2 UART1/2 ... 0 Ok
D2 ADC ... 0 Ok
D2 Display Power Supply :
D2 Power Battery ... Voltage KL30 = 11.8 V
D2 Power Ignition ... Voltage KL15 = 00.3 V
D2 Voltage K-Lines :
D2 State K-Lines (35) ... Total 2 (+), 33 (-)


Also I have tried DMI diagnosis without any success. (It fails to communicate)


Could you please forum experts (richard, miro, sunil, steve) spend a little bit of your precious time and help me sort this out? I forgot to tell you that I bought from mercedes the original odb & odb2 cables that connect from the multiplexer to the car. From the laptop side of the multiplexer I am using the serial cable and the converter Sunil supplied. It is a shame having the real thing and not being able to fully utilise it...

 

[perdikoula888]

To me it seems like if it has been blacklisted.... If this is the case, it is really shameful for sunman selling me duff equipment. He sold it to me for 5000 and does not reply to my emails to help me out. I feel like I have been conned and waisted a lot of money down the bin... If this is not the case Sunil I do sincerely apologise! However as it stands at the moment I have every reason to be angry with you sunman.... I though you were a gentleman...

Someone JUST told me that error 1.17 means blacklisted/permanently locked.....

 

[richard]

Hi
See my PM
R

 

[perdikoula888]

Richard I did not receive any messages yet. will check again in a while. thanks!

 

[perdikoula888]

just received your PM

I sent you a PM back now!

 

[miro]

To me it seems like if it has been blacklisted.... If this is the case, it is really shameful for sunman selling me duff equipment. He sold it to me for 5000 and does not reply to my emails to help me out. I feel like I have been conned and waisted a lot of money down the bin... If this is not the case Sunil I do sincerely apologise! However as it stands at the moment I have every reason to be angry with you sunman.... I though you were a gentleman...

Someone JUST told me that error 1.17 means blacklisted/permanently locked.....

Sunman doesnt sell junk nor does he control the Mercedes system. Sell me the Mux and I will give you cash / parts / labour to the same value payable on my visit in July.

Let me know if no other avenue is available to you.

 

[perdikoula888]

I bought the unit is good faith. Actually I paid double the amount of money that locked units go for. If I wanted a blocked unit I had plenty of opporunities to buy one for around 2000-2500. I was told prior to purchase, that this is one of the two units from a closed down garage that sunman got hold of and that it will be no reason to be backlisted. Now I need it urgently to sort out my car and I am really stuck. I had sent emails to sunman to sort this out for me and got no reply... Put yourself in my position. You would be upset as well. All I wanted is a fully working unit to sort out my car.

 

[perdikoula888]

My apologies sunman, I was just upset since I got no response to my emails I sent you. I prefer to be wrong rather than right since I always respected you and I still believe you are a gentleman, beynd the fact that I am upset. You would be upset as well if you were in my position. I needed it to sort out my car these days and now I am stuck since the multiplexer gives the errors mentioned. All I want is a fully working unit. Please find a solution to my problem and let me know asap. kind regards.

 

[miro]

My apologies sunman, I was just upset since I got no response to my emails I sent you. I prefer to be wrong rather than right since I always respected you and I still believe you are a gentleman, beynd the fact that I am upset. You would be upset as well if you were in my position. I needed it to sort out my car these days and now I am stuck since the multiplexer gives the errors mentioned. All I want is a fully working unit. Please find a solution to my problem and let me know asap. kind regards.

What is wrong with your car and what do you consider to be a "solution".

In any event .... you dont own a hoist or have any room to work on your own car seeing as you used the smash repair shop. Is it at all possible that you went slightly into overkill getting a system which is inherently flawed by external control from Stuttgart.

My personal advice, be it accepted or not, is that you leave such systems to people who have a professional interest and a direct relationship with Mercedes. In this case it is not as though you got no use and no enjoyment out of your system and by your own admission you can recover about half of the money you invested. So you dont lose anything by comparison to others who have never had the experience of ownership.

The annual cost of legally purchased WIS and DAS software is around 8000 Euro .... in that case you may want to reconsider what you paid and what you got out of it and lower your expectations .... given that it did work for an undisclosed period of time.

 

[Wully]

Hope you get the system working, would be a great tool to have!

Being honest i didn't even know that units could be blocked, if this is the case is there a way round it?

Not sure if anyone saw them late last week but there were two MB caesar Actia multiplexer's on that popular auction site, one went for £1.7k and the other £2k.

Anyway good luck.

 

[miro]

Hope you get the system working, would be a great tool to have!

Being honest i didn't even know that units could be blocked, if this is the case is there a way round it?

Not sure if anyone saw them late last week but there were two MB caesar Actia multiplexer's on that popular auction site, one went for £1.7k and the other £2k.

Anyway good luck.

You seem to be on a roll. How much would it cost to make one !

 

[perdikoula888]

What is wrong with your car and what do you consider to be a "solution".

In any event .... you dont own a hoist or have any room to work on your own car seeing as you used the smash repair shop. Is it at all possible that you went slightly into overkill getting a system which is inherently flawed by external control from Stuttgart.

My personal advice, be it accepted or not, is that you leave such systems to people who have a professional interest and a direct relationship with Mercedes. In this case it is not as though you got no use and no enjoyment out of your system and by your own admission you can recover about half of the money you invested. So you dont lose anything by comparison to others who have never had the experience of ownership.

The annual cost of legally purchased WIS and DAS software is around 8000 Euro .... in that case you may want to reconsider what you paid and what you got out of it and lower your expectations .... given that it did work for an undisclosed period of time.

Miro, I do not think your suggestion is fair: "you should be happy that you only lost half of the money"

I believe that a few people here want to keep secrets to themselves and not share knowledge, because they can potentially make a lot of money. Newcomers are observed/treated as potential threat to their profits unfortunately, which is not actually true. Therefore please don't sabotage me.

No person in this forum pays 8000 for DAS/WIS including you miro. maybe 10-20 pounds maximum for new versions, we all know that. Why then you mention this just to compromise my exectations for the money I paid in good faith? And by the way Miro, the MUX never worked for me since day one when I firstly received it. I did not get any benefit at all out of my investment.

I would rather prefer someone of you to offer a viable solution (I KNOW THEY ARE WORKAROUNDS that none of you seems kind enough to share), rather than telling me how lucky I am that I lost half of my money. This is what this forum is all about SHARING KNOWLEDGE (not just finding another marketplace for potential customers willing to spend thousands)

I am not going to steal customers from you or anyone else. I just like doing things myself, this is my hobby and noone can deny me my right to select the hobbies that interest me. However noone was born knowledgeable, students need teachers. I am sure you were in my position when you firstly started learning; and by the way, yes I have a permanent place now to work with my car.

Please don't sabotage me. My intentions are genuine. I expect some help from people who gave them a substantial amount of money. I am not an enemy of sunman. I do respect him and consider him a friend. I am just frustrated waiting for a few months without being able to utilise the equipment I paid for; and was sold to me as fully working and unblocked, I took as face value his claims, therefore I expect a solution...

 

[Wully]

I believe that a few people here want to keep secrets to themselves and not share knowledge, because they can potentially make a lot of money. Newcomers are observed/treated as potential threat to their profits unfortunately, which is not actually true.

Being honest the above statement seems to be fair. I've noticed a few people mentioning this very subject on this and other MB forums however they are always shot down.

The one thing that has always had me wondering is the fact that there are so many MB owners on these forums and no one seems to be able to have a solution to having to go to a dealer to get things like comand present or xenons present.

 

[Alfie]

Being honest the above statement seems to be fair. I've noticed a few people mentioning this very subject on this and other MB forums however they are always shot down.

The one thing that has always had me wondering is the fact that there are so many MB owners on these forums and no one seems to be able to have a solution to having to go to a dealer to get things like comand present or xenons present.

The reason that you have to make a trip to the dealer is due to the extortionate cost involved in obtaining a STAR diagnosis system. Believe me, if I could afford one I'd have one. There are slightly cheaper alternatives but they are still costly.

The above said, there are one or two members of the forum who can program cars but it is not up to me to divulge who they are. If they choose to offer that service, then that is up to them. In the meantime if anyone does find a cheap way to enable options on cars, please let me know!

 

[miro]

Miro, I do not think your suggestion is fair: "you should be happy that you only lost half of the money"

I believe that a few people here want to keep secrets to themselves and not share knowledge, because they can potentially make a lot of money. Newcomers are observed/treated as potential threat to their profits unfortunately, which is not actually true. Therefore please don't sabotage me.

I did not get any benefit at all out of my investment.

Please don't sabotage me. My intentions are genuine. I expect some help from people who gave them a substantial amount of money. I am not an enemy of sunman. I do respect him and consider him a friend. I am just frustrated waiting for a few months without being able to utilise the equipment I paid for; and was sold to me as fully working and unblocked, I took as face value his claims, therefore I expect a solution...

Truly it is the most self centred and mindless retort I have read on here for a number of years and surpassing my own blithering stupidity by a whole whole digit on the log scale. For every visit you didnt make to the dealer you saved at least 100 quid. So how many was that ?

Then you were foolish enough to buy a MUX for which you only have the use on a private car(s). Then you propose globally that you were shafted by Sunil - being that he doesnt own DC just yet and doesnt control your destiny. Then you suggest that faced with a viable soft landing suggest it is a disguise to cheat you out of your investment.

I dont know which is more stupid. Your claims or responding to them.

Truly I dont have the right kind of training to help you. I think it would require a couch and a blank cheque. You say the most pointless things not knowing the untruth.

 

[miro]

Being honest the above statement seems to be fair. I've noticed a few people mentioning this very subject on this and other MB forums however they are always shot down.

The one thing that has always had me wondering is the fact that there are so many MB owners on these forums and no one seems to be able to have a solution to having to go to a dealer to get things like comand present or xenons present.

I think it works like this. MBENZNL, Sunman and myself all have systems. That is common knowledge. Then there are certain members who work for dealers and offer excellent group support and then there are people who beg, borrow and steal equipment on weekends.

Either way, you have to stick your neck out to do these favours or travel with a whole pile of equipment through airports. The point being that its never "free" even if money is not paid for a service. Someone has to give up time and energy to make it happen.

 

[perdikoula888]

Miro,
I refuse to make personal remarks as you do. The following are the facts:

1) It is my OWN choice and right to own a multiplexer for whatever reasons choose to own one, you are not the one to Dictate to me whether I deserve to own one or not. Therefore do not patronise me.

2) I paid 5000 for unblocked multiplexer NOT for a blocked one. Since it is blocked I kindly asked sunman to help me sort this out. I never tried to ruin sunman's reputation as you are trying to show off. Stop acting like Sunman's lawyer and let him sort directly with me the issue raised. Sunman is a gentleman, I may have been upset since I had no reply from him. Since he replied and showe willingness to sort out the sissue, I already apologised to him if I have been a bit impatient. I know he will sort the issue out and will not let me down.

3) If you cannot or you are not willing to offer me a solution, then stop undermining me with personal remarks. You do not know me at all. This topic was raised for multiplexer troubleshooting. You have not offered a single troubleshooting advice yet, apart from trying to be Sunman's lawyer.

4) Would you ever pay 5000 for a blocked multiplexer, when you have the choice to buy one for less than half the price?

5) I did not save a single penny from the main dealer visits as you wrongly suggested. The multiplexer is blocked since DAY 1, WHEN I bought it.

 

[Brian WH]

This has gone far enough.

Resolve this privately NOT on this open Forum.

Thread CLOSED

 

[richard]

OK guys - lets stop fighting

At the end of the day, Perdikoula has chosen to spend 5k euros buying some equipment, and it doesnt do what he expect it to do, so is somewhat upset.

All he is doing is asking if someone out here on the board can help, since thats what lots of people do - and there is perhaps the only collection of people who may be able to help him that read this board !!

It is true that a lot of the information to do with Star is hard to get hold of, most MB technicians dont have regular access to the hidden menus as they need a password, and sensibly wont play with those menus on car's in the workshop - you really can write off control units when you flash them etc etc -and i wouldnt want my car's used as test mules by the dealership !

Its also fair that those that have worked hard (time, effort, money or any combination thereof) want to recoup their investment by charging for their services. If they weren't able to do so, they probably wouldnt spent as much time working out what nice things we can have all turned on on our cars.
- I choose to spend the odd hour writing down some of the information I discover or have learned - mainly by knowing some very good MB techs and having a number of very co-operative dealers over a number of years as I seem to buy a load of cars from them and by being able to remember all things technical (but just about nothing else!!) - and publish it for free on http://www.mercupgrades.com - but that really has cost me money in terms of buying parts I dont need (big box of all kind of connectors and bits of wiring and clips, a few broken comands, a TV tuner etc) - and there is thus a limit to how much info I can discover. If I had an income coming from that website or doing stuff for people, then I would be spending a lot more time finding out what can be done ! (so pls go to the website and use the few advertising links there ;-))

I really don't know if the mux that Sunman supplied worked on the star version that was current a few months ago when he bought it or whether thats the vesion that Perdi. is using now, or what was said by Sunman to Perdikuola - I'm not sure it matters to anyone but Sunman and Perdi. and I can't blame Sunman that it doesnt work on software that was released after he sold it - especially as it seems Sunman and Perdi. are now talking and hopefully they will come to a resolution.

R