VagCom

[Robracer]

Well paid  That's all i'm saying. At first i had the cheapo blue fake wire off ebay for a few year's till i needed more than just a simple connection to my ecu. A full engine rebuild caused my dizzy to throw up the usual ecu error. I was well aware of Ross tech, gendan & mi-uk's price's but i wasn't prepared to spend even more cash after my engine rebuild. So a quick trawl through eBay brought up the vag com 12.12 dongle. I honestly assumed it was an ex-Ross Tech wire to be fair.
But i'm in no need for software assistance. I only have a MK3 GTI. It does all i need it to do. It even work's on my other half's 09' Skoda fabia

[itavaltalainen]

Well.... you could have kept your blue cable and just gotten VCDS lite licence which can do everything on a mk3.
That's 99 USD.... how could their better system (HEX+CAN) only cost half that even if second hand?

Buying cheap knock offs just does people like you and me out of a job (and your kids will have to bow to the communist party in PRC). It's like buying a TV that "fell off a lorry"... just not right imho.

[Robracer]

I had the same idea at first. But the blue eBay wire wouldn't allow the software to create a serial number for me to supply for an upgrade. I followed all instructions for the process, but with no success. They stipulate that the serial is essential for a successful upgrade transaction.

The dongle i bought.. I still think it's an OE part?

[Screech16v]

That's a fake mate,it should have a serial number on that sticker,the screws are wrong and when its plugged in I bet the led is on the underside,i know,ive had one,and got my money back ,if you use it and your laptop connects to the net it will get fried,look at some genuine plugs on google images

[Robracer]

Ah S**t. I hoped it wasn't a fake! I have a thing for OE parts. I work with OE parts all day long..

[itavaltalainen]

Here is an image of the genuine item:


I'm surprised that you could not get a code with blue lead to register vcds lite - the code is generated based on your computer and not the lead (I have used different leads, one of the blue ones and one 'home made').

Problem with your VCDS cable is that you can't update the software, i.e. you won't be able to do much on newer cars (12.12 is very limited on MQB which new VAGs are).

Other thing that makes you think is... it's very easy to find out how a genuine lead looks like. If they are not even bothered to make it look like the genuine item what is the quality of the electronics used, workmanship? Would not want to connect that to a car worth k£.

[Robracer]

I tried everything i could to get the blue wire and vcds to create a serial number. I tried & tried.. I trawled through forum's, blog's and Ross Tech's own FAQ but i had no success. Then my car threw up the dizzy error one afternoon i wanted to fix the problem pronto. So i genuinely thought what i bought was ex oe stock? Obviously not! I've only used it twice for two separate error's and it's been sat upstairs since. I'll tear the dongle plug apart soon and see how it's been built?

[itavaltalainen]

Where did you get vcds lite s/w?
Was it on the cd that came with the cable? Then may have had a poorly coded "crack" applied.

All that is needed to get an activation code on the blue lead is that you connected it to car successfully once, save the configuration. then go back to main screen and click on about.... if that does not work you could move the *.vca file to another folder (or rename) with s/w closed, then restart the software.

[Robracer]

I bought the blue cable with the mini cd software included from eBay 4-6 years ago when i first got my golf. I was totally new to VW in those days! That software & blue cable at the time managed to clear an ABS light due to the previous owner bodging the two rear sensors and adding the wrong ABS pump! So two new rear sensors and a correct ABS pump installed, and code cleared by VCDS lite But as i soon found out, VCDS lite has it's limitations. Perhaps in the future i'll be more picky where i buy VW related stuff?