Merged Lexia & Diagbox threads

[c.morewood]

Thanks Simon,
I've been working on this all day trying out various things and researching between installation and un installing again ...4 the time now.. Its frustrating as it only stalls when trying to install Lexia.. the Diagbox bit works fine with most of the menus etc.
I'm installing it on a laptop running XP with SP3 which only really has the car diagnostics on it. I've disabled the AVG and Zone alarm for each install. The clone is chinese but brand new and although my first attempt at the install was from a downloaded copy I discovered the the dvd sent with the clone had lexia and diagbox v6.01 on it. The lexia ran ok without problem so I've got that to fallback on I just wanted to see the daigbox in action as the interface seemed much more user friendly that the Lexia standalone.
During my research I came across some info from a french forum i'd recently joined lesamisdudiag.com they seem to have a good knowledge of the software side of things from what little I can understand. The latest clones appear to work with the latest version of Diagbox so hopefully that won't be another problem but anyway I think I've found out that if you use winrar to extract the files a lot of people are reporting problems. So the answer seems to be to use a proper iso programe like power iso to create an iso from the cd or extracted winraar file and then run from that mounted file. It must be the way that winraar extracts the lexia part of the Diagbox programe.
Thanks again for the feedback and useful information Simon,

I'll let you know how I get on

[Mandrake]

Hi Chris,

Some of the clone interfaces (like the easydiagnostics ones) can run Diagbox 6.xx but there's no way to tell just by looking at them. On the forum I linked to I read one thread where they said that some Chinese clones were supplied with Diagbox 6.01 even though they won't work with it, so having that on the CD is no guarantee it will work.

Regarding winrar and isos, you might be on the right track there - I've spent quite a bit of time today attempting to install that Diagbox 6.30 from the link I sent you earlier without success and then finally clicked what the problem was and got it working.

If you just extract the files from the iso image to a directory with winrar and run the installer from there it doesn't work properly - it gets to the bit where you do the manual activation then it fails to activate. Yes, I'm too cheap to bother burning a DVD which is why I persisted for some time trying to figure this out.

What I eventually did is install an ISO mounting program called MagicDisc which will mount an iso image to a drive letter, and ran the installation from the drive letter - bingo, it worked first time

That version of Diagbox installer automatically applies the patches and updates for you, no manual use of winrar or running patchV6 is required. Just mount the iso to a drive letter (or burn it to a real dvd) run the installer, after the installer runs you choose manual activation, do that, after which point it then automatically extracts the three rar files (lexia.rar, etc) within the installer, once finished diagbox 6.01 will launch.

You then just exit the app, re-launch it, and it will automatically start updating to 6.30. Optionally you can then run the 6.30 to 6.33 then 6.33 to 6.35 updates if you want to be right up to date. After running each one you reboot, launch diagbox, let it update then exit again. The first video in the linked thread shows the process.

Finally the last thing to do is change MAJ_COM from TRUE to FALSE in the AP file then connect the interface. (Don't connect it until the install and update process and editing of the AP file is complete)

I wonder if your problem is running the installer from a directory instead of from an actual dvd or mounted drive letter ?

[c.morewood]

I guess I'll know in about an hour Simon in the middle of the extraction at the moment. I did get a dvd from the Chinese with video of the installation and I did everything exactly as shown .. just didn't get the result shown!! I was beginning to think that it must be some software I was running on the laptop and so have uninstalled most things with Revo uninstaller which reaches into the registry and really gets rid of everything. If you haven't already, give it a try.


Chris

[Ben82]

Good to hear you got it working Simon, I assume that means your partialtrace error has gone too? I use Virtual CloneDrive for my ISO mounting needs, is quite lightweight and does everything I need it to do.

The MAJ_COM thing is interesting, not done it on mine but have heard it can brick the clone interfaces? Where is the file, so I can ensure mine is set to false?

[Mandrake]

Chris - I've found by trial and error (I've installed/uninstalled diagbox a few dozen times since I've had the Lexia experimenting with updates/patches etc) that the diagbox uninstaller on the start menu seems to be very thorough, and that nothing further is required - the only thing left behind is the actual windows device driver for the interface in device manager. Also the diagbox installer does a full un-installation of any previous version of Diagbox/Lexia if detected at the start of the installation process, so manually uninstalling before reinstalling doesnt seem to be necessary either.

Ben - No I still have a partialtrace error on any version of Diagbox from 6.26 onwards, but it doesn't seem to interfere with the operation of diagbox or Lexia. I haven't actually put it on the car yet to test for sure, I may do that today if I can face sitting in the car at zero degrees for extended periods of time...My problem was that internet updates to 6.26 and later do not work (it looses activation status) unless you manually run a patch after each internet update - I was able to find reference to this on that forum but not able to find the actual patch. (English doesn't seem to be the first language of anyone there, trying to interpret what they're saying is a challenge to say the least) It might be the TLCD patch but I'm not sure, I can't find any documentation for it.

However all of scarymistakes updates include the patch already, so as long as you update using his updaters instead of internet update there seems to be no issue. I can't seem to find any reference to partialtrace.exe on that forum despite a few members here seeing the same issue, my guess is its a non important non-fatal error. I'm reluctant to post on that forum for help as it seems very elitist and most newbies seem to get flamed and receive highly cryptic responses for asking perfectly reasonable questions and I don't have any patience for that sort of nonsense...

[Ben82]

I haven't actually put it on the car yet to test for sure, I may do that today if I can face sitting in the car at zero degrees for extended periods of time...

It's actually warmer today here (-2C) so have been actually considering looking into my issue a bit more!

My problem was that internet updates to 6.26 and later do not work (it looses activation status) unless you manually run a patch after each internet update - I was able to find reference to this on that forum but not able to find the actual patch. (English doesn't seem to be the first language of anyone there, trying to interpret what they're saying is a challenge to say the least) It might be the TLCD patch but I'm not sure, I can't find any documentation for it.

That is my understanding of the TLCD patch too, not used it, but my VM isn't connected to the internet so don't have to worry about it.

I'm reluctant to post on that forum for help as it seems very elitist and most newbies seem to get flamed and receive highly cryptic responses for asking perfectly reasonable questions and I don't have any patience for that sort of nonsense...

Indeed, sometimes I have to read something a number of times to actually understand it. Though credit to Patrian for his concise instructions for the docbackup/sedre install.

[Mandrake]

Well I've been out changing the fuel filter today (yes, a glutton for punishment, zero degrees and intermittent light flakes of snow falling. ) and I can confirm that Diagbox 6.35 is working fine on the car despite coming up with that PartialTrace.exe error during launch. At least the Lexia component is working on a Xantia anyway, so it looks like that error message may not be anything to worry about.

[CitroJim]

You brave man Simon

Has it made a difference?

[Mandrake]

You brave man Simon

Has it made a difference?

Sadly, no. See my broken exhaust thread. It needed changing though judging by the state of it, so I'm glad its done. It was a good excuse to test the Lexia

[c.morewood]

I wonder if I could ask a favour please.
Could some kind soul have a look at their C drive and tell me the contents of the APP folder... I think I'm making slow progress by manually extracting the lexia and other files to a temp folder and then copying them into the App folder .. I just need to know what files go in the App folder what files are in the Lexia and what are in the other 2 PP2000 and i forget the other ones name.

Thanks,
Chris

[Mandrake]

Chris,

Which intaller are you trying to use ? Is it the "Diagbox 6.30 full already patched" that I suggested ? If so, extracting the three RAR files manually will not work because it has to be done at the right point in time - after the main installer has run just after the manual activation but before the installer completes.

I tried many times to manually extract them and it did not work. Is it the activation process that is failing ? The iso image needs to be burnt to a DVD or mounted to a drive letter with an iso mounter. I believe the reason why is that the paths to the rar files that are extracted automatically during the install process have hard coded paths so don't work when they are one folder deeper.

The install process for Diagbox depends on what version you have and where you downloaded it - the one I suggested does the extracting of the three rar files automatically as well as updating you to 6.30 and patching. Some other versions (like my original version on DVD) the rar files are extracted manually with winrar and a patch is run manually.

I need to know which version you have and where you downloaded it from (a URL would be handy) to know for sure what advice to give since the install process varies with different installers...

[c.morewood]

Success!!!!!!!!!!
Well it looks like its working... haven't tried it on the car yet..probably not tomorrow with the snow that's forecast..I'd still like to know which files are where inside the APP folder, I have an idea I may have overwritten some when copying Lexia into there. I had to manually extract the files into a temp folder.. it didn't work extracting directly into the APP folder ... and then copy them into the APP folder and then let Daigbox try to install them from the zip only for it to find that they were there already.. I don't know why it kept failing on the extract lexia.. but at least now I know that there is a way round it. I'll publish what I did in a new post shortly.
After 18 hours trying I'm knackered!!

Thanks for all the help guys,

Chris

[Mandrake]

Excellent, although it sounds like you may have got there the hard way...

Lexia.rar and PP2000.rar are extracted directly to C:\ because they include APP in the path within the archive (thus files are placed into APP as long as you have winrar set to extract full paths) while PPDIAG.rar is extracted to C:\APP because it does not have APP in the path within the archive but the files must still go in APP.

[c.morewood]

Just seen your latest post Simon.. I ended up using the V601 which came with the clone.. yes the one folder deeper confused me a bit till I realized what was happening. Thats why I would be grateful for a list of folders in the APP and each of the sub folders PP2000 (if there is one) and PPDIAG.
Thanks for your help Simon,

Chris

[c.morewood]

Thats where I think I went wrong slightly Simon. I initially copied the whole APP file including Lexia into the APP folder and so I think I've got rid of some of the files that should have been in the APP folder.
I only have
CDTELE
COMMON
ddc
ediag
IDAPI
LEXIA
OUTILREP
ppdiag
PPM
sim
TEMP
Should I have any more?
Yes definately the hard way!!
And guess what ... someone else got there on Friday.. From the french forum

Il faut récuperer les 3 archives lexia.7z PP2000.7z et PPD.7z il se trouve dans le dossier archive (le dossier archive se trouve au même endroit ou on lance diagbox.exe pour l'installation)
ensuite placer ces trois archives dans C:\TEMP et tu patche puis tu active.
apres validation de l'activation tu auras lexia puis PP2000 puis PPdiag qui vont se decompresser de C:\TEMP et s'installer
voila j'espere t'avoir aidé !!!
Oublie pas le p'tit merci ca fait plaisir !!!

Chris