techstream inconsistencies

I have a prius 2006 and am using techstream 8.10.021 in conjunction with a Mini VCI on a laptop running windows 10

I have not been able to use Techstream in a reliable manner. It may be the Techstream version....or my USB connection or the driver, or the CAN controller in the Mini-VCI cable.

Here are my experiences.
* when accessing the list of ECUs that are available in the PRIUS, it is hit or miss whether the display indicates they are or not available (asteric). If i reset TEchstream (start and stop the application) I get inconsistent results.
* I will be involved in running a task and suddenly the Techstream software indicates it has lost connection with the ECU.
* Someetimes I get a message indicating i need to press F12 to report problem to ?????

Have other people experienced the above or other disruptions while using Techstream?
Anyone know what is happening?

The CAN bus over which OBDii operates is incredibly rock solid. Thus the issue is NOT the car, I can assure you. It could be the CAN controller chip within the MiniVCI cable but I find that a bit difficult to believe as it is made by NXP which is the 5th largest non-memory semicondutor mfr in the world and they dominate the chip market making CAN controllers. The USB transceiver chip in my MiniVCI cable IS a clone and not the chip made by FTDI, even though the label on teh chip portends to be a FTDI chip. It might be at fault...though I have no clue.

If I knew what the driver that people talk about was for, then I could think better. But I have no idea what that driver is for. I do know that Techstream uses the microsoft USB drivers for all Windows systems with a USB interface. Perhaps the drivers are used to define the USB options in the cloned fFTDI chip....or maybe the drivers are for the NXP CAN controller in the MiniVCI cable. If I knew what the driver was for then I could look for possible instability.

It is very hard for anyone doing diagnosing or repair work when the tool is unreliable. I need to find a way to make my setup more reliable. I would appreciate Anyone who has a solid system working offer any advice.

Thank you
bil

 

I am fairly certain the problem is not solder joints. Most of the boards in the MiniVCI are wave soldered. The design of the MiniVCI is excellent. The only doubt that I have is due to the fake (clone) FTDI chip that is used in the MiniVCI cable. The financial loss to FTDI was so great that years ago FTDI issued windows drivers that set a bit that caused most fake FTDI chips to no longer work. You could easily fix the issue if you used a tool from FTDI to change the state of that bit. Today...however, FTDI
does not do that anymore. They, in fact, have drivers for all windows version including windows 10 with detailed installation instructions. My next step to achieve greater reliability will be to load those drivers and hope that the clone FTDI chip successfully sets the USB options so that the USB transceiver (that is what the FTDI is) works consistently

A few VCI vendors actually stipulate they use USB transceivers made by FTDI and not a clone mfr.

I am looking to bypass the above issue by looking to see if i can use a wifi interface with Techstream. A wifi interface does not use the FTDI chip at all. As was pointed out by S Keith, wifi will probably be slower than usb 2.0 (as the current wifi OBDII plugs are probably g or n protocols (not AC) ) but wifi will still be probably 480 times faster than the CAN bus upon which OBDII protocol is operating.

I should point out that USB connectors (the female part in your laptop) were designed (inadvertently) with the parts that wear (contact springs) in the connector, not the plug of the cable. the consequence is taht as your laptop gets older, the electrical connection in the USB connector will become less reliable. this is another reason why I am shifting to wifi OBDII plugs as I bypass the usb connector

 

Thank you Brad for your input

 

thank you S. Keith....I feel embarassed and rightfully so. I appreciated the correction so that the right information gets out there. Thank you again.
bil