How to get INPA / EDIAbas to Work (tutorial)

After bashing my head against the wall for 2 days I figured out how to get the particular INPA cable I purchased to work with my 2002 325xi... here's how I did it:

Step 1) buy cable... my cable was a INPA K + DCAN (Inpa Compatible) cable

http://www.ebay.com/itm/300781642623...witem=&vxp=mtr

Many others may or may not work. To get this cable to work I had to solder pins 7 and 8 together plus configure the K-line with the dcan tools here: http://osefactory.com/tools/k+dcan/ I didn't care if I soldered them because I'm only working on my e46. If you want to work on later model cars you may need to put a switch here.

This link is critical in explaining these important steps: http://www.bmw-driver.net/forum/showthread.php?t=30550

Step 2) get a version of ediabas / INPA: There are several available. I downloaded version 5.0.2 from here (from russian host), and followed their instructions with the exception of installing the version 5 update in the second installation step (this gives better e46 support). This was the easiest install between this and 2 others I tried: http://bmwcoders.com/forum/bmw-gt1-o...-software-328/

I had a microsoft VISTA machine (which can't emulate XP natively so the installer above would not work), I used the free download of VMWare Player and an old CD I had of Windows XP Professional to install a XP virtual machine on my Vista laptop computer. http://www.vmware.com/products/player/ This is easy to do (google search "vmware windows xp installation". I installed the above file on the XP virtual machine working in Vista with no issues. Other ediabas installs (that aren't so packaged as the installer above) do not include an installer that is XP dependant, so I can't say for sure that ediabas/INPA does not work on Vista, rumors say it does... I ran out of time to check last night.

The Ediabas version that came with the cable didn't work because of a misconfigured install CD, so heads up on that. The first attempt installing Ediabas and GT1 software I ordered from the UK didn't work because I hadn't figured out step 1 above last week when I tried it...Getting GT1 going is going to be my next step.

Following the cable configuration in step 1) and following the installation instructions in step 2 (read the post through page 2) will give you a working copy of INPA on your E46 325xi. With this you can diagnose and reset more than obd2 trouble codes.

not quite as nice as vagcom for VW's but very cool and (somewhat) free.

** Warning... you can hose your ECU by doing the wrong thing with these programs **

Enjoy

disclaimer... I am a pure layman on this subject, I'm just sharing what worked so others don't waste as much time as I did. If people find value in this post or these links I might offer to host the files, but I'm not sure if this stuff is either the best kept secret that everyone knows about or there is better info that my searches didn't uncover.

feel free to ask questions

I'd really like to package what I've learned into a single more easy to utilize download / installer package for the e46, I"m not sure if there are any licensing issues with doing that and I'm really not sure why nobody else has done it. It seems like once the majority of people figure out all the issues with getting ediabas working they get awfully tight-lipped.

I used the software and the steps suggested in this thread:
http://www.m5board.com/vbulletin/e60...s-win-7-a.html

The problem is when I open up INPA E46 isn't listed.
F1 Information
F2 F01
F4 E60
F5 E65
F7 E83/X3
F8 E85 (E86)/Z4
F9 Special Tests
Shift+F1 Change Editor
Shift+F2 Mini R50
Shift+F3 Mini R56
Shift+F5 Rolls Royce RR1
Shift+F7 E87 (E81,E82,E88)/1er
Shift+F8 E90 (E91,E92,E93)/3er
Shift+F9 Old Models
Shift+F10 Exit

The "Old Models" include: E31, E34, E36, E38, E52 and E39
When it was loading I remember seeing E46 files flashing up so... wtf?
F10 End

Originally Posted by SH4DY

I used the software and the steps suggested in this thread:
http://www.m5board.com/vbulletin/e60...s-win-7-a.html

The problem is when I open up INPA E46 isn't listed.
F1 Information
F2 F01
F4 E60
F5 E65
F7 E83/X3
F8 E85 (E86)/Z4
F9 Special Tests
Shift+F1 Change Editor
Shift+F2 Mini R50
Shift+F3 Mini R56
Shift+F5 Rolls Royce RR1
Shift+F7 E87 (E81,E82,E88)/1er
Shift+F8 E90 (E91,E92,E93)/3er
Shift+F9 Old Models
Shift+F10 Exit

The "Old Models" include: E31, E34, E36, E38, E52 and E39
When it was loading I remember seeing E46 files flashing up so... wtf?
F10 End

Use the Referenz of 2005

PD: I got a virtual machine running Windows XP with all the necessary software, i''m not sure about the choise of US or UK in the installation, so i create a snapshot with the 2 scenarios. The e46 (f3) appears only in the 2005 version.

I'll upload the VM on MEGA this days.