Newbie with connection probs

Bought a new Predator U7192 for my '06 GMC 5.3L. It was new but apparently made in '02 according to the build date.

I am having *zero* luck in getting it to communicate with my computer (PC running Win7)
I have thus far:

1) Got a new Serial to USB cable with a good chipset and the latest Prolific driver. The driver installed and the cable shows up operating fine. FWIW I bought the Diablo PC interface kit, U7778, which apparently had a bogus-chipped Serial to USB cable adapter as I could not install the adapter. Apparently there are counterfeit chips in the cheap cables (like the one in the kit) and Prolific (the maker of the chip and driver) warn of such problems as I experienced trying to get this cable to work.

2) The DSD software will not auto find the Predator. It will cycle through the Com ports (it finds the one with the Serial/USB cable) but not detect the tuner.

3) The DSD Tool Communications menu has two cryptic options "9r01 or Higher" and "8r99 Or Earlier" I think
this has to do with the revision number of the tuner but I cannot find what revision I have.

3) I discovered the "legacy" approach and tried that. Again I could not find anywhere the revision number of
the tuner and the revised instructions for the legacy connection do not tell you where to find this information.

4) I have tried the legacy connection procedure, making sure to configure the port correctly and the DSD for the
115200 baud rate and get as far as the power cycle. Nothing happens after cycling the power to the tuner.
The process halts and DSD becomes unresponsive.

4) I have tried using a straight serial cable (using two different cables) again with no luck. The tuner does
not show up in the devices list.

5) I have shut down both my anti-virus software and turned off the Windows firewall. I am running as the administrator.

5) The serial number of the tuner is 004602 with a build date of 09/02.
The ID number is: CFE6045C867BE1DE
Main Menu shows: GM06 Predator 2.05 (Software Rev 2.05 Hardware Rev 1.01)


This has been frustrating to say the least. I'm so close but there must be a piece of the puzzle I'm missing. I know the Serial to USB and both Serial cables are good. I know the USB ports I'm using are good so it's gotta be something in the setup. Under the "Options" menu on my Predator there is a selection called "PC Communication" . When I select this it shows "Communicating PC" and after a few seconds shows "XMODEM Timeout"

Hopefully this can be squared away. Thanks

Mike

[06MonteSS]

that is an ollllllllld predator you have there... Software Rev 2.05...

plus, all predator's were discontinued almost a full year ago now....

you're having issues/problems because you can not use the DSDownloader software with that old predator... you can not use the DataViewer software with that old predator, since it can not record data logs anyway...

if you just bought it recently, I would highly suggest you try and return it to the dealer/reseller that you bought it from, because that is an old predator...

and you'd want to purchase an inTune or Trinity instead....

06MonteSS wrote:

that is an ollllllllld predator you have there... Software Rev 2.05...

plus, all predator's were discontinued almost a full year ago now....

you're having issues/problems because you can not use the DSDownloader software with that old predator... you can not use the DataViewer software with that old predator, since it can not record data logs anyway...

if you just bought it recently, I would highly suggest you try and return it to the dealer/reseller that you bought it from, because that is an old predator...

and you'd want to purchase an inTune or Trinity instead....

Thanks for the reply.

Old. Yeah, well that's what I though also. I bought this off a guy on eBay, td_touchdown is the seller. Touted it as being "new" and fully upgraded with latest software ...which it obviously isn't ...more like New Old Stock ...which tells me the guy either honestly didn't know (in which case he should have told me that) or he gave me less than the truth. He's got an eBay store and sells a lot of other performance goodies and has good feedback. I asked specifically if the tuner could be used for downloading updates (or custom tunes) off the Diablo website and he said it would. I never expected this thing to be a freakin' decade old.

So I sent a "what's with this" e-mail through eBay letting him know this thing is bogus and he misrepresented it on the website and to me. If he's as good as his feedback then I shouldn't have a problem. If I do then it's complaint time.

I knew the Predators had been discontinued but I thought, after looking at the Diablo website and seeing they were still supported, that for my purposes this would be okay. I just wanted it for my truck to put a little tweak on it and be able to adjust some parameters if I wanted. Not looking for anything radical. I'm thinking there's still a lot of these old Predators out there (okay, maybe not as old as this one) and I'm assuming any custom tunes would still be available.

Mike

[06MonteSS]

yes, if you got the last recent version of that tool, it would be on a 9rXX revision.. and then yes, you would be able to use the dsdownloader for importing/exporting tune files for custom tuning, and you'd be able to record data logs and use the dataviewer software, etc...

but that old 2.05 revision, no... you COULD send it in to diablosport to get it upgraded to the newer 9rXX version of the tool, but it would cost you $99 + shipping to them....

06MonteSS wrote:

yes, if you got the last recent version of that tool, it would be on a 9rXX revision.. and then yes, you would be able to use the dsdownloader for importing/exporting tune files for custom tuning, and you'd be able to record data logs and use the dataviewer software, etc...

but that old 2.05 revision, no... you COULD send it in to diablosport to get it upgraded to the newer 9rXX version of the tool, but it would cost you $99 + shipping to them....

Okay ...I just got some response from the guy who sold it to me. He sells these things and is familiar with them and tells me the build date 09/02 actually translates to a February 2009 build date ...so the unit is four years old not ten.

He also claims it has the latest tune in it for the unit.

Mike

[06MonteSS]

then he clearly does not know them as well as he thinks... this info says it all:

Main Menu shows: GM06 Predator 2.05 (Software Rev 2.05 Hardware Rev 1.01)

the 2.05 is the software revision number... that is an olllllld tool.. you can not data log, do downloadable updates, etc...

all of the previous info I've posted still stands and is correct...

he is not correct... yes, it has the latest tune in it "for that unit", but that unit is ollllld.... there is a newer version of that tool, and the software revision would be a 9rxx number, not 2.05, heh...