DSMLINK won't be recognized

I installed dsmlink today and I swapped the ecu's and all that junk and I didn't have a db9 inlet on my laptop so I bought a db9-USB adapter which is said to work properly with dsmlink (based on dsmlink forums stuff). When I plugged it into the obd cable I got the found new hardware on my laptop (like usual) it did the normal attempting to install new device but it couldn't find a driver and then said device might not work properly. I have had this error message many times and all i need to do is install a driver for anything else i have used but I don't know if its the same with dsmlink or not and if so where can i get the driver is it on the dsmlink cd? when i try and connect to the ecu it times out. any ideas?

1st go to options and then change the port. I usually had to do this everytime, try all the ports that are available.

Otherwise, you need the cd that came with the converter, it will have the correct drivers.

I installed the correct driver for the usb cable. But I still get no signal. I only have one com port that It lets me choose from (3) so I can't change that either. Also I tried to use my obd2 reader on my car and it spewed out an error message....I'm starting to think i have something wrong with the obd2 section in my car.

check the "device manger" to see what COM port # the DB9 cable is using. Then open up theDSMlink software and Edit>options>config tab and select the correct comport # associated with the device from the drop box.

If the assigned DB9 cable comport # is not available in the dropdown box open up the Dsmlink.prefs file with notepad located at C:\program files\DSMlink\DSMlink.prefs and add the COMport assigned to the DB9 cable by adding the following line and restart the DSMlink application.

portIDForce = COM#

I/O command timed out: error message means you're the DSMlink software has located a valid COM port, sent a command to the ECU, but did not get a reply back. Something between the application and the ECU is not working properly. Could be the cable, could be the software, or could be the ECU.

Also, try adding these lines to the .prefs file to help diag the connection issue

interByteDelayMillis=40
interCommandDelayMillis=40
cmdReplyTimeoutMillis=1000

VERY RARELY (though happened to me twice) a pin can come unsolder from the DSMlink board. You can pop open the cable box and look for this on both sides. BE EXTREMELY CAREFULLY.


If you are still getting an error message after you have confirmed you are using the correct comport and the cable is good. Open up the c:\program files\DSMlink\error.txt and post up the text.

Sorry to hear your having problems..