1badassbenz

I want to purchase a Star Diagnostic system. Any one know or have any feedback on what system to buy and where? I have seen many on Ebay but unsure of which one if any are the right ones to buy.
Thanks

ranorris2

Are you getting just for your car or to run a shop?

If it's just for you I would just buy a Chinese "clone" C3 system for a few hundred bucks, but if its for a shop I would buy the real deal which will run you thousands of dollars.

1badassbenz

I just want it for my self but I do have a lot of buddys that have MB cars so I would use it for them as well.

davetherave

I've been thinking about the same idea
From what i can make out the ebay items are indeed a hack, what i mean by this is that there are lots of auctions for the cables, then cables and box, then cables, box and laptop or auctions for the laptop hard drive.alone.
This led me to the conclusion that the software is a dealer system that has been imaged.
Now this led me to make a couple of assumtions
1 the software is key.
2 is it available to torrent
so a quick google search confirmed the existence of several xentry torrents.
hmmm
So this led me to the next hurdle, the system is based on a dell d620 laptop
Now unfortunatley my d620 died about 9mths ago which is a pain now, but to be honest i was glad to see it go.
So any workable system will in my mind need to run inside a virtual machine on any modern laptop.
Does anyone want to chime in regarding how even getting this far you would go about using the system?

ranorris2

You can join *******.com to learn about and download the software. You will need a computer with at least 80g hard drive and a serial port (db9). I used a dell d830 to install the software. But before you take on this task you need to figure out if your capable of doing it. Do you know how to create multiple partitions, change programming files and coding, and research research research on ******* to work through any problems you may be having. If you get the software running on your PC in simulation mode with no errors then you can go ahead and buy the cables and mux, which you can get fairly cheap if you look hard enough.

In regards to running on a virtual machine, you can do that but the best way is to install the software directly on your computer.

awiner

While I don't condone "Pirate" systems, I will comment on this in the interest of sharing knowledge as I have years of knowledge regarding SDS (DAS / Xentry / EPC / WIS / SDMedia/ Etc).

A used, perfect Dell 630 on ebay will run about $200. I highly recommend the Dell 630 for use as a SDS laptop.

I agree, avoid the virtual machines. Thought they will work, they can cause major headaches. Serial DB9 is the way to go. Even USB to serial DB9 PCMICA cards have issues. While you can get them to work, again is it worth headaches?

The software is readily available. Installation is NOT straight forward and requires hacks, key gens, de blacklisters, work arounds, etc.

alphanumeric

this is a good thread, I am almost about to walk away from mercedes but if I could get a star reader I may stick around.

PelicanParts.com

Hacks, key gens, de blacklisters, work arounds, etc. = OK if you want to spend 99.99% of your spare time (20+ hours per week) working on/playing with the software, and be able to use the scanner at 99% function for 15 minutes every three months.

Call me for my real opinion, not responsible for phones that melt or burst into flame..

roy@pelicanparts.com


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rogerbotswana

Many Thanks for your valuable information. Stuck here in Botswana there are very few options, and expensive at that. Finding reliable diagnostic and repair guys here are a major problem. I have an E320 which is great other than the fault codes etc.