I have a Foxwell NT530, which is great, but it can’t see the SRS fault which I have on my 03 CL55. The previous owner put in a passenger seat emulator, but I don’t think that they dealt with the fault codes.

I think I need a MB Star to deal with this, but although I’ve been reading up on it, I’m not sure what I need?

On eBay I can get a Xentry / Star interface from China - do I need an old Dell laptop too (I have one) do I need software?

Thanks for reading this and any used advice 🙂

 

An OBDII scanner with more capability might to the job. I have a Topdon AD600 and an AD900. The AD900 digs much deeper and finds DTCs that the AD600 passes over. I considered an SDS knockoff, but the price, learning curve and my frequency of use couldn't justify it.

 

Many thanks for the reply - I did consider the Topdon, but I knew that the Foxwell could do the rodeo thing…which I’ve not actually used 😅.

I do now have an ESP fault as of today, I don’t think the Foxwell can see that either.


Todays new fault!

The old fault.

 

I would NOT get the used ebay laptop. I think they're taking advantage by suggesting those specific ones are needed. Get a real laptop, maybe upgrade your existing and use your old one, which is what I did. Actually I still use my old one for other stuff, I simply swap the drive between me and Xentry, so there's a cheap option.
You can get the chinese Xentry, like I did at first, which I think was $50? Then I transferred it to an SSD because the platter drive was super slow, I think 4200rpm or whatever the slowest possible speed was, and used/old, of course, so extra slow on top of that. It's like 230G and lots data moving around in use, so do yourself a favor and get a SSD.
Then, while it did work, it was a pita to crack to get it working. The instructions were wrong, had to email them for that and some other bs, took days... Then after a couple uses I had to re-hack a part of it to get access, every single time I used it.

I got tired of that and finally did the BenzNinja thing. So much nicer, it works, and of course you have his services to do whatever if you can't figure it out. His service is for life, or perhaps his lifespan, and any car you're working on. His website has a suggestion for the better C4 to buy, and his suggestions for a laptop. I believe simply Intel I5, 8G and 250 SSD? But check to be sure. You pay via paypal, he sets up your laptop remotely, done. It takes hours to setup btw, and I think he needed me to do a few things. I remember a Boot password was one, apparently required when loading Xentry? Anyway, plan a good time for you both. He's eastern std time so I'm sure he'd prefer it not be 3am.

He wants a fresh clean copy of Win 10, and no funny stuff! I always mess with the OS, a lot, and I felt I was being very restrained by only removing Win Defender. Uggg, I had to reload it, with Defender
So do yourself a favor, load 10, all updates because he will if you don't which is a waste of time, and nothing else except that boot password. I think the rules (suggestion) is also not to do or add anything after as well? Eg; I added Greenshot later on, not an install, just a portable. He's never said a word about it, but I see him turn it off after he remotes in and I can't help but chuckle. Like the wife seeing something out of place, fix it, give me the look (you know what you did), and silently walk away :p

To setup a date I send a msg about what I need, when is a good time, then at that time I have the ignition on, computer ready, and send him the remote access codes.
Note the car probably sucks a lot of power, mine does, and it may take a while so I put a charger on it. I think it was drawing 16A while doing this stuff. Maybe not the end of the world but it can pull voltage below the minimum Xentry claims is needed to do certain things..

If you want something cheap, and now, I'd suggest the Autel Maxi AP200. It was ~$70 but rather powerful. Also nice to have with Xentry because you may be far from your Xentry computer when needed. It can also see a few things Xentry cannot, apparently. Well, it shows more trouble codes, without a doubt. I bought it probably >3 years ago so not sure how it compares to similar priced toys, but back then it was the most powerful for the $.