VIDA DICE, which one to buy?

[xHeart]

That's the place I got mine from. I've been pleased with their customer support contact as well.

I now have IBM ThinkPad with necessary upgrades for VIDA/DICE.
I will place an order of VIDA/DICE with your recommended source, do you have a list/photo of stuff as to what to expect?
Is it OK to negotiate the price a little since there are several out there with variable prices at AliExpress?

Thank you.

[whyukaa]

I don't see the need for one. The sensors are doing a better job showing CEL codes.
Yet, I would go ahead and procure one to better maintain my two cars.

The Volvo's, the original, is priced reasonably, see it here at amazon https://www.amazon.com/2012A-VOLVO-VIDA-DICE-Diagnostic/dp/B008E8CF12

The temptation for a lower cost is unbeatable. Aside from Reviews, has anyone tried a Live Support before ordering http://www.uobd2.com/wholesale/volvo-vida-dice-diagnostic-tool-1618.html?gclid=CPfLjvCnxbcCFcU7Mgodtz4ALg

The URl is broken.

I buy one from here: http://www.uobd2.net/wholesale/volvo-vida-dice-diagnostic-tool-1618.html .
It works good.

[precopster]

I have purchased 6 of these Vida/ Dice through this seller and around 8 of the Autel EU 702s. They ship by DHL in around 5 days for under $25

http://www.aliexpress.com/item/NEW-VIDA ... 64458.html

There's no need to pay any more and zero problems with any of them.

[cn90]

I plan to install this on an old laptop (Compaq N600C with total HD of 40GB, and 30GB free space).

I only want diagnostic function of the software (to scan for airbag codes, Anti-skid messages etc.).

Question: can I install only the DICE portion and skip VIDA to save HD space/speed?

[precopster]

You need to check the minimum requirement for Vida. Check www.volvotechinfo.com for details.

You can't do an install running from DVD only like you could with Vadis and there's no point in just loading a USB driver for Dice hardware when there's no software for it to communicate with.

DO try to install the VM Ware player but I feel that with a 40GB hard drive the minimum spec for processor will probably not be met.

[coflynn]

Don't waste your time - 256MB of RAM or similar won't work, or will be too frustrating to use if you could get it to work.

[cn90]

Success installing VIDA Dice on my 12-year-old laptop. Learned the trick from another forum. I will post my experience here:

Another Vote for Mike:P post below. If you have not read Mike:P post below, do so to the "letter".

My hardware is very simple:

- I recommend using an old laptop strictly for Vida/DICE because over the years as you install new software, it may create problem for the Volvo VIDA?DICE software, things like Skype can cause problems. So a used laptop, or old netbook used strictly for this purpose would do.

- Laptop from 2003 Compaq Evo N600C, single core Intel Pentium 4-M 2 GHz.

- 512MB RAM

- HD = 40GB, before installation of Vida/DICE: 27GB free space, afterward free space 15 GB, so the VIDA DICE will eat up ~ 12GB of free space but you need to budget more HD space than 12Gb just in case.


Tricks (when I have time will do a proper write-up):

1. Read Mike:P post to the letter.

2. Transfer the files from the CD (that came with the DICE device) to an external HD or a location in your laptop. This takes 30 min.
This way you can modify the *.ini file to say "XP RAM Min = 256". I have 512MB but I modified this to "256" just to fool the software.

3. After installation (about 30 min), I got the message:
"Security OK, VIDA not OK"
"Can't find vidamonitor"
etc. etc.

*** After I fixed the underlying problem (read on), installation was smooth, and it took almost 1.5h for the installation.

4. The problem I had was using the "wrong" version of "Microsoft SQL Server 2005".

The correct version is "Microsoft SQL Server Express 2005."

After that is fixed, it was smooth.


NOTE for using VIDA/DICE:

1. Start "Vida all in one".
Somewhere along the line, you will be asked to turn the key to position II.

2. When you enter vehicle data (or read vehicle info), you must enter:
"Username =2" for N. America
"Transmission = ___", if you don't do this step the "Diagnostics" section will be grayed out.

3. Read DTCs, if you want, take snap shots of DTCS and save for future reference.

4. Let's say you fix something (like replacing sensors etc.), click Update to see if your repair was up to par.

5. To erase DTC, click on "Delivery".
It is a goofy way of saying: are you ready to "deliver" the vehicle to the customer?
Click Erase All to clear the codes.

--------------

With the above tips I successfully installed VIDA 2011A on a Windows XP SP3 machine after several failures. It turns out that all the problems I was having were caused by the Microsoft add-ons that VIDA needs to run. All the apps listed below are free downloads. Here's what I did:
- Run the Microsoft Installer Cleanup utility. Remove MSXML V6. I'm saying to run the Cleanup Utility because there is a good chance your installation is corrupt and can't be installed from the add/remove function in Contol Panel. Install MSXML V6. Don't bother installing MSXML V6 service pack 2; it's crap.
- Remove Microsoft.NET (all versions), then re-install .NET V2. (It actually says in the MS SQL 2005 Express installation instructions to do this!)
- Install Microsoft SQL Server Express 2005. If you have it already installed because VIDA tried to install it, uninstall it first. SQL consists of several pieces all of which you should uninstall prior to reinstalling. BTW, a successful VIDA installation is only going to happen if SQL 2005 Express gets installed properly. The VIDA installation program actually tries to install SQL 2005 Express *and* launch it, and then uses it to copy the database from the installation folder to your hard drive. The reason we're installing it in advance of the VIDA installation is that when VIDA tries to install its own copy of SQL 2005 Express, it screws up either because it did not prep the computer properly (as per the steps above) or the installation script is just crap.
- Now run the VIDA installation. Reboot.
- Don't forget to download the crack (available as a Torrent and elsewhere). Select "C:\" as the installation directory for the crack. Login with username 1.

I hope this helps. I'm pretty sure this will resolve some people's Windows 7 problems as well.

Mike

[steve090]

I know I am late to the party here but it seems like a bit of a nightmare getting Dice running ie drivers and seeing Dice etc. My question is, I am pretty good with PC's however I have nothing dating back to XP but a netbook so I would have to load Vice via USB drive, I am quite sure that it would be capable as it has 160 gb hd and atom proc should be enough but is XP home edition....is it worth the try and can I get the CD first with the patched.exe before ordering Dice.

TIA

[Ozark Lee]

You might want to try doing the virtual machine route. Out of the box it isn't going to like XP Home Edition and you will need a double layer DVD Player to burn the image files or load the files from a purchased DVD. If you don't have a double layer DVD you can use a freeware program like Gizmo and set up virtual DVD drives on your hard drive for the installation. Gizmo will load the image file as a DVD and its capacity is only limited by the size of your hard drive.

The virtual machine thread is here:

https://www.matthewsvolvosite.com/forums ... hp?t=55027

...Lee

[steve090]

My main two PC's are both WIn 8 64bit but they are desktops, have a Surface that may fit the bill but only have old netbook, have given away all laptops. I will take a look at the vitual machine thread, should be able to run something on my Surface hopefully. Does it really require 3 gigs of ram or would two do?