johna's automotive blog

Volvo Films II - interactive CD from 1999

2024-11-23T12:00:00+10:00

I found an image of this disc, a CD-i produced by Volvo in 1999, and extracted the video contents and posted on YouTube.

Contents:
1. Racing S40
2. Safety Technology (English)
3. The Album S80
4. XC Euro1 V70
5. XC Euro2 V70
6. XC Euro3 V70
7. XC Euro4 V70
8. XC Euro5 V70
9. XC V70
10. T4 S/V40
11. Beams and Dreams V40
12. What I've Been S40
13. Room with a View C70
14. Safety C70
15. As Times Goes By

www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLtLRhjVFd89HVJBQsDrZPrhS4PG3hy7sP

Volvo XC90 2002-2014 Review

2021-03-27T12:00:00+10:00

Often suffer frequent minor and some not so minor problems. Can be expensive to maintain and repair.

4-speed automatic transmission fitted to the 2.9-litre model can fail even at relatively low mileages, and is expensive to repair or replace.

Equipped with a space-saver spare wheel and tyre rather than a full-size spare.

Image credit: OSX, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Volvo V70 Cross Country/XC70 1998-2004 Review

2021-03-27T12:00:00+10:00

Generally, fairly reliable but electrical problems are common.

Automatic transmissions can be unreliable and require expensive replacement.

Engine uses a timing belt but replacement intervals are comparatively long.

Image credit: OSX, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons

Review of VXDIAG VCX NANO for Volvo

2020-09-11T12:00:00+10:00

I recently bought a VXDIAG VCX NANO device which can be used with Volvo's VIDA software to communicate with Volvos from the early 2000s up to 2014 or so.

The device is claimed to be compatible with Volvo's DICE hardware.

I chose to buy one of these rather than a DICE or DICE clone because (A) these are a bit cheaper than DICE clones, and (B) I have read that many people have had problems with faulty DICE clones.

I had to wait two months to receive the device from China, but this is fairly typical of deliveries during COVID-19 times.

I first tried to use it with a VIDA installation I had already done using a virtual machine image obtained from the swedespeed.com forums. It didn't work, I just kept getting an error message: "ERROR: SDK GetProcAddress!"

Eventually, I decided to actually follow instructions and installed VIDA 2014D from the installation DVD that came with the device. It worked first go.

I later tried again to get it working on the VM but without success. I suspect the problem may be due to the VM running Windows 10 and being 64-bit. The recommendation for VIDA is Windows 7 Professional 32-bit.

Using VIDA I can connect to the car and read it's details, fault codes and live data. I can also use the activate feature to turn on and off various systems for testing.

I have not tried any programming.

I also used the device with VDASH2 and it also works fine for reading information and fault codes. I have not tried any programming with VDASH2 either.

So aside from not being able to comment on programming, I can recommend the VX NANO as a cheaper alternative to a DICE clone. Just follow the instructions and know that it may not work on a VM.

UPDATE 17 May 2023

Update: I wanted to install VXDIAG and VIDA on another computer that has Windows 10 on it (not Professional version).

I tried the original instructions but ran into a few issues.

I ended up trying the Virtual Machine image I had. It was old so I had to use VirtualBox 6.1 rather than the current 7.0 version.

I installed the VXDIAG software and set the USB device as a filter in VirtualBox and amazingly it worked.

This seems easier than installing VIDA on Windows 10.