Articles & Guides

So it seems now along with Green PCB DiCE, the very old Blue PCB DiCE, the blue PCB fake DiCE that are not actually DiCE, we now have RED DiCE! But hey!, they actually seem to be a very well built 206571 clone. Really the only significant differences seem to be the RED OBD2 connector… Continue reading Red DiCE – red WHAT now ?

“JuSt UsE a ViRtUaL mAcHinE gUy, ThEy ArE eAsY!” Honestly, I spend more time helping people with VM issues than with native installs. VM’s add many extra steps and complexity to an already complex situation. OK, maybe the title of this post is a little bit of an exaggeration, but they really are not as… Continue reading NO VIRTUAL MACHINES ARE NOT EASIER!

!!!!! If you take a 3rd party converted car to Volvo for software updates, it will undo the conversion !!!!!!  This article is really focused on Japanese imports to the UK market so mostly deals with KM to Miles, but the rest of the principles remain the same for MPH to KMH imports. The first… Continue reading So, You’ve bought an import Volvo! 

A few months ago a chap popped up in the Vida groups selling a USB thumb drive version of Boot&Go! Having been in I.T. all my life I thought, thats a bad idea…..but I also thought hey, you know maybe the new TLC based flash drives are actually OK for this sort of thing, lets… Continue reading Boot&Go! Vs Thumb Drive

It’s time to move Vida to running in Edge – Permanently There is still a work around to make Vida launch in Internet explorer (see here), but really there is little point in it. That glitch will probably get “fixed” so, might as well make the EDGE experience as simple as possible. Until recently, IE… Continue reading Where has my Dice Gone Now ?

Modunlock’s (www.modunlock.com) latest public firmware release now includes T6 ECM pin decoding! Modunlock’s CEM pin decoder can securely decode P1 / P2 / P3 CEM pins without the use of a laptop or DiCE or internet connection .

This guide shows how to do an SCL delete with Vdash, using ModUnlock to get the CEM pin code. This SCL delete guide works for any 2009 or newer P1 or P3 platform Volvo. So here it is a 2010 V50 T5, this is what it says on the dash and it WILL NOT crank… Continue reading Steering Column lock Delete Guide (P1 and P3)

To be fair, this is the same procedure for all platforms really.

Please check out my Sales page This is of course the most common question for a new Volvo owner, and I’m going to limit this answer to 1999-2019 models supported by Vida 2014D ( Vida2014d can talk to all P1, P2 and P3 platforms, though some of the very late model engines and gearboxes are… Continue reading What do I actually need to read and clear my Fault Codes ?

Unfortunately , due to the chip shortage some manufacturers have started putting a completely different device inside a DiCE looking shell. There are now 3 flavors of fake DiCE going around. 2 based on Vxdiag chipset and now a variant based on the Mongoose Pro (which isnt too bad Mongoose work great with VIDA, Vxdiag… Continue reading Fake DiCE – The saga continues!

So you were happily using Vida with internet explorer, then the next day …Boom – No DiCE. both literally and figuratively. Basically, your now in Edge browser. At some point windows asked if you want Edge Browser to take over as default and you answered yes. Providing you have not received the windows updates that… Continue reading GetCommToolSettingObject error in Vida (Windows 10)

So all P1 (C30,C70,S40,V50 etc) suffer from immobiliser issues caused by the electronic Steering column lock failing and also on 2.0D models, lose of immobiliser data from the ECM, also common are SRS modules failures due to low battery voltage. Let’s talk about the Steering Colum lock (SCL) issues first. The SCL can fail locked… Continue reading P1 Platform Immobiliser / SRS issues

This is a very quick guide to using VID2014D. But I think it covers some of the most important but often overlooked aspects for fault diagnosis with VIDA2014D.

All Volvo keys can start the car without batteries. They use passive RFID for reading the immobilizer pin code. In p1 / p2 / p3 the RFID reader is in the ignition barrel / slot SPA/CMA platform cars have a reader in the cup holder (You will notice a picture of a Key with radio… Continue reading Volvo Starting issues “Have you checked the batteries in the key m8?”

If you accidently log into Vida with a time and date thats in the past (common on older laptops that need a new CMOS batter) , its pretty easy to fix. Set the date back to the correct time and then you can login. If however you have accidently logged into Vida with a date… Continue reading Vida wont let you log in after having an incorrect clock.

At various times , Vida 2014d will for reasons unknown, decide it needs to be re-patched. Follow these steps to fix it.

ModUnlock (www.modunlock.com) have released a hand held CEM pin decoder for P1 , P2 and P3 platform cars. It is pretty neat and much quicker than most alternatives. Unlike other options it doesn’t need any additional equipment like a laptop, or Dice , or Internet connection and is much faster. P1/2 Decodes take about 6… Continue reading CEM / ECM pin decoding with no Computer?

A Customer recently bricked their IHU (thats the Integrated Head unit or radio to normal people) ) during a routine software upgrade . With the cost and lead time from Volvo for a new unit being too great, an eBay donor unit was sought. We expected it would not function until a reload was carried… Continue reading SPA IHU’s (radio) are not coded ?

This is a Irreversible one way Process! Your Boot&Go will no longer support legacy boot modes! afterwards! Use this guide at your own risk! 1) Create a W11 USB installation media on separate USB drive (See this guide)2) Boot from the W11 USB drive3) Choose your languages and click Next.4) Choose repair your computer5) Choose… Continue reading Boot&Go Legacy boot to UEFI conversion

There are 2 different types of this error (see here). One is a simply registry fix, but this one however….I never seem to get the time dig deep to find a quick fix for it. The EASY (but not quick ) fix is just to install Vida again over the top. No uninstall required. Just… Continue reading The other cause of missing DiCE in Vida 2014D

Occasionally people ask how to clear the list of previous VINs in VIDA 2014D. its pretty easy but you do have to re-patch VIDA afterwards. Here is How… Go into “My computer” or “computer” or “This PC” Go to c: Go to VIDA, then DB, then DBUTILS You will see a file in there called… Continue reading Clearing VIN list in VIDA 2014D

Vxmanager download link

We all know the normal method for connecting to a car in Vida…hook everything up, login, Vehicle profile hit “read vehicle and away you go. And you may have seen my guide on how to quickly and easily add a huge amount of extra vin support (see here if not) But what if you have… Continue reading Using Vida 2014d with an unsupported Vin

On high resolution screens Windows tends to set the screen DPI to 150%. When the DPI is set to 150% for reasons probably only known to the Gods themselves , you have to RIGHT CLICK on modules in Vehicle communication or Network in order to select them. If you change the Display resolution to 100%… Continue reading Why can’t I click on modules in Vida ? (TLDR ? Just Right click instead)

If you have received the windows 10 update 21H1 that makes Internet Explorer unavailable and forces Edge browser on you or you have upgraded to W11 , there are 3 ways forward . Follow this guide to enable IE mode for Vida on Edge browser

Thanks to the work of Edwin Sundar and others the below linked page gives a really good guide on how to add flappy paddle shifters to your P3 platform car. It is really easy. even more so if you dont care about the Crystal gear shifter knob. See this article Here But I’m going to… Continue reading P3 Platform Flappy paddle retrofit – It’s really easy!

I’ve been running Vida in Windows 11 for a while now and it seems fine, if not actually better than W10. So far the “Unable to get property ‘0’ of undefined or null reference” error on the vehicle profile screen of W7/8/10 systems does not seem to happen anymore. Not that it caused an issue,… Continue reading Vida 2014d / 2015A and Windows 11 – Seems fine

Zjev over on Sweedspeed had done a great job of adding Vin support to Vida 2014d for newer p3/p4 models (No SPA platform support and no V60CC yet) But it was still somewhat of a difficult job to modify the SQL database for your average Joe…….so I thought how can it be made easier…… hey… Continue reading Vida 2014d / 2015a – P3 support up to 2018 – how to update Vida yourself

The Red firmware light on a DiCE is not a usually a good sign, sometimes they just want a reboot, sometimes they dont like the USB port, sometimes the firmware has become corrupt, and sometimes they have not been flashed correctly from the factory. Providing the DiCE still shows in device manager or Dice Diagnostic… Continue reading Is your DiCE Really Dead ?

What better way to test a new batch of DiCE than with a start stop disable on a precious 2017 V60 polestar (2.0). Need a quick easy way to get your CEM pin code, Check out Mod Unlock – The portable hand held CEM pin decoder

Volvo P2 petrol fuel pumps (Focusing on R / 2.4 T5) though 99% of this is accurate for single pump setups in terms of operation. The P2r / T5 fuel pump setup is really interesting.  It’s return-less but has a return.  The lift pump is on the opposite side to where the lifting is done. … Continue reading Volvo P2 petrol fuel pumps (Focusing on R / 2.4 T5)

Vida can show 5 Items in its graph view, or 10 items on the data view. So i prefer the data view. You can get more done in a shorter time. But in order to be able to review it we need to use screen recorder like Screenpresso (download from here) . You also need… Continue reading Data Logging with Vida 2014D – It’s a bit shit, but it’s usually the best we got 🙁

Quite often a change in Internet Explorer Security settings stop the DiCE functionality in Vida. It’ sometimes caused by windows updates (for .net framework) but not always. It has a very quick fix, a fix that has actually been on the Vida Installation Dvd since day 1. So if ever you are confronted with this… Continue reading HALP MA DICE IS GON!

There is no Password! – Just a username (1,2,3,4 etc) If you are trying to login to a page titled “Volvo Cars Access Manager” , This is not Vida 2014D. To make it go away you need to Navigate to “c:\Vida” and delete or Rename “Wslogin.exe”. WsLogin also sometimes generates a message about Vida being… Continue reading What’s the Username and Password for Vida?

I was aksed , “What is The difference between Initial State, Unselected CSC and Delivery when fault finding in Vida?” Well… Initial State is a list of codes from the modules and they are stored in VIDA, if VIDA is not used correctly Initial State can be totally misleading. This is why most people ask… Continue reading In Vida what is “Initial State” , “Unselected CSC” , “Delivery” and why should I care ?

Having recently seen quite a few owners mentioning that their car seems to think the battery is always at a low state of charge (even after replacing the battery) . I thought I could shed some light on the subject (always ensure your alienator and battery are indeed in a good state of health). Luckily,… Continue reading Battery Health (P3 and onwards)