Bright Star Engineering VCIPOD Automotive Diagnostic Scan Tool User Manual VCIPodUserGuide

Bright Star Engineering, Inc. Automotive Diagnostic Scan Tool VCIPodUserGuide

Contents

Users Manual Part 1

i Bright Star Engineering VCI POD User Guide Bright Star Engineering 299 Ballardvale Street, Suite 5 Wilmington, MA 01887 Tel: (978) 642-3200 Fax: (978) 642-3199 www.brightstareng.com
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iiiNotice The information in this document is subject to change without notice. THE SOFTWARE AND DOCUMENTATION ARE PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY KIND INCLUDING WITHOUT LIMITATION, ANY WARRANTY OF MERCHANTABILITY OR FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. FURTHER, Bright Star Engineering DOES NOT, GUARANTEE, OR MAKE ANY REPRESENTATIONS REGARDING USE, OR THE RESULTS OF THE USE, OF THE SOFTWARE OR WRITTEN MATERIAL IN TERMS OF CORRECTNESS, ACCURACY, RELIABILITY, OR OTHERWISE. Restricted Rights Legend Use, duplication, or disclosure by the United States Government is subject to restrictions as set forth in subparagraph (c)(1)(ii) of the Rights in Technical Data and Computer Software clause at DFARS 252.227-7013. This document may not, in whole or in part, be copied, reproduced, translated, or reduced to any electronic medium or machine-readable form without prior consent, in writing, from Bright Star Engineering, Inc. Copyright  2008 Bright Star Engineering, Inc. All Rights Reserved Printed in the USA
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vTable of Contents Revision History ....................................................................................................1 Getting Started with the Device ............................................................................2 Setting Up and Powering On.............................................................................2 Connecting to the Network ................................................................................2 LAN with DHCP .............................................................................................2 LAN with Static IP Addressing .......................................................................2 Device Discovery Mechanism ...........................................................................2 Device Overview ...................................................................................................3 LEDs .................................................................................................................3 Reset Button......................................................................................................3 Configuring Device and Network Settings.............................................................4 Using the HTTP Interface..................................................................................4 System Settings.............................................................................................5 Network Settings............................................................................................6 Wireless Settings ...........................................................................................7 Manage Networks..........................................................................................9 Reset to Factory Defaults ............................................................................11 Backup Settings...........................................................................................12 Software..............................................................................................................13 Software Upgrades..........................................................................................13 Using the HTTP Installer..............................................................................13 Recovering from a Failed Upgrade ..............................................................13 Installing Applications......................................................................................14
1Revision History Revision Date Description 1.0 July 28, 2008 Initial release of platform documentation
2Getting Started with the Device Setting Up and Powering On Attach the DC power supply to the device. Verify the green PWR LED is on. As soon as power is supplied to the device it will begin a boot sequence. The BUSY LED will be on during the boot phase. Once the device is booted into normal operational mode the PWR LED will be on and all other LEDs will remain off. Connecting to the Network Connect an Ethernet cable to the device. You can connect the other end of the Ethernet cable to a computer or network device such as a switch or router depending on your local area network configuration (see below). LAN with DHCP The default TCP/IP settings for the Ethernet network interface will use DHCP to obtain an IP Address, subnet mask, gateway, and DNS information. If your local area network supports this configuration, connect the Ethernet cable to a switch, hub, or router on your LAN. LAN with Static IP Addressing If the device requires a static IP Address to communicate with other nodes on your local area network you will first have to connect the Ethernet cable to another computer running software that supports ZCIP. The device is equipped to use a ZCIP address when DHCP is not available. An address of 169.254.253.252 is used if possible; otherwise a random ZCIP address is assigned. Device Discovery Mechanism Both the Service Location Protocol (SLP) and Multicast DNS (mDNS) are supported for device discovery. If you do not have a copy of the Bright Star Engineering device locator utility, dFind, use a web browser to download the utility from: http://www.brightstareng.com/support/dfind.html. Start dFind on a computer connected to the same network as the device. dFind uses the mDNS protocol to advertise as a service. The IP Address and serial number for the device will be shown on the dFind screen. Double click with your mouse on the line for the device you wish to connect to. The device configuration web site will appear.
3Device Overview LEDs The device has three (3) LEDs on an end panel. Moving from left to right the LEDs are described below. BUSY Busy LED will be on during system boot. During normal device operation this LED is not used, remains off, and is available to applications that wish to show the device is processing data, for example vehicle traffic or application data crunching. When the device boots into Recovery Mode, this LED will blink rapidly in unison with the WLAN LED. SAFE This LED will be turned on whenever the device enters a mode of operation where a known good network configuration is used. The default SAFE configuration uses DHCP to acquire a TCP/IP address. WLAN This led will be on when the WLAN is being used and blink to indicate network traffic across the interface. REC This is an application specific LED, not used directly by the device system software, PWR Power LED indicates the device has power from a vehicle source and/or an DC adapter Reset Button • On the front panel is a small opening for the reset button. This button serves two purposes. First, the button can be pressed when applying power to force the device into Recovery Mode. The device will boot into a limited configuration that will allow you to apply a product software upgrade via the provided web interface. This mode should be used to re-install the system software in the event the device is not operating as expected. • The second use of the reset button is to put the Ethernet network interface into a default state. Pressing and holding the reset button for 5 or more seconds, then releasing it when the device is running normally will restart the Ethernet network interface with configuration settings for connecting to a TCP/IP local area network using DHCP. The subnet mask, gateway, and DNS information is expected to be provided via the DHCP server. The device can then be located on the network using dFind, Bright Star Engineering provided device location utility (see Device Discovery Mechanism above).
4Configuring Device and Network Settings Using the HTTP Interface Shown below is the main screen for the device configuration web site. The Overview page will provide you with version information for the hardware and software and the device serial number.
5System Settings You can assign a name to the device that will be shown on the device discovery utility screen in place of the default serial number. You may also wish to set the date and time on the device. Device Name Assign a name to the device. This name will appear on the device locator utility screen that shows the devices available on the network. Click on the Save button to store the new device name. Work Group Assign a work group name to the device. Click on the Save button to store the new device name. Date & Time Set the date and time for the device. Use the drop down selection boxes to select the current date and time. Click on the Set Date & Time button to store the new date and time. Reboot Device Use this button to force the device to perform a system reboot.
6Network Settings You can choose to have your network address and settings automatically assigned if your network supports it. Otherwise, please check with your Network Systems Coordinator to obtain the appropriate settings to enter on this screen. Automatic or Static To have an automatically assigned network address choose Obtain an IP address automatically from a DHCP server If you will be using static IP addressing for the device, choose Use the following IP address and settings IP Settings IP Address Enter the IP address assigned to this device, typically provided to you by your network or system administrator, for example 192.168.1.100. Net Mask Enter the network address mask used by the device, typically provided to you by your network or system administrator, for example 255.255.255.0. Gateway Enter the IP address for the machine on your network that
7acts as a gateway to other networks. Your network or system administrator typically provides this address, for example 192.168.1.1, to you. DNS1 Enter the IP address for the machine that should be used as the primary Domain Name Server. If your network is configured to use DNS your network or system administrator will provide this to you. DNS2 Enter the IP address for the machine that should be used as the secondary Domain Name Server. If your network is configured to use DNS your network or system administrator will provide this to you. Wireless Settings You can choose to have your network address and settings automatically assigned if your network supports it. Otherwise, please check with your Network Systems Coordinator to obtain the appropriate settings to enter on this screen. Automatic or Static To have an automatically assigned network address, choose Obtain an IP address automatically from a DHCP server. If you will be using static IP addressing for the Device, choose Use the following IP address and settings.
8 IP Settings IP Address Enter the IP address assigned to this Device, typically provided to you by your network or system administrator, for example 192.168.1.100. Net Mask Enter the network address mask used by the Device, typically provided to you by your network or system administrator, for example 255.255.255.0. Gateway Enter the IP address for the machine on your network that acts as a gateway to other networks. Your network or system administrator typically provides this address, for example 192.168.1.1, to you. DNS1 Enter the IP address for the machine that should be used as the primary Domain Name Server. If your network is configured to use DNS your network or system administrator will provide this to you. DNS2 Enter the IP address for the machine that should be used as the secondary Domain Name Server. If your network is configured to use DNS your network or system administrator will provide this to you. Type of Wireless Network To connect your Device to the network via a wireless access point, choose Connect to an Access Point. If you need to connect your Device directly to PC or some other computer, choose Connect to another computer using Adhoc network. Security Settings SSID Enter the Service Set Identification that should be used by your Device to join a 802.11 wireless network. Security Select the encryption technique to be used when communicating on the wireless network. This must be the same as is being used by the access point or other computer you will be connecting to. Enter Key Enter the key to be used by the encryption software used when communicating on the wireless network. This key must match the key being used by the access point or other computer you will be connecting to. Confirm Key Re-enter the key to be used by the encryption software used when communicating on the wireless network. This is done to confirm the value since it is hidden on entry. Key in HEX Select this option if the value entered for the encryption key was entered using HEX values. Edit Key For security mechanisms that allow multiple keys, use this selection box to select the key that is to be edited. Use Key For security mechanisms that allow multiple keys, use this selection box to select the key that is to be used when
9communicating on the wireless network. If multiple keys are present, the one selected must match the key being used on the access point or other computer the Device will be connecting to. Manage Networks You will have one or more network interfaces on the device, such as Ethernet and WLAN. Each interface can have one or more sets of configuration data, referred to as a profile. Profiles are manipulated on the Network and Wireless Settings pages. The Manage Networks page allows you to make a configuration profile active for an interface, restart the Ethernet interface, and stop/start/restart the WLAN or other optional network interface. Ethernet Adapter The Ethernet network interface is always present and active on this device. The device is factory configured with a default profile that is initially set to obtain an IP Address via DHCP. You can change this profile on the Network Settings page. Enable Button Enable the interface when it has been previously disabled Disable Button Disable the interface, preventing any traffic across the interface Restart Button This button can be used to restart the Ethernet network interface with the currently active profile settings.
10IP Address The IP address currently assigned to this device, either via DHCP or static assignment. If no IP Address is listed the network connection may be down or the Ethernet cable might be unplugged. Profiles A list of profiles containing configuration settings for the Ethernet network interface is provided here. The settings in use will be shown as Currently Active. Other available profiles will have a Make Active button next to the profile name that allows you to change the settings used by the Ethernet interface and restart the network. Wireless Adapter (optional) The Wireless LAN network interface is a device hardware option. When it is present, a factory configured default profile initially set to obtain an IP Address via DHCP is provided. However, the access point and security information will need to be entered via the Wireless Settings page. Enable Button Enable the interface when it has been previously disabled Disable Button Disable the interface, preventing any traffic across the interface Restart Button This button can be used to restart the Wireless LAN network interface with the currently active profile settings. IP Address The IP address currently assigned to the WLAN interface, either via DHCP or static assignment. If no IP Address is listed the network connection may be down, the access point security settings are incorrect, or the wireless access point is unreachable. AP Address The access point hardware address is provided here. It is taken directly from the access point when a wireless connection is established. If the address shows as all 0s no connection is present. Profiles A list of profiles containing configuration settings for the Wireless LAN network interface is provided here. The settings in use will be shown as Currently Active. Other available profiles will have a Make Active button next to the profile name that allows you to change the settings used by the Wireless LAN interface and restart the network.
11Reset to Factory Defaults Use this page to reset the device configuration settings back to the factory default values. Note: Please use this option with caution, as configuration data and network settings will be overwritten to default values.
12Backup Settings Back up the device's configuration data via this page. This will allow you to save and restore the configuration if it is inadvertently changed or lost. It is recommended that you backup your current settings prior to making significant configuration changes.
13Software Software Upgrades Using the HTTP Installer The Software Upgrades page on the device configuration web site allows you to install platform software and firmware upgrades. Use the Browse button on this screen to locate the software package on the local machine and click on the Install button to initiate the upload of the package file. Once uploaded the upgrade will be automatically started. Once the upgrade begins you will loose your browser connection to the device. The LEDs will flash to indicate the upgrade is being performed. The software upgrade notification screen will attempt to refresh to indicate the upgrade is complete. Recovering from a Failed Upgrade In the event a platform software and firmware upgrade fails in such a way that the device cannot operate normally, a recovery mode will be activated. In this mode the device will boot into a limited configuration that will allow you to apply a product software upgrade via the provided web interface. You should not
14attempt to use the device for anything but a software upgrade when in recovery mode. Installing Applications Applications are installed in the same manner as platform software and firmware upgrades, using the Software Upgrades web page. Use the Browse button on this screen to locate the software package on the local machine and click on the Install button to initiate the upload of the package file. Once uploaded the upgrade will be automatically started. If the application provides progress information, it will be displayed in a popup window opened by the Software Upgrades web page.

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