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I recently watched a video where a mechanic hooked up a laptop and could diagnose cold-starting issues. (no signal to the coils when air temperature is below 20F degrees) The guy does a great job diagnosing the problem.
Anyhow, he replaced the ECU and had to reprogram the keys. I just looked it back up.
Dealer Couldn't fix it...for 5 YEARS!! (Nissan No-Start when COLD) - YouTube[^]
"Go forth into the source" - Neal Morse
"Hope is contagious"
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Great video - thanks! I'm looking into the same product he is using for my new car. For every car I've ever owned, I purchased the shop manual; not the trash sold by Chilton or Haynes, but the real manual used by the dealer. Lately the manuals have been on CDs rather than printed, but the cost has been about the same, around $250US. This latest car, a Nissan Rogue, is a problem, as they no longer will sell the manual but will only allow me to subscribe to an online version of it. I wouldn't mind that but they now want to charge me almost $1000 a year to access it!
This Alldata solution is about $60 a year, and is a far better product from what I can see.
Will Rogers never met me.
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UK/EU based reply. It's also angled towards older cars.
There are plenty of services that can make a new key for a car whether you have the original or not (I had to have a new one done a year or so ago). It's usually a bloke with an van, a key cutting machine and an electronic device to do the key programming. It can't be that expensive to get setup since whilst it's not cheap to get a new key made, nor does the guy turn up with gold teeth and a highly customised Mercedes van (it'll be an old beat-up van and he'll look like he buys too many lottery scratch cards in the hope of getting rich some day).
Search Google for car key programming machine and see what turns up. I'm guessing your friends $4000 "computer" is a professional version one of these. There are cheap consumer versions available but I'd have no idea about the reliability. It's a fairly precarious thing to do at the best of times. No-one will guarantee you success since they see random inexplicable failures, even with the same model/year that worked with another customer yesterday.
--> Whether you can replicate that with off the shelf hardware and some code is an interesting question. See below for what ChatGPT thinks. Some bits sound easy and then the other bits sound ... challenging. If we're talking newer cars with more modern security measures then that will make it an order of magnitude more difficult.
IIRC the versions used by dealerships reprogram the immobiliser code that the car will recognise as well as program the keys, which is why they always want to change all the locks on the car as well as give you a new key (whereas the guy in the van only creates a new key that matches the existing immobiliser codes). I'm guessing the stated reason is for security (so that the old keys won't work anymore) and that the unstated reason is that it's a lot more profitable.
OBD specs require the OBD to output certain information and third party devices that conform to the spec. can access that information. However it's only basic info, usually only that required by regulations. The OEM uses the same OBD connection to access a lot more information (much more) and somewhere in there you will find the immobiliser codes, so not only would you need a key programming device you'd also need access to the device the OEM uses to connect to the OBD - unless you have a friend in a dealership then getting access to one of these is like getting access to the system used by the bank to lock its vaults.
--> Personally, I would forget this idea and stick to programming new keys.
ChatGPT
Hardware Components:
- Microcontroller or Single-Board Computer (SBC): You’ll need a microcontroller (such as Arduino, Raspberry Pi, or ESP32) or an SBC (like Raspberry Pi) to interface with the car’s OBD port and communicate with the vehicle’s computer.
- Transceiver Module: A transceiver (e.g., ELM327) is essential for OBD-II communication. It converts serial data to OBD-II protocol and vice versa.
- Key Programmer Circuit: Design a circuit that can read/write data from/to the car’s immobilizer system. This may involve EEPROMs, microcontrollers, and other components.
- Power Supply: Provide a stable power source for your device.
Software Development:
- OBD-II Communication: Write code to communicate with the vehicle’s OBD-II system. You’ll need to understand the relevant protocols (e.g., ISO 9141-2, ISO 14230-4, ISO 15765-4).
- Security Algorithms: Implement security algorithms used by car manufacturers (e.g., rolling codes, challenge-response authentication).
- Key Programming Logic: Develop code to program new keys, sync them with the immobilizer, and handle keyless entry functions.
Mike
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Don't know what has happened but clicking on or pressing the Windows key doesn't pop open the apps menu, similarly clicking on the status bar speaker icon(or any of them) doesn't pop up the volume slider, I did have the usual Windows updates failure this morning where it tries to apply the updates,fails, and then undoes updates . Anyone had this ?
In a closed society where everybody's guilty, the only crime is getting caught. In a world of thieves, the only final sin is stupidity. - Hunter S Thompson - RIP
modified yesterday.
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Sounds like Windows Explorer in Zombie Mode.
The solution is to kill the explorer.exe process via Task Manager.
Windows explorer should restart automatically. If not, <Windows key> + <R> (Run) should help.
I did not have issues with the latest Windows updates.
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Thanks for your reply, explorer.exe is not shown in Task Manager but I started it from run - no change I'm afraid
In a closed society where everybody's guilty, the only crime is getting caught. In a world of thieves, the only final sin is stupidity. - Hunter S Thompson - RIP
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There need to be an Explorer in Taskmanager, Tab Details.
Close all programs, including all visible explorers.
Kill the explorer in Taskmanager->Details. If you kill it desktop disapears and you get a blank screen.
Type Ctrl&Alt&Delete and choose 'Taskmanager'
In Taskmanager choose 'File -> Run new task', type in explorer to run explorer.
Desktop should now be back.
modified yesterday.
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Hi there thanks for your reply, I did everything you suggested but the situation is the same Windows key not working and status bar icons not responding
In a closed society where everybody's guilty, the only crime is getting caught. In a world of thieves, the only final sin is stupidity. - Hunter S Thompson - RIP
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Could the key be broken? After my last laptop got long in the tooth, its ZXCV keys pretty much stopped working!
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Hi Greg, that wouldn't explain why the mouse click and hover is also not working - everything was cool until the update
In a closed society where everybody's guilty, the only crime is getting caught. In a world of thieves, the only final sin is stupidity. - Hunter S Thompson - RIP
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I guess you can tell who merely reacted to the first symptom in your post. 
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In a closed society where everybody's guilty, the only crime is getting caught. In a world of thieves, the only final sin is stupidity. - Hunter S Thompson - RIP
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CAN YOU ROLL OS BACK TO LAST WORKING COPY?
"A little time, a little trouble, your better day"
Badfinger
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What, back to the days when "Terminal" meant KSR-33?
Software rusts. Simon Stephenson, ca 1994. So does this signature. me, 2012
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KSR-33? Way back machine in high gear.
advanced recovery tools or least the latest version
One of the first terminals I used.
"A little time, a little trouble, your better day"
Badfinger
modified 13hrs ago.
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Has it EVER fixed anything?
Every time I've been prompted due to some network issue to run windows network diagnostics, it has NEVER, EVER found a problem or fixed anything. This morning, it just errored out with some random code.
Charlie Gilley
“They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” BF, 1759
Has never been more appropriate.
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I'd amend your title to "Windows Troubleshooters" in general. And also throw in sfc and dism.
They're the go-to answer for everything in the MS support forums. But I've never seem them fix a problem. 
"These people looked deep within my soul and assigned me a number based on the order in which I joined."
- Homer
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I stand corrected. Seems to be a placebo.
Charlie Gilley
“They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” BF, 1759
Has never been more appropriate.
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I wouldn't lump dism into this category.
This has always been my go-to solution whenever I needed to install .NET 2.0/3.5 on OSes that don't include it by default, and the installer fails (which I'm not sure ever worked for me). But this always succeeds:
dism /online /enable-feature /featurename:NetFx3 /All /Source:E:\sources\sxs /LimitAccess
(replace E: with the appropriate ISO mount drive, D: turned into a smiley...)
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The name says it all. Diagnostics not repair. Now, do the thing actually diagnose anything?
I’ve given up trying to be calm. However, I am open to feeling slightly less agitated.
I’m begging you for the benefit of everyone, don’t be STUPID.
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Useful when customer is watching. Gives one time to figure out the real problem.
>64
It’s weird being the same age as old people. Live every day like it is your last; one day, it will be.
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It's almost like an idiot cartoon to entertain....
Charlie Gilley
“They who can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.” BF, 1759
Has never been more appropriate.
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No Windows diagnostic has ever identified anything for me. On top of that, in Events Viewer, each error code has a link to click for more information. Not once has that ever returned any explanation.
Will Rogers never met me.
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I've never had any Windows troubleshooter fix anything, except for the most extremely simple problems that are quicker to manually fix anyway.
Same with System Restore. I had it successfully recover a relative's botched update - once - where Vista (to give you an idea of the timeframe) was stuck in a reboot loop. Rolled it back, reinstalled the update, and everything was fine. But I always have it disabled on my own systems, as I've never had a single use for it.
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