When purchasing a used DSMLink package from a third party, you must be extra careful. Besides the typical concerns that the seller might send something entirely different from what was advertised or pictured (or never send anything at all), you have to also be concerned with counterfeit packages.

Counterfeit packages will not be supported in ANY way by ECMTuning. This page is intended to document some of these issues in more detail so you, the potential buyer, can make a better decision.

As of the time of this writing (Nov. 1, 2007) there are three different versions of DSMLink packages: 2GV1, 2GV2, and 1GV2. The first, 2GV1, is by far the most likely to be sold as a counterfeit package. There are actually very, very few legitimate 2GV1 packages still around. Almost all have been upgraded to 2GV2 packages by now. To reduce the impact counterfeit packages is having on us lately, we're seriously considering dropping support for the old 2GV1 package entirely. Please keep this in mind if you're considering the purchase of such a package!

The first step in identifying our packages is to look at the chip. The image below lists three slight variations of the chip labels we've produced here.

Of course, since these chip labels are so easily duplicated, just checking against this isn't sufficient. But for sure if someone supplies you with a picture of the package they're selling and the chip just has a handwritten note of some sort on it, you can bet it's not ours.

From the picture above, the four digit numbers, 1307, 2307, and 3307, are what we refer to as the “chip ID” or “serial number”. If we ask that you provide us with the chip ID or serial number, those are the numbers we need. The other numbers on the first two, older versions, of the chip label were used to indicate battery reset default configuration values.

This was the first release of DSMLink. We made a basic attempt to reduce counterfeit efforts in this release by using a “non-standard” OBDII adapter we built in house. But we knew full well if anyone wanted to produce one to replace ours, they probably could. We really relied on our assumption that DSMLink would not be popular enough for people to bother. We were wrong. Within 6 months of release, we had received information about counterfeit packages showing up on the market and guys charging $300+ for doing nothing more than copying our chip and producing a crude knock-off clone of our adapter. The next 6 months were spent making sure our next version (2GV2) was not so easily duplicated.

A full 2GV1 package includes an ODBII adapter, DB9 cable, CD, and original DSMLink EPROM chip. Our chip labels are described above. A picture of a valid DSMLink adapter is below.

Below is a collection of a few of the counterfeit adapters and chips we have seen come through here in the past.

Obviously the red end piece and the handwritten paper label on this package are clearly different from those that we produced.

A bit harder to identify without opening the case, but this adapter is actually longer than ours, has a different DB9 connector and clearly different internal components. Our adapter boards are all surface mount IC components, a much better choice for use in a noisy car environment than the through-hole components shown on this copy.

More counterfeit chips. These guys can't even remember to put the label on the same way. Lame.

As of the time of this writing (11/01/2007), there are no known counterfeit copies of the 2GV2 package. So as long as the seller is actually providing a 2GV2 DSMLink OBDII adapter and a 2GV2 DSMLink chip, then you should be fine. To test, you can connect the laptop to the ECU (using the OBDII adapter with the DSMLink EPROM chip installed in the ECU) and then try to access the ECU→Airflow dialog. If you get a message about an unsupported operation, then it's not a 2GV2 package, it's an older 2GV1 package. Note that if you get any other message concerning connection issues, you may need to refer to the connection problems page first or it may be that you simply did not receive anything valid in your purchase at all.

As of the time of this writing (11/01/2007), there are no known counterfeit copies of the 1GV2 package. So as long as the seller is actually providing a 1GV2 DSMLink cable and a 1GV2 memory board (with a DSMLink chip), then you should be fine. Pictures of the 1G cable and memory board can be found below (pulled from our public website).