Troubleshooting

If Hanterill cannot find the car, start with the simple checks below. The car may be asleep, a plug may be loose or the computer may be blocking the local connection. Work through the steps in order before changing network settings.

1. Is the car awake?#

When your car is parked and locked, its central gateway powers down the diagnostic network to protect the 12 V battery.

• What to do: Sit in the driver's seat with the key, or press the brake pedal once so the driver display lights up. On a combustion or plug-in hybrid Volvo, turn the ignition knob or press the start button without pressing the brake pedal so the dashboard wakes up in ignition-on mode.

2. Are the link lights on your Ethernet adapter lit?#

Look at the RJ45 port on your computer or USB-to-Ethernet adapter. Within a couple of seconds of plugging into an awake car, the small LED link light should turn on or blink.

• If no light comes on at all:
  • Make sure the 16-pin OBD-II connector is pushed all the way into the socket under the dashboard.
  • Check that your USB-C Ethernet adapter is plugged into a real data port, not a charge-only port.
  • Check that the Ethernet adapter is firmly connected to your computer. If possible, try another port or adapter.

3. Does the app say "Waiting for network address (DHCP)"?#

When you first plug the Ethernet cable in, your computer spends 5 to 10 seconds asking if a home router (DHCP server) is on the wire. Because a car does not run a home router, your computer waits briefly and then assigns itself a link-local address starting with 169.254.x.x.

• What to do: Wait about 10 seconds after plugging the cable in until the adapter on the Connection screen shows an address starting with 169.254., then click Find vehicle.
• Do not set a 192.168.x.x static IP: Leave your Ethernet adapter set to Automatic (DHCP). Setting a home-style 192.168.x.x address prevents your computer from talking to the car's 169.254.x.x gateway.
• On Linux: NetworkManager does not fall back to a link-local address on its own. Set the wired connection's IPv4 method to Link-Local Only once (for example nmcli connection modify "Wired connection 1" ipv4.method link-local), then unplug and replug the cable.

4. Is a VPN or firewall blocking port 13400?#

Hanterill talks to the car using UDP and TCP on port 13400.

• VPN clients: Corporate VPNs and privacy VPNs often capture all network traffic (including local 169.254.x.x traffic) and send it down the VPN tunnel. Pause or disconnect your VPN while connected to the car.
• Windows Firewall: Windows treats any direct cable connection without a router as a Public network. If you unchecked "Public networks" when Windows Firewall first prompted you, open Windows Defender Firewall -> Allow an app through firewall and make sure Hanterill is checked for both Private and Public networks.
• macOS Local Network permission: On macOS Sequoia (macOS 15) and newer, make sure Hanterill is enabled under System Settings -> Privacy & Security -> Local Network.

5. What if a SEA car (EX30, Polestar 4, Zeekr) does not answer broadcast discovery?#

Unlike CMA cars (Polestar 2, XC40/EX40, C40/EC40), which reply to a UDP broadcast as soon as you click Find vehicle, SEA-platform gateways often stay silent on broadcast.

• How Hanterill handles it: When broadcast discovery times out, Hanterill automatically tries connecting directly to the car's standard gateway addresses (169.254.19.1 and 169.254.1.1) over TCP port 13400. Once the car is awake and your Ethernet adapter has a 169.254.x.x address, this attempt happens automatically over the same ENET cable.

6. Why did a few modules time out during a full scan?#

It is normal for a car not to have every optional module in the platform catalogue (for example, a car without a power tailgate or without a rear motor inverter on a single-motor variant).

• Optional modules that are not fitted: After your first scan on a car, Hanterill remembers which modules answered and caches that profile locally for your car, so future scans skip empty slots.
• Sleeping sub-bus modules: A few body and comfort modules sit behind secondary networks that go to sleep even while the dashboard is on. Hanterill includes a gentle wake-up sequence for quiet modules, and on both the Battery Health and Captures & Sweeps screens you can click Retry missed modules to re-query only the modules or cell blocks that timed out without re-running the whole scan.