SoftJTag "Unhandled Exception"

[Thewyzewun]

Been a geek for about 15 years so quite used to using search facilities to find answers to questions, but no-one seems to have a solution for this one; won't specify the names of the cable forums I've searched and the guide site's I've scoured but I've been all over trust me .

I've got an Ambit 255, it's brand new from fleabay for ~£10 and others which were already flashed cost about double so I took the cheap option and was relying on Water's fix if need be, bad decision!

I've opened it up and attached a max 232 bought from TMB (prob got that acronym wrong, just saying it's a good 'un not something I've bodged together haha) and opened tftpd32 with 250 hack dump in it's folder and correct IP showing when it opens and hyperterminal using settings specified on all the guides, powered up and had finger poised above the p key as I rammed the plug in but wasn't given the option.

Bit of searching, found this is very common now so checked my firmware version and I can't use water's fix (have tried regardless, to no avail) and so I went for Plan B softjtag installed VBJScript and .net 2.0, it's an XP Pro SP3 machine, also copied in mscomms and mswinsck files to system32 folder and ran regsvr command to ensure they were registered and then did a hard reset and tried all softjtag 3.03 3.10 and BBB_MoD versions but they all give me the exact same error, I've tried running them in compatibility modes of all sorts, no good. I've also downloaded copies from elsewhere and tried some more.
Here's exactly what happens: it says "connecting to modem... please wait" then "connection established" then

"unhandled exception has occurred in your application. If you click Continue, the application will ignore this error and attempt to continue. If you click Quit, the application will close immediately.

The operation has timed out."

I tried running the program without even turning the modem on, and I get the exact same sequence of events.
By the way, everything appears as it should in HyperTerminal (aside the p option missing) - is that enough for me to be certain my max 232 interface isn't at fault? - the capacitators did get bent on their legs somewhat during postage but they're still connected properly no question of that.
I'm going to cross-post this at a couple of other forums and if I get answers anywhere I'll repost everywhere so others with this problem can benefit . I'm really hoping some genius out there (like the guy's who came up with all this in the first place!) has stumbled into this problem before and resolved it, but absolutely any and all suggestions will be very much welcomed!

[fitz]

You need to use the console unlocker. This is common knowledge.

As you've got output in hypertrm then obviously your TMC RS(aka MAX)232 interface works fine. The angle of your capacitors is irrelevant because it's working.

15 years or not, you are a poor quality geek lol

Console unlocker > reflash bootloader with softjtag > full flash using p method in hypertrm > job done.

cheers, fitz