Help w/ Ebay cable (or help from someone in hull)

Ive got an ebay cable, well it wasnt actually from ebay it was from an onlinshop but i bought it forever ago and dont have time now to dig out which one. Ive not had chance to use it, but the "engine workshop" warning has come on a couple of times recently, with accompanying coil light which stays until ignition cycled, no loss of power or anything though. the car is an 02 octavia.

I tried running the software and didnt get anywhere, its the version 409 software (the last of the free versions as i am aware, so naturally just the free functions which is all i am after for now). it all installed fine, drivers fine. in the vagcom software i go to options select the com port that recognises there is an interface attached then hit save.

if i scall all modules i dont get much info back, just saying which modules were scanned. no car details etc so it doesnt look to work. if i select a module manually it scans a few times then says "no response from controller"

ignition is on, and Ive checked for the kline been pulled high and its fine.

can anyone offer any advise?