Brake Pump Bleeding.....

The other day I needed to bleed the brakes on a 2010 model Beetle. I was actually called by a friend who had tried many times and have proved unsuccessful. The brake pedal was very soft no matter how many times we tried to bleed it. I must point out that my preferred method is always to pressure bleed, but since no suitable tool was available to us we have no choice but to bleed them by pumping the pedal. My friend was convinced, and had been advised by a VW dealer that it would be necessary to use diagnostic equipment to do this job, and that's when he called me.

I plugged in VCDS and opened the ABS controller. I selected 'Basic Settings' and there was a drop down menu. I selected 'Brake Pump Bleeding' and followed the instructions. From there the software just kept hanging, and eventually 'N/A' would appear in all the fields. After many attempts I never did manage to complete the procedure.

Has anyone else had similar trouble doing this. I like to know whether the particular vehicle may have been at fault, or if there may be a problem on my laptop or with VCDS itself. I do have the latest version installed.

Thanks in advance.