Like mentioned, the Nexiq is a USB link 1. It cannot connect to newer trucks with the green diagnostic plug because those trucks are 500K baud rate datalink. USB Link 1 is only compatible with the older 250K. Also I cannot tell how old the laptop is or which version of Windows it is running. Many diagnostic software is like any other PC software that becomes obsolete to certain versions of windows. So if the laptop is too old, running old obsolete versions of the software, it very well could be just an expensive way to play solitaire.