1999MY diesel Freelander fault diagosing

Well here goes...

I half-expect a chorus of "oh no not that old chestnut again!" but I'll ask anyway: I've spent ages looking through this forum for a definitive answer to the question as to whether it is technically possible to connect up an interface cable and laptop running simple diagnostic software and interrogate my Freelander's ECU for fault code info. But so far I've drawn a blank.

I did read a fairly old post (by a chap called Ming, I think) who kinda said "yes it's possible I've done it, nudge nudge, wink wink" but there was no other information forthcoming. Another chappie (ChrisT..?) also seemed to be asking the same question as me but I didn't see if he solved it as the thread just ended without a resolution.
I've tried the usual method of plugging in one of those eB*y OBD2 hand-held readers but that just said "Linking Error".

So...has ANYONE managed to get this to work successfully? (Without resorting to spending megabucks on Testbook, T4, RovaComm systems, etc, etc). I'm sure I can't be the only person on this forum with a pre-OBD Freelander..!

Any offers of guidance would be extremely well received!!
Cheers,
Martin

I would like to know this too, are there any "nudge nudge" "wink wink" cables and software from maybe china that do the trick.

I may try my vag-com on it to see if it picks up the ABS system, as I belive its a teves 20 system, same as a MKIV golf.

Hmmm...interesting. On another forum I've just seen this:-

"The Freelander 1 uses a funny interface. I’ve got one of the elmscan 5 devices. The cheap ones on ebay often have a pirate elm chip, which doesn’t do what it should. Not got any errors on mine, but this is all I can see:

http://www.autotec-direct.com/elmscan-5-compact-diagnostic-obd2eobd-interface-509-p.asp "

Does anyone have any experience of using this device on the early (non-OBD) Freelanders?