Serious noob to this type of stuff and I really hope this hasn't already been covered... I tried searching through and found nothing matching what I was looking for... That being said if it has been covered links are great and much appreciated but at the same time I would almost expect a good roasting... OK here goes... I bought VAG-TACHO 5 and am having a helluva time getting it to work... The program will load; the drivers are installed; but it still gives the interface not found message when I'm open, connected, and plugged into the car... Again any help is appreciated and if this is a dumb question or the wrong place let the roasting begin hahaha

POS... china clone... I kept seeing people say they got it to work but I have yet to find the answer as to how... am I better off just tossing it and buying the right one?

First of all Vagtacho 5.0 clone doesn't support much but it will do some k-line clusters and a handfull of other ecu's.
You will need to use the supplied software (which is cracked) and insert the dongle supplied with it.

I've tested several of them and they all worked (found the interface).

Havent actually been able to talk to anything yet... The plan is to program a key on an 04 audi A4... I have a customer that is being refered to me from a VW dealership (my old dealer...) they can not do AUDI keys at all... I know that through older versions of VAG TACHO you coiuld use it as a pin ripper and use VCDS to program... I have done it with older VW's a few times... Not with my current set up but with a friends VAG TACHO... As of now all I get is the error "interface not found"... When I open the about tab I see something that says interface ID but the box next to it is blank and will not allow me to type anything in... Sorry my initial question was so vague... I guess what I'm looking for would maybe be how to get it to recognize it as a valid cable?...

I do not have the blue cable... and actually if I'm being honest I'm not sure what you're referring to... sorry... like I said super noob to this side of things... been a dealer tech for ever so stock questions no problem hahaha... Sorry again for the stupid questions I'll get there eventually though!

I would get a kkl lead and try reading it with argdubs program

Don't worry, this stuff is like learning another language. Kkl cables are super basic diagnostic leads, originally built for pirating vagcom, but are now used for various read/write activities. Make sure you buy one with the ftdi chip, ideally genuine. Here is a thread talking about them http://nefariousmotorsports.com/forum/index.php?topic=4803.0title=

Argdubs tool is here, used for reading/writing info from eeprom: http://nefariousmotorsports.com/forum/index.php?topic=1168.0title=

I don't know for sure that this will work, depends what ecu the a4 is running and a few other factors, but it's worth a try. The other option might be using something to read the cluster. There's a thread on here somewhere which talks about other tools, vag commander etc, which work for reading clusters.

Obviously once you have got a cluster or ecu eeprom, pull out the skc and add the key using vcds