Well not sure what was really up with mine apart from the top board, it thought it was a link before when I tried to hook my laptop to it. Now after having the top board replaced it is registering as a vipec, and I can connect to it fine with my laptop. Didn't have to reinstall any software.
The interesting thing is ever since I had the firmware updated and a retune last year it's been missing slightly and feeling a bit rough at times, and the idle was quite low at times. I was actually starting to get really frustrated with the ecu. Now with the top board replaced on the drive home it was like the ecu of old, smooth and not one miss. Will see if it keeps up.
Can't recommend the tuner enough, has been a great help just happy this is finally resolved by the looks of it. So if anyone has a similar issue it might be your top board.