I still have that problem with mine. I bought a switch off ebay and the error message changed from 'System error' to 'transmission error' (may have been the other way around).
Like Del, I played around with VCDS for ages trying to get it to work.
Lord knows, my battery has been flat enough times for it to have solved the problem if that was going to work.
Eventually, I'll probably pony up for a brand new switch. If I'm honest, I'd settle for borrowing a working one for as long as it takes me to store my fingerprint!
