USB-serial adapter compatability list

Keithg · Post by **Keithg** » Sat Mar 15, 2008 6:19 pm

Got a new, non serial, laptop for tuning. Dell CSx H500. Antique, I know, but fine for car use and small. Anyway, I bought an iogear USB to serial cable. Installs, and appears fine in XP.

Plug in cable. turn on MS. Fire up MT. It complains that com3 could not be opened and asks if I want to go offline until I select a valid port. I say 'ok'. I turn MT 'online' and still nothing, though the MS is cruising along on the bench. Now I hot plug it; Unplug and replug USB cable quickly. I get some Windows XP note saying something about hot plugging Com 3, then it starts working fine with MT. I can log, I can tune, I can burn. If I try burning a complete MSQ, it takes a bit (scary bit) but comes back and seems OK.

Burning a new S19 is another story. Once I turn off MT then try the batch file to load the s19, I get this:

ms2dl.exe -d 0 -v 0 -r ms2dl.exe -j -c3 ms2_extra.s19
Download failed:
Could not open comm port 3.
Press any key to continue . . .

Has anyone else gotten this one to work? I guess I can tune with this one, but will need my other laptop to burn which is a bummer.

It shows up in the Hardware Manager as a com port "ATEN to USB Serial Cable (com3)". The USB root hub shows it as connected (under power), though there is no USB device showing in the tree. Is it some interaction with my hot swapping stuff on the laptop? The install is clean XP SP2 vanilla with all updates and no 3rd party software.

Thoughts? Any help? Frustrating.

Gokart · Post by **Gokart** » Sat Mar 15, 2008 9:13 pm

You can change the com port to other number through the device manager to suits your requirement. eg; com1 or com2.
You should be able to communicate that way.

chicksdigwagons · Post by **chicksdigwagons** » Sun Mar 16, 2008 12:49 am

I've been using a Radio Shack brand "USB SERIAL CABLE" with good luck and no problems on several machines and close to a dozen different megasquirts.

It was expensive, but availible.

Keithg · Post by **Keithg** » Sun Mar 16, 2008 8:31 am

chicksdigwagons wrote:I've been using a Radio Shack brand "USB SERIAL CABLE" with good luck and no problems on several machines and close to a dozen different megasquirts.

It was expensive, but availible.

What kind of comm port does it show up as in the device manager? If I remember correctly, it looked similar to what I have. This is a link:

http://www.iogear.com/product/GUC232A/

I'll see if there is a newer driver and search on some hot swap stuff and see if that is interfering. Any other thoughts would be welcome.

KeithG

chicksdigwagons · Post by **chicksdigwagons** » Sun Mar 16, 2008 11:23 am

Keithg wrote: What kind of comm port does it show up as in the device manager? If I remember correctly, it looked similar to what I have. This is a link:

http://www.iogear.com/product/GUC232A/

I'll see if there is a newer driver and search on some hot swap stuff and see if that is interfering. Any other thoughts would be welcome.

KeithG

http://www.viewpoints.com/Radio-Shack-2 ... view-9d2b1

This is the one I have. Oddly enough I can't find drivers for it online ad I can't find the CD either... Doh. I don't recall what the default com port was, I do know I changed it so that all the USB ports would default to the same one. It's also nice having 6ft of cable attached so you're never like "Where did I put that extension cable!!!!" But at like $40 it's bloody pricey.

Keithg · Post by **Keithg** » Sun Mar 16, 2008 12:22 pm

D'oh. I figured it out. My Palm software HotSync was trying to monopolize the com port. Once I stopped that application, it works as expected. I even tried a MSQ burn and a reflash of MS2/E. Both worked as fast as my other laptop with a built in serial port. This was 29.00 or so at MicroCenter.

So, IOGEAR USB to Serial -- works

KeithG

6040solder · Post by **6040solder** » Sun Mar 16, 2008 12:29 pm

So much for "clean vanilla install with all patches and NO other software" :-p ;-)

Here's a thread on the different serial ICs available: http://forum.diyefi.org/viewtopic.php?f=25&t=1614

Most of the FreeEMS hardware projects are currently using FT232RL chipsets. The silabs CP2102 and similar are also good. Steer clear of pl2303 devices which are cheap and nasty.

Keithg · Post by **Keithg** » Sun Mar 16, 2008 12:37 pm

Like I said, "D'oh"

6040solder wrote:So much for "clean vanilla install with all patches and NO other software" :-p ;-)

max@zl2max.gen.nz · Post by **max@zl2max.gen.nz** » Sun Mar 16, 2008 9:31 pm

Hey don't beat yourself up too much, you are the the first and I am sure
you will not be the last caught by active sync....

Keithg wrote:

Like I said, "D'oh" Embarassed

*6040solder wrote:*
So much for "clean vanilla install with all patches and NO other
software" :-p ;-)

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offtrack · Post by **offtrack** » Fri Mar 21, 2008 8:00 pm

before running any comm port software:
DO A:
start + run + msconfig.

bingo, now select tab marked Startup.

notice you can disable then come back and re Enable.

Windoz XP

just be aware of every thing loaded , what it does and what resources it uses.

hope this helps one and all.

Dohc Rocks · Post by **Dohc Rocks** » Sun Apr 06, 2008 8:13 pm

I have a Toshiba A200 laptop with Vista Ultimate. I had no problems connecting to MSNS-E at all with my Belkin F5U409 but all that's changed now that I've just upgraded to MS2E.

I can bootload but not upload firmware.... well maybe if I leave it for a hour. I use the desktop's serial port and everyhting works awesome !

Try the laptop to do some tuning and it just messes everyhting up.... seems like it corrupts everything.

Any ideas ?

I ordered a PCMCIA Serial card off of Ebay.... at $25 delivered I figured what the heck.

2001dodgeneonrt · Post by **2001dodgeneonrt** » Sun May 11, 2008 5:59 pm

I have been through 3 different off brand adapters and all 3 died after working for a bit. I ended up buying a Radioshack USB to serial adapter (Model # 26-183) and it has worked like a dream for 2 years now. I have ran MS1 and MS2 on this cable along with flashing both MS1 and MS2 with no problems.

justins71 · Post by **justins71** » Tue Oct 14, 2008 9:54 am

+1 on the Radioshack adapter. Using this one for a year and a half, never had an issue, except when my XP-laptop crashed, and the new Vista one needed the driver CD that I lost a year ago... lol Wound up finding it, but used older desktop with Stim to pre-program new MS2.

riceandbeans · Post by **riceandbeans** » Wed Nov 19, 2008 2:29 pm

Dynex DX-UBDB9

Old, decrepit travesty of an adapter- made in china, PCB separates from the case habitually and without cause, and drivers are impossible to find and are only available for windows.

Currently functional in 32 bit winXP SP2 system. PM me for the drivers because you won't be able to find them online.

RangingRover · Post by **RangingRover** » Wed Jan 28, 2009 4:23 am

"Prolific 2303" seems to work fine @115200 with Windows and Linux.

No new ones to add, just wanted to throw my vote up for the Prolific gear, despite the fact that mine very occasionally decides to uninstall itself from the computer for some reason (probably more to do with Windows than anything else). No resets while its connected though. One thing to note is that mine wasn't branded Prolific on the box, but came with Prolific drivers (bought from Jaycar (Australian mob) about 2 years ago). From memory it was basically no-name on the pack - if I find the box or see it in a shop somewhere when I'm out I'll post the details for it up here.

KaPower · Post by **KaPower** » Fri Jan 30, 2009 9:59 pm

I can't get my radioshack usb/serial adapter driver to install on windows xp. I run the installsheild program everything looks ok, I click finish, go into control panel, system, device manager, hardware, and click on com ports, and radio shack usb adapter is supposed to be there but its not. When I plug in the adapter window says unknown device is detected, or the device may be faulty. I've tried to use the add new hardware way of doing things described by the manual, but that does not work for me either.

I've searched the net all evening to find many people have had the same issue, but I could find no fix. What should I try next?

Peter Florance · Post by **Peter Florance** » Sat Jan 31, 2009 7:14 am

KaPower wrote:I can't get my radioshack usb/serial adapter driver to install on windows xp. I run the installsheild program everything looks ok, I click finish, go into control panel, system, device manager, hardware, and click on com ports, and radio shack usb adapter is supposed to be there but its not. When I plug in the adapter window says unknown device is detected, or the device may be faulty. I've tried to use the add new hardware way of doing things described by the manual, but that does not work for me either.

I've searched the net all evening to find many people have had the same issue, but I could find no fix. What should I try next?

Is this the driver that actually came with the device?
Is the device known to be good?

KaPower · Post by **KaPower** » Sat Jan 31, 2009 9:28 am

Is this the driver that actually came with the device?

Yes.

Is the device known to be good?

I just bought it 2 days ago, so no. I will try to install the driver on another PC.

KaPower · Post by **KaPower** » Sat Jan 31, 2009 2:09 pm

I can't get the POS to work on my PC with Vista either.

On my Dell 600m w/XP the driver is supposed to show up under Ports (lpt serial), inside of the device manager/hardware. The only place I can find anything is under USB controllers inside device manager/hardware, it says it's unknown device, when I click on properties and status it says no driver is installed for this device.

Where is the driver being installed? I've tried to re-install it a hundred times now, an I can't find it anywhere on XP or Vista.

EDIT: I finally got it installed by connecting the adapter to my usb port and using the add hardware option...

Pierre6 · Post by **Pierre6** » Thu Feb 26, 2009 4:25 am

Hi guys,

I use a "USB-Serial 9-pin adapter" from Hama (The device manager says: Prolific USB-to-Serial Comm Port).

It works perfect under Windows XP SP3.

I also tried it with Vista Pro 32bit, it compiles the code, it downloads it to the MS.
But then when i open MegaTune it gives an error for the signature. It reads something
weird from the MS . But when i click 'No' it opens MegaTune anyway and works perfect.

So overall it's a good cable. It does the job. In Win XP perfect, and in Win Vista
it just works okay (but then again, what works great with Vista

)

Bye bye!

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