Windows Driver for USB to RS232?

If you can't correct the application, try Googling for "windows serial port mapping", there are a number of shareware utilities which purport to help with this problem.

I believe that the FTDI chip is the popular one for that use; you might try their web site to see what can be seen.

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It looks like a device I have that has a Prolific chipset in it. If you want, I could give you the install disk zipped up.

regards Phil W

Port selection is normally shown under Port Settings -> Advanced. Do you have the advanced dialog at all? If yes, what is listed?

Another issue is that your USB-RS232 adapter got COM5 in the first place because COM1-COM4 was reserved at the time of installation. So once you do find the COM port selection, COM1-COM4 will appear as (in use). To circumvent that problem, do the following:

- Set environment variable DEVMGR_SHOW_NONPRESENT_DEVICES=1

- Open device manager, select "show hidden devices" from the view menu.

- You can now see & uninstall the unused ports.

Leo Havmøller.

Yes please :D If you could send it to:

t_o_e AT l_a_v_a_b_i_t DOT c_o_m

remove all underscores.

On xp:

Control Panel>Hardware>device Manager>Ports(Com & LPT) Click on the new com port that has been created >port settings>advanced>com port number.

"Even if it says in use", just select it from the drop down menu.

Only rule: Don't choose a com port that is already in use on your system.

Cheers Don...

--
Don McKenzie

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Thanks Don, I've tried this. The problem is the the "Port Settings" tab is non-existant. The driver CD that I got with the device has an error in the ".inf" file. The device cost me less than 5euro (5euro =3D about 8 US dollars), but that's no excuse to put up with faulty merchandise. I've gotten cheap electronics off eBay before and they've work prefectly. I got a USB floppy drive for 10euro and it's absolutely perfect, and it's even faster than old floppy drives. I got a USB to serial ATA adapter also and it has lightning fast transfer speed and it only cost me about 4euro.

I corrected the error in the driver's "inf" file and then tried to use it but now I get an error saying "Device cannot start", which is usually indicative of a physically damaged part.

I'm beginning to suspect that the seller is dodgy and that he's deliberately selling non-functional parts for cheap in the hope that the buyer will just chuck it in the bin if it doesn't work and forget about it. Sure, if I buy something for 2euro then I'm not overly concerned if it doesn't work, but then this will tarnish the actual good market there is for cheap electronics, which is why I'm not going to let this go.

Anyway I've been in contact with the seller. He didn't reply to my first e-mail so I made the second e-mail more noticeable. He replied to me saying that he's willing to send me out a "replacement driver". I told him, if the driver is different, to send it out and I'll try it out. But if he's just going to send me the same driver, (which by the way I can just download from the internet), then I've told him not to waste his time and to just give me a refund.

(By the way, the driver that you download from the internet has the exact same error which renders the device inoperable)

If he beats around the bush I'll just take up a dispute with PayPal. Then I'll take my 5euro and buy a cheap adapter that actually works. Then I'll contact eBay and let them know that I suspect a seller is deliberatly selling devices that don't work.

Link?

VID? PID?

OK here's the latest.

I finally got the driver working. There wasn't an error in the driver itself, but rather in its intructions.

When you first plug the device in, Windows uses one of its built-in drivers for it, and that doesn't work. The driver intructions actually acknowledge that Windows will use the wrong driver, so it (tries to) show you how to manually set the correct driver, but there's an error in the instructions that leads you to doing the manual installation wrongly.

Anywaaaaaaaaaaaay, I got the driver working properly. Next I opened my program that actually interfaces with a serial port, but it wouldn't work. I also tried it on a desktop computer that has two other built- in serial ports, but it still didn't work.

I might try using the device with HyperTerminal to see if I can even do simple communication between two PC's. If that doesn't even work, I won't stop til I get a full refund.

VID =3D 0x04b4 PID =3D 0x5500

I've tried looking up this VID and PID combo but it seems that it's registered to the microcontroller inside than device rather than to the device itself.

Has anyone here got any experience with a cheap USB to RS232 adapter that works perfectly as if it were an in-built serial port? If so, I'd appreciate if you could send me a link for it.

Would anyone here on this group be interested in keeping a list of "Recommended cheap electronics"? I myself could definitely add a few products to it that are extremely cheap but work perfectly.

Here's the more latest:

1. prolific has a new version of their driver as of April 2009. It fixed my bug this week.

See

and follow the usual product/support/download links until you get somewhere like this:

1. ftdichip.com does seem to be the best stuff out there.

1. I'm using the Windows Java Serial Com Port Driver from
   formatting link
   It is much, much better than RXTX and very appropriate for removable serial ports (USB serial ports).

-Stosh