question about serial to usb adapter

  • Thread starter Thread starter Adam Sandler
  • Start date Start date
A

Adam Sandler

Hello,

I bought a serial to usb adapter (from cables to go) and it installs
fine. But when I connect it to my GPS, it cannot communitcate with
the hardware. I verified the comm settings were the same on the GPS
and my laptop so this may not appear to be the problem.

If I go to device mangler, it recognizes the driver under the Ports
icon. After rebootinf the first time from a new install, windows
automatically assigns the driver to COM5. Afterwards, I changed to
both COM1 and then to COM2 and still cannot communicate with the GPS.

When I plug the GPS cable into the adapter and the adapter into a USB
slot, the new hardware found wizard keeps thinking the new device is a
serial mouse. I'm guessing this is what is causing an error with
trying to communicate with the GPS.

Is there any way to keep Windows from thinking the GPS is a serial
mouse?

Any other suggestions are greatly appreciated!

Thanks!
 
Adam said:
Hello,

I bought a serial to usb adapter (from cables to go) and it installs
fine. But when I connect it to my GPS, it cannot communitcate with
the hardware. I verified the comm settings were the same on the GPS
and my laptop so this may not appear to be the problem.

If I go to device mangler, it recognizes the driver under the Ports
icon. After rebootinf the first time from a new install, windows
automatically assigns the driver to COM5. Afterwards, I changed to
both COM1 and then to COM2 and still cannot communicate with the GPS.

When I plug the GPS cable into the adapter and the adapter into a USB
slot, the new hardware found wizard keeps thinking the new device is a
serial mouse. I'm guessing this is what is causing an error with
trying to communicate with the GPS.

Is there any way to keep Windows from thinking the GPS is a serial
mouse?

Any other suggestions are greatly appreciated!

Thanks!
Click to expand...

There is a short article here, mentioning "SkipEnumerations".

http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/system/CEC/serddvr.mspx

and a KB article with a similar solution.

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/283063
(ref: http://support.hypack.com/support/index.php?_m=knowledgebase&_a=viewarticle&kbarticleid=24&nav=0)

Paul
 
Adam Sandler said:
Hello,

I bought a serial to usb adapter (from cables to go) and it installs
fine. But when I connect it to my GPS, it cannot communitcate with
the hardware. I verified the comm settings were the same on the GPS
and my laptop so this may not appear to be the problem.

If I go to device mangler, it recognizes the driver under the Ports
icon. After rebootinf the first time from a new install, windows
automatically assigns the driver to COM5. Afterwards, I changed to
both COM1 and then to COM2 and still cannot communicate with the GPS.

When I plug the GPS cable into the adapter and the adapter into a USB
slot, the new hardware found wizard keeps thinking the new device is a
serial mouse. I'm guessing this is what is causing an error with
trying to communicate with the GPS.

Is there any way to keep Windows from thinking the GPS is a serial
mouse?
Click to expand...

USB to RS232 converters can be notoriously fickle. The seem to be fussy as
to what RS232 devices they will work with or the driver for your device can
refuse to work with the converter's driver.

Of particular problem are those RS232 devices that try to talk to the RS232
port directly using the I/O port address and the interupts. The converter
driver should intercept these and redirect to the converter's driver, but
the degree of success is variable.

I have come across converters that give all sorts of problems, but I do have
one that has worked with every RS232 device it has been fed. Unfortunately,
it is a completely unbranded device, so I cannot tell you what it is or
where to get it (or even if it is still available).
 
Hello,

I bought a serial to usb adapter (from cables to go) and it installs
fine. But when I connect it to my GPS, it cannot communitcate with
the hardware. I verified the comm settings were the same on the GPS
and my laptop so this may not appear to be the problem.

If I go to device mangler, it recognizes the driver under the Ports
icon. After rebootinf the first time from a new install, windows
automatically assigns the driver to COM5. Afterwards, I changed to
both COM1 and then to COM2 and still cannot communicate with the GPS.

When I plug the GPS cable into the adapter and the adapter into a USB
slot, the new hardware found wizard keeps thinking the new device is a
serial mouse. I'm guessing this is what is causing an error with
trying to communicate with the GPS.

Is there any way to keep Windows from thinking the GPS is a serial
mouse?

Any other suggestions are greatly appreciated!

Thanks!
Click to expand...

Windows XP has a "flag" that can be place in the BOOT.INI file to turn
off serial mouse detections. It seem that GPSes are the "major"
hardware for these type of problem. Here is one GPS web site fix:
http://www.gpsoz.com.au/jumping_mouse.htm
 
Thanks gents for the replies. I'll try the suggestion out after work
today. If that doesn't work, I found a rs232 expresscard adapter
online and from what I've read, if one goes through the PCI or
expresscard slot, there are rarely any problems.
 
I have a util that fixes the serial mouse problem

I have a util that fixes the serial mouse problem
It is on the web at http://www.stevematt.f9.co.uk/FixSerial/fixserial.htm

I've found that the USB serial devices need a longer delay when being initialise than traditional hardware serial ports. You could try your serial port using my Speed camera software at http://www.stevematt.f9.co.uk/ukspeedcamera/gpssc.html
This works ok with my usb to serial adapter because it has a longer initialisation delay especially for these devices.
The Win 2000 / XP version is currently free.

Steve.
 
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