How to install axe027 USB cable driver in windows 7

Yucuis

New Member
I am sure this has been explained elsewhere, but i seems people still have problems installing the drivers, so I'm letting people know how I did it.

First I downloaded the zip file version of the driver because the self install version did not work for me at all. I unziped the files and placed them in a folder i created on my windows desktop for easy locating later.

Then I plugged in the USB cable, it tries to install drivers on it's own, but fails.

I clicked the Start Button, right clicked on Computer, and clicked on Manage. Then I clicked on Device Manager in the left bar.

Then I right clicked on the Axe027 icon with the yellow triangle warning notice on it.

Then I clicked Update Driver. Then I clicked Browse my computer for driver software. Then I selected the folder i saved the unzipped files in on my desktop.
(make sure the box is checked next to 'include sub folders')

I clicked next.

Once the driver install in complete, I went back to the device manager, the USB cable had a different name with a bunch of drivers listed under it.

I right clicked the USB cable again, clicked on update driver software, browsed back the folder on the desktop, and installed the driver a second time.
(Windows 7 needs to install drivers twice, a wonderfully annoying security setting in Windows 7, thank you Microsoft for making our computing experience easier)

After the second download, the cable showed up in the programming editor on Comm 3 like it should.

I hope this helps.

Rick
 

hippy

Technical Support
Staff member
I unziped the files and placed them in a folder i created on my windows desktop for easy locating later.
This may be a step some people having problems may be missing - The downloaded .zip file needs to be unzipped to a separate directory.

I think some people may be missing this step because Windows Explorer presents a .zip file as if it were unzipped so you can navigate through it just like a real directory which it is not. When Device Manager is pointed to the directory containing the .zip file, or at the .zip file itself, Device Manager cannot see the files within the .zip as Windows Explorer can.

Then I clicked Browse my computer for driver software. Then I selected the folder i saved the unzipped files in on my desktop.
(make sure the box is checked next to 'include sub folders')
This may be the second problematic step for some. The top level directory of the unzipped files needs to be selected, the directory containing 'amd64' and 'i386' directories, not one of those sub-directories.
 

julesmars

New Member
Thankyou, Thankyou.........so much, i wasted 3 hrs trying to install the "self install..DOES NOT WORK on windows 7. Here it is 2012 and you posted when? Hippy is already in OCT 2012? I am a hardware geek..So when I download software from a trusted site, I really expect it to work. Jokes on me...never assume.
 

wardbob

Member
Rick,
I only wasted an hour and a half before I found your post. Thank you!

I wonder why they haven't explained the Win 7 installation in the instructions.

wardbob
 

lardy600

New Member
help

Rick,
I only wasted an hour and a half before I found your post. Thank you!

I wonder why they haven't explained the Win 7 installation in the instructions.

wardbob
hi done driver install twice but keep getting this serial port error port not present or in use HELP?
 

Ceemag

New Member
Im sorry this is an old thread but this post just saved me wasting more time. I have windows 7 and have spent over an hour trying to instal the drivers!
Sorted now
Thanks!
 

Arthurb

New Member
after struggling as well, I read this post and got it going, and it reported "no hardware found on com port" this morning. Usually, I could refresh the com ports and then it worked again, but today, nothing is solving this issue, not even a computer restart and deleting and reinstalling the drivers.

Should the axe027 be visible in device manager under the ports as well as a universal serial bus controller (2 locations in device manager?) Is this what was meant by Win 7 needing two separate drivers?

Driver version in ports area : 2.8.14.0
Driver version in USB area : 2.8.14.0 (the same - this looks suspicious)

UPDATE:
The picaxe 14m2 was busy with a longish delay, and while it was busy, it would not communicate through the picaxe027 (I was running debug mode). So, what I learnt was that while the pic is busy, the error message during programming will be - "no hardware found on com?"

But I still would like to have an answer on whether the USB controller area and the port area must show the same driver versions please
 

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hippy

Technical Support
Staff member
Should the axe027 be visible in device manager under the ports as well as a universal serial bus controller (2 locations in device manager?) Is this what was meant by Win 7 needing two separate drivers?
That is correct. Windows installs two USB driver components; one which interfaces between Windows and the USB chip in the cable, the entry under Universal Serial Bus Controllers, and a second which presents that interface and cable as a COM port under Ports (COM & LPT).

What you have looks to be correct and both sets of drivers should have the same version numbers. The version of the drivers from the Rev-Ed site are 2.8.14.0 as you have.

after struggling as well, I read this post and got it going, and it reported "no hardware found on com port" this morning.
"Hardware not found" indicates that the drivers are installed, the cable is connected and working as expected, but the PC cannot communicate with the PICAXE chip.

This can occur under a variety of situations and mostly when the PICAXE is busy doing something else, usually waiting for some input during which time it cannot also monitor for download initiations. The usual solution for this is to perform a Hard Reset -

http://www.picaxe.com/FAQs/Fault-Finding/#q3

Basically; turn power off to the PICAXE board, wait a few seconds, initiate the download, wait for the "connecting to hardware..." message, then turn the PICAXE power back on. This should force the PICAXE to accept that download.
 
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