Windows10 version 1803 64 bits: last update and driver axe027

patrol1953

New Member
Hello everyone.
Following the automatic update windows10 of May 2018, many Intel graphic & wifi drivers have been replaced and the driver axis027 PICAXE
is no longer operational. When plugging the cable ,I have 2 messages: "We configure" AXE027 PICAXE USB "then" AXE027 PICAXE USB is
configured and ready to use. But in the device manager, the picaxe-axe027 appears under" Other devices "with an exclamation point and no COM port
will appear. The update of the .zip driver by downloading it on this site gives the following: "Windows has found drivers for AXE027 PICAXE USB but at
encountered an error while trying to install it. "(Requires an interactive Windows station).
I tried everything that was hanging on the internet about it but nothing works.
Did you encounter the same problem? Have you solved it?

Thank you for your help
Patrice.
 

Technical

Technical Support
Staff member
In Device manager click the entry with the exclamation mark, right click, click 'update driver' and then browse to the unzipped driver file folder (e.g. if you unzipped it to the desktop). Or browse to /Program Files (x86)/Revolution Education/PICAXE Editor 6/usb drivers/axe027 which also has the driver file. Then just click through the ok messages.

You may need to repeat for the 'USB Serial Device' entry in Device Manager if that also has an exclamation mark.
 

patrol1953

New Member
That's exactly what I do but it fails, because W10 finds the driver, starts to install it and "encounters an error" But what a mistake?

thank you for your reply

Patrice
 

Circuit

Senior Member
Yes, the May update was a complete nightmare. I found that my AXE027 was no longer functioning...nor was my laser cutter; my cutting plotter and several other pieces of hardware. I had to reinstall software and drivers by the bucketful. All working fine now, but I guess that I will have to look forward to the next Windows upgrade horror show.

With respect to the AXE027, I did precisely what Technical advise above; update the AXE027 drivers and then update the USB serial device driver as described above. Make sure that you are signed in at administrator level before starting the installation. Also, copy the drivers to your hard disk just in case the path to the files is the issue that you are encountering.
 

hippy

Technical Support
Staff member
The AXE027, although it uses an FTDI chipset, is not a 'generic FTDI cable' so we recommend using the drivers we supply with that. Those have proven to work and be reliable in the past.

Any apparent date discrepancies between the downloadable version and what is installed with PE6 may be down to the time stamps set when files are uploaded to the site or when moved around to create the download or PE6 installer.
 

hippy

Technical Support
Staff member
Finally got round to turning my PC running Windows 10, 64-bit Home ,on and, once the 1803 update eventually downloaded and installed, my AXE027 drivers and everything else were just fine.

I guess Microsoft may have changed things, or it comes down to luck of the draw, specific PC configuration, maybe even anti-virus.

Under Device Manager, within Properties for each device, there should be an Events tab which may reveal what problems there were. Note the top event may show "Device requires further installation" or similar. Don't panic! That is just the first event. Later events further down the list should show how that was resolved. That 'needs more done' threw me at first :)
 

PhilHornby

Senior Member
The AXE027, although it uses an FTDI chipset, is not a 'generic FTDI cable' so we recommend using the drivers we supply with that. Those have proven to work and be reliable in the past
However, if the user has a 'generic' FTDI product installed as well as the AXE027, the drivers installed for the generic product may overwrite those installed for the AXE027 - if they are of a later revision (since they have the same file names). This overwriting will not be visible in the Device Manager entry for the AXE027 (since it won't know it has happened).

It doesn't seem to cause any problems in practice - apart from interfering with all those 'fake' FTDI devices one is trying to keep working :p
 

hippy

Technical Support
Staff member
In theory Windows should never automatically choose a generic FTDI driver for the AXE027 because the USB VID/PID differs to those used for generic cables. Our VID/PID is not included in the FTDI generic driver files.

Windows should also have a mechanism for keeping actual driver files separate even if a driver manufacturer has chosen to use the same filename as someone else. I believe that is done by creating OEM*.* files in \Windows\Inf.

But, yes, for files not purely specific to a particular device, Windows can sometimes report "the version of *.sys/*.dll being installed is older than the already installed version" so it's not perfect and there can sometimes be issues.
 

Pongo

Senior Member
FWIW I ran the .zip axe097 driver installer on a W7 PC which already had a newer FTDI driver It didn't install the older driver and there was no error message.
 

PhilHornby

Senior Member
In theory Windows should never automatically choose a generic FTDI driver for the AXE027 because the USB VID/PID differs to those used for generic cables.
But, if the driver (.sys) files are already present, Windows doesn't consider how they got there ... just that they are already present. In an upgrade scenario, it doesn't scan all possible device entries to see what else might be affected - it just processes the device in question. So if FTDIBUS.SYS and FTSER2K.SYS get replaced for a 'generic' FTDI device, the AXE027 will start using them as well.

and he said:
Windows should also have a mechanism for keeping actual driver files separate even if a driver manufacturer has chosen to use the same filename as someone else.
I agree it should ... but it doesn't :(

An obvious solution, would be to rename the Driver files to something specific for the AXE027 - but FTDI caution against doing this. I don't know what their original issue was, but in the Windows 10 64bit world, doing so, immediately breaks the 'driver signing' and the driver is rejected. You can, of course, turn off such checking - which is what I did to reinstate older drivers for my fake FTDI devices.

FWIW I ran the .zip axe097 driver installer on a W7 PC which already had a newer FTDI driver It didn't install the older driver and there was no error message.
QED
 
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