Problems with no-name serial to USB cord!

[Razor Concepts]

I just bought one of those no-name USB to serial adapters:

Picaxe doesnt recognize it, but my computer installs it as a "USB to Computer Human Interface Device". I tried to install the driver that came with it, but its not designed for XP

Installed a bunch of other drivers online, but none of them work. Do I need a special driver, or are these cheap sparkly blue adapters the ones that dont work?

 

[hippy]

are these cheap sparkly blue adapters the ones that dont work?

That one seems to be

It might not be the end of the world though. If you can find what chipset is used in the cable it may be possible to track down a driver and determine if it will ever work with PICAXE. You should be able to get some useful info from Device Manager, especially the "Hardware Ids"

I always thought USB-Serial installed as something like "USB Serial" rather than "HID" but I could be mistaken. Usually you should install the drivers before plugging the cable in or Windows can get itself into a proper mess.

 

[Mad Professor]

I have found that alot of the cheep USB to Serial adaptors seem to work well with the "Ark Pioneer Microelectronics Ltd" (ARK Micro 3116 USB Drivers).

I did have the link to the lastest drivers but have been unable to find the link at this point in time, but I do have the 3116 drivers in a zip file on my computer, if you want to try them send me a PM with your e-mail address.

 

[westaust55]

I just bought one of those no-name USB to serial adapters:

Picaxe doesn't recognize it, but my computer installs it as a "USB to Computer Human Interface Device". I tried to install the driver that came with it, but its not designed for XP

Installed a bunch of other drivers online, but none of them work. Do I need a special driver, or are these cheap sparkly blue adapters the ones that don't work?

Exactly which drivers?

It is a documented fact that the Windows USB drivers will not work for PICAXE (and for the BASIC Stamp for that matter), even with the PICAXE AXE027 USB cable. If the cable's inbuilt controller is the FTDI type you should download the FTDI drivers from the REV Ed website. Look under the heading AXE027 PICAXE USB Download Cable towards the bottom of the Rev_Ed software page.

 

[Technical]

It is a documented fact that the Windows USB drivers will not work for PICAXE (and for the BASIC Stamp for that matter), even with the PICAXE AXE027 USB cable. If the cable's inbuilt controller is the FTDI type you should download the FTDI drivers from the REV Ed website.

This information is incorrect. FTDI drivers are generic, but every hardware manufacturer has a unique VID/PID ("serial identification number") that is embedded in the FTDI chip in the product. The software driver will only work with the VID/PID it is configured to recognise.

So the AXE027 drivers should only be used with the AXE027 cable - as the drivers are setup to look for the AXE027 VID/PID. The generic FTDI drivers will not work with the AXE027 simply because they do not recognise the AXE027 VID/PID.

So you can't use the AXE027 drivers on any FTDI based cable because it won't recognise all VID/PID - you need the specific driver that recognises the specific VID/PID of that product.

 

[Technical]

On the original question, no USB<>serial should install as a HID, so something is wrong with the driver for the no-name part.

 

[ciseco]

From memory if you have to use the AXE027 cable with the FTDI drivers simply over write the VID/PID with the defaults and windows thinks it's a bog standard device. Might void any kind of warranty though, so don't do it unless you have some really good reason.

Miles
________
roor bongs

 

[westaust55]

If you know the Product ID (PID) and Vendor ID (VID) then believe that you can install the generic FTDI drivers and change the necessary locations in the inf file (provided you know what you are doing !). See section 4 in:

http://www.ftdichip.com/Documents/AppNotes/AN232B-10_Advanced_Driver_Options.pdf

Finding the VID and PID would be the big issue. Could be worth a go to look in the non WinXP .inf file that you have and extract the data and modify the FTDI WinXP specific .inf file.

 

[sputz]

Actually that is one of the best usb-serial cable you can get! I have both rev-ed supplied one and the one pictured.

The one supplied by rev-ed had so many intermittent connection problems. To download to picaxe I have to try atleast 3 or 4 times before it would go through.

Out of frustration I decided to try the above cable. Finding a driver was a pain and I got it right only through trial and error. But once installed, the connection was extremely stable and quite fast. Couldn't be any happier!

The right driver was under a folder called R340 in the install disk - the disk had so many drivers but only one of them would work. Or if you don't have the disk, google for the driver - the cable will have a number like HX-XXX, that is the only identification it has.

If you are not able to find it, let me know, I can email it to you.

 

[Dippy]

Technical, how dare you say that WestAust has said something incorrect

Well wriggled WestAust.

I use the AXE027 on 3 PCs. Absolutely 100% flawless.

But I hope you get yours working.

 

[westaust55]

Technical, how dare you say that WestAust has said something incorrect

Well wriggled WestAust.

I use the AXE027 on 3 PCs. Absolutely 100% flawless.

But I hope you get yours working.

I have been wrong twice in my life , and one of those times I was wrong !

I have tried a couple of USB cables with the PICAXE and STAMP products and at no time would the Windows driver work even thought they cables are found. Using downloaded FTDI drivers from FTDI, Rev_Ed and/or Parallax have worked without problems.

Do not disagree that Technical's explanation was far better.

 

[Razor Concepts]

Actually that is one of the best usb-serial cable you can get! I have both rev-ed supplied one and the one pictured.

The one supplied by rev-ed had so many intermittent connection problems. To download to picaxe I have to try atleast 3 or 4 times before it would go through.

Out of frustration I decided to try the above cable. Finding a driver was a pain and I got it right only through trial and error. But once installed, the connection was extremely stable and quite fast. Couldn't be any happier!

The right driver was under a folder called R340 in the install disk - the disk had so many drivers but only one of them would work. Or if you don't have the disk, google for the driver - the cable will have a number like HX-XXX, that is the only identification it has.

If you are not able to find it, let me know, I can email it to you.

I managed to get the driver on the CD to install correctly, but it isnt working with picaxe - it doesnt recognize it as an open USB port. There was only one driver on the CD and it wasnt a R340. Could you send it to me? All the R340 usb drivers I could find were for a printer. Thanks
razorracingATyahooDOTcom

 

[BeanieBots]

mholguin,
I've deleted your response to the spam because you quoted the spammer verbatim.
We don't particularly want to know about their special hotel offers.

 

[mholguin]

BeanieBots: No sweat.

Marino

 

[mark.duyvesteyn]

i lost my driver CD

for my USB to serial cable. Didn't have a model number or anything. I spent hours looking at google imiges till i found one similar, then i downloaded the driver from the companys website.

Was a bit of a mission to get it going bu was fun...i guess