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 Sandler wrote:
> 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!
>

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" <corn29@excite.com> wrote in message
news:1191198523.642238.290530@57g2000hsv.googlegroups.com...
> 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?
>

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).
 
On Sep 30, 8:28 pm, Adam Sandler <cor...@excite.com> wrote:
> 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!

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.
 
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