Pro-164: Pro 164 Won't Connect To Computer? Bad PC/IF Jack?

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121940kz

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So i've received a pro 164 that has definitely been used and slightly abused. It still works and i wouldn't suspect a bad PC/IF port if it weren't for the condition it is in...however the scanner still runs and operates great. Basically i bought one of the FTDI programming cables, (not the original radio shack cables), and i have installed all of the drivers and it recognizes fine on the computer as a COM port.

For the life of me, i cannot get Win97 or PSREdit300 to communicate with the scanner. Furthermore, i have the Pro-164/Pro-163 CPU updater program for v1.10, and this scanner is on v1.08. When i hold the PGM button down and turn it on to put it into CPU update mode, it says "Wait for PC/IF". I plug the cable in and it still says the same message. When i try to do the update, there is a test feature which allows me to first test communication with the scanner. It will not communicate!! I don't understand what the deal is.

I have verified that the drivers are successfully installed, and yes it does list the correct COM port. I have successfully selected the right COM port so i don't think that is the issue. I have tried on 2 different PC's and rebooted several times. I am worried the PC/IF jack is broken. In PSREdit300, there is a feature which will scan all COM ports and tell you which have scanners hooked up. It comes back saying none have anything hooked up.....

Does anyone have any tricks to try? I've taken the scanner apart, inspected solder joints, and tried to clean the PC/IF jack out. It looks fine to me. Hopefully i'm missing something stupid here, because i would love to get this scanner working with the programming software, otherwise it is sort of useless to me, since i need to select the rebanding table option. And insight at all would be much appreciated. Thanks!!
 

mikey60

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If the cable you have as the short 3 inch adapter cable (Converting from stereo to mono), don't use the adapter. That would be my first suggestion.

When you try to communicate with the scanner, do you see any of the LEDs in the cable light up?

Mike
 

121940kz

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No I'm not using the mono plug adapter. Also I see no lights light up when transmitting or receiving information to the scanner. When I plug it in, it does recognize and clone mode though. Would there be any way the fix the plug?
 

shadcall

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Try ARC 300 by Butel software. It is what I use with my Pro 164 and it works great. You can get a 30 day free trial to see if it works.
 

gmclam

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Basically i bought one of the FTDI programming cables, (not the original radio shack cables), and i have installed all of the drivers and it recognizes fine on the computer as a COM port.
Since you're not using the recommended cable, it sounds like RX and TX are swapped.
 

121940kz

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The cable i bought off of ebay is from a seller who has been selling these for a long time, and this one i bought is specifically for the 164, (or at least it's supposed to be). I tried the arc 300 software from Butel, and all it does is when i click on "Download from Scanner" and then select the model, it just stays there. It never moves. So it obviously isn't communicating. Hmmm...... idk what to do now.
 

121940kz

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Try ARC 300 by Butel software. It is what I use with my Pro 164 and it works great. You can get a 30 day free trial to see if it works.

Well it ended up not working either. It just sat there and the bar never moved. No light indications of transferring data on the scanner either. I'm not sure what to do now? Any suggestions? Is there some other setup that i am missing or forgetting to do? It either has to be the cable or the PC/IF jack
 

retropcdos

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Well it ended up not working either. It just sat there and the bar never moved. No light indications of transferring data on the scanner either. I'm not sure what to do now? Any suggestions? Is there some other setup that i am missing or forgetting to do? It either has to be the cable or the PC/IF jack

Check to make sure you have the port setting correct assuming drivers did install correctly. You can see what com port in "device manager" for the USB to serial cable. If that cable has a light it sure be flashing. Never bought that ftdi cable off eBay, so not familiar with it. I use a RadioShack version.
 

Spitfire8520

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Since you're not using the recommended cable, it sounds like RX and TX are swapped.

It's hard to say if it's the cable or the scanner as in this case. A standard FTDI to AJ cable has the TX on the Tip and the RX in the middle. As quoted above, the RadioShack verison requires that the RX be on the tip and the TX be in the middle. If you could test the cable on another scanner, that would help determine if it were the cable or the scanner.
 

121940kz

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It ended up being the cable. I would advise others reading this to purchase the real RS 20-546 usb programming cable and not the FTDI ones that are not branded. Just a big headache, i had purchased mine through a guy named Mark Dunkle on ebay (bluemax49ers) and it was nothing but trouble. Couldn't get it to work on 2 different scanners and trust me i had the right drivers and port selected etc.

Anyway glad it was the cable and not my scanners! Cheers
 

FallenAnjel

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I was going to suggest just buying the original cable on ebay. I bought mine 10 years ago (or whenever scanners started being programmed w/ the computer) and that is one thing I make sure I NEVER lose!

Glad you got it working!
 
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