396T Download Problems

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wogggieee

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I have had the problem for about 9 months and everything worked fine until recently. Lately whenever I try to upload or download the scanner info in ARC396 or the Uniden program i get an error. In ARC396 it pops up a box that says "loop timeout" with the option to click OK. It will continue downloading the info from the scanner. however when it is done some of the systems are corrupted. There will be duplicate groups showing up in the systems or groups from another system all together. In the uniden software it will just give me an error that says "scanner read error" and will stop downloading the info. I am able to control the scanner from the computer with multiple programs without any problems. The only issues seem to be with uploading and downloading. I am using a serial cable and other devices work just fine with the same port as well. Anyone have any ideas on this?
 

slicerwizard

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You will have far fewer problems of the "loop timeout" variety if you use an inexpensive USB to serial adapter. Just FYI, in case you can't get it working with your serial port.
 

wogggieee

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Why would i have fewer problems with an adapter? Everything else works fine with the serial port except for uploading and downloading the scanner.
 

slicerwizard

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I guess you'd have to ask Microsoft. Something on your system has changed and it's probably not your UASD or ARC software. Maybe a side effect of some Windows update or some other software you've installed. The good news is that it doesn't affect virtual serial ports.
 

JoeFargo

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serial port

It is possible that one wire in the serial cable has broken. It depends, but often times hardware flow control is used to pace downloads and uploads. If a wire breaks, the stop or start signal can't be applied and there are over runs. Try a different cable. Also, some cables are not full serial cables, and only use three wires, send, receive and ground. In that case, xon and xoff or software flow control must be used. You might be able to configure the software to use one or the other and see if that helps. But my best guess would be, try a different serial cable first.

One other thing, you can check the serial port settings from Device Manager. That will tell you what the default settings are, and what the default serial port numbers are. The software you run can and often times does reset the default parameters though.

If you use a USB to serial converter, you can also use Device Manager to assign whatever com port number you want to the converter port. Sometimes the converters will end up on com8 or 15 or who know what, and you can reassign them from Device Manager.
 

slicerwizard

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JoeFargo said:
It is possible that one wire in the serial cable has broken. It depends, but often times hardware flow control is used to pace downloads and uploads.
The 396T, as well as the 246T and many other models, does not use hardware flow control lines. Only TX, RX and ground are required. Don't make me post a picture of my three-wire DB9F to DB9M extension cable. :)

Further, the communications protocols used by these scanners do not rely on XON/XOFF either. Their processors can handle complete command strings at high baud rates. Check the relevant PDF files.
 

JoeFargo

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slicerwizard said:
The 396T, as well as the 246T and many other models, does not use hardware flow control lines. Only TX, RX and ground are required. Don't make me post a picture of my three-wire DB9F to DB9M extension cable. :)

Further, the communications protocols used by these scanners do not rely on XON/XOFF either. Their processors can handle complete command strings at high baud rates. Check the relevant PDF files.


Well, maybe I should not bother trying to help a guy if I'm going to get flamed for it.

I sure wouldn't want to "MAKE" you do anything. All I was trying to do was to offer some kind of helpful suggestion, not tick off YOU.

Chill out, ok??
 

slicerwizard

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If you're going to flip out every time someone corrects your errors, you might want to consider researching your answers first. And yeah, that smiley was over the line. What was I thinking?
 

OttawaBob

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Hey.

I had the same Loop Timeout problem. I found that if I reduced the BAUD rate to 9600 on both the application and on the scanner, the problem was resolved. Hope this helps a bit.

Bob
 

LordJ

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Hey.

I had the same Loop Timeout problem. I found that if I reduced the BAUD rate to 9600 on both the application and on the scanner, the problem was resolved. Hope this helps a bit.

Bob

This would be my suggestion as well.. Throttle down your speed in the software, the radio, and the device settings so they all match
 
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