BC246T USB PC Connection Nightmares

[anthonydel]

Hey Everyone,

I recently purchased a BC246T and a USB-1 cable from Uniden. I'm am having one hell of a time configuring any computer, be it vista or xp, to recognize and work with this scanner. I've downloaded the correct driver from uniden as and installed it. When I plug the scanner in shortly there after I get a installing new hardware bubble, at which point it creates a serial port on my system. I then try to connect to the scanner via the firmware updating software, freescan, bctool, or ARC software I have and they all come back with "could not open port" or port errors and I cannont get it to work. It's super frustrating! I've also checked the scanner settings to ensure that the "PC Control" is on at the 57600bps setting. I'm pretty proficient with comptuers, so why this isn't working is beyond me. I just want to program my scanner! Am I missing anything that you guys would know of? HELP?!?!

Anthony.

 

[cpuerror]

It sounds like you might have some program running in the background taking control of the serial port. I would close down everything and try it again.

 

[marcotor]

If you have anything Bluetooth installed, it can cause havoc with ports. If this is the case, try disabling any Bluetooth devices in Device Manager.

 

[UPMan]

What COM port is being assigned to the USB cable?

 

[anthonydel]

On this particular computer it's com 28. If it's the xp machine i was trying it out on, it was com 4, and on another vista machine it was com 14.

Also, I am making sure to grab the correct drivers, I know there are two of them, one for xp and earlier, and one specifically for vista 32 and 64 bit OS.

 

[UPMan]

Some packages might have a problem with that high numbered COM port. You might want to go into Device Manager and manually select a lower number.

The error message you are getting indicates that the software is never able to open the COM port (i.e. it is not (yet) a scanner issue, but rather a PC configuration issue). Is there any process running that could be grabbing the port? Sync apps for PDAs are notorious offenders.

It is also possible that there is a hardware fault with the cable itself (but that would usually result in driver installation failing).

I also notice that Prolific now has newer drivers on their site for the chipset used in the USB-1 cable. We have not yet put them up on our site, but you should try them (http://www.prolific.com.tw/support/...ne/PL2303_Prolific_DriverInstaller_v10518.zip).

 

[anthonydel]

I'll give the new driver a shot, as well as a lower port number. Thanks for the advice. I'll report back with what happens.

 

[randybcd396t]

I also notice that Prolific now has newer drivers on their site for the chipset used in the USB-1 cable. We have not yet put them up on our site, but you should try them (http://www.prolific.com.tw/support/...ne/PL2303_Prolific_DriverInstaller_v10518.zip).

I also use the Uniden USB-1 cable.

Regarding the drivers...

I found that FreeScan will not work with the drivers from your web site. It connects but there are errors when uploading or downloading. You have to upgrade to the latest Prolific drivers and the errors go away.

I also found that ARC-XT works with drivers on your website. If you upgrade to the latest Prolific drivers, ARC-XT will not work. According to BuTel this is because of a problem with the latest drivers. They said Prolific has to fix their driver so it works with the Microsoft mscomm module again in Vista.

I also found that ProScan works with the drivers from your web site and the latest Prolific drivers.


Regarding USB Hubs...

I found that I can connect tot he scanner but get frequent errors if I have my USB-1 connected to the computer via a USB hub. These problems go away if I connect directly to the PC instead of going thru the hub.

 

[anthonydel]

Thanks for all of the suggestions everyone but still having trouble... tried everything that I can think of. I hope it's not a scanner or cable issue, I'm pretty sure that they are just fine and this may just be a vista issue. I am installing a fresh copy of xp on a machine as we speak to see if this will do the trick.

 

[UPMan]

I've used the cable/driver on XP, Vista 32, Vista 64, and am now using it on Windows 7 (RC 1). Never an issue on any software (but I don't run 3rd-party stuff very often).

In HyperTerm, try opening the port and sending a command to the scanner.

 

[KJ6CFU]

I have a BC346XT and was having some similar problems while trying to use Vista 64 and Freescan. I am using a different serial-to-USB cable, however. I started using my XP laptop, which has worked great. If you're using Freescan, you can use the serial port autoconnect feature, which attempts to connect at every COM port and baud setting until it makes a successful connection. This has worked out great for me. Good luck.

 

[frankgh]

Thanks for all of the suggestions everyone but still having trouble... tried everything that I can think of. I hope it's not a scanner or cable issue, I'm pretty sure that they are just fine and this may just be a vista issue. I am installing a fresh copy of xp on a machine as we speak to see if this will do the trick.

I'm have the same truoble with my new BCT15X. Did you ever get it worked out? It's almost 2010, what is up with serial port connections????

 

[matthewglazier]

After a little over a year of periodic attempts...

USB-1Drivers < UnidenMan4 < TWiki

the trouble shooting tips.

"A few people have reported issues installing the drivers on Windows 7 64-bit systems. We have verified that the published drivers do work. If you have a problem with the installation, the below steps have resolved the issue in at least one verified case. Note that these same steps might also work to resolve issues with other versions of Windows. We suspect that the problem is caused by an unsupported or outdated driver in the system.

Plug in the cable, then open up device manager, right-click on the device that has the error and click "Uninstall". Once that finishes, unplug the cable.
Go to Uninstall Programs and uninstall "PL-2303 USB-to-Serial" if it exists. You might want to sort by publisher and see if there are any old Prolific drivers on the system...if so, uninstall them, too. Hopefully this will get you back to a clean state vis-a-vis the cable and its drivers.
Follow the link provided above to go to Prolific's site and download the latest driver (takes about 20 seconds) and unzip it to a directory.
The assumption is that you are administrator on your PC, but to be sure right click on the installer file and "Run as Administrator." The install takes less than 20 seconds.
Plug in the cable. It should be recognized and install as a COM port (this takes about 30 seconds the first time you plug the cable into a port). "

All i had to do was run as admin and it FINALLY worked

 

[Falagar]

Have you resolved this issue yet???

Hey Anthony, I was wondering if you found a fix for the connection problebs you've been having with
the BC246t Sanner. I am having the same issues and cannot find the solution. I used to be able to
connect my scanner now with windows 7 I cannot. I got the updated prolific drivers installed but no
help

Thanks

Hey Everyone,

I recently purchased a BC246T and a USB-1 cable from Uniden. I'm am having one hell of a time configuring any computer, be it vista or xp, to recognize and work with this scanner. I've downloaded the correct driver from uniden as and installed it. When I plug the scanner in shortly there after I get a installing new hardware bubble, at which point it creates a serial port on my system. I then try to connect to the scanner via the firmware updating software, freescan, bctool, or ARC software I have and they all come back with "could not open port" or port errors and I cannont get it to work. It's super frustrating! I've also checked the scanner settings to ensure that the "PC Control" is on at the 57600bps setting. I'm pretty proficient with comptuers, so why this isn't working is beyond me. I just want to program my scanner! Am I missing anything that you guys would know of? HELP?!?!

Anthony.

 

[UPMan]

Hey Anthony, I was wondering if you found a fix for the connection problebs you've been having with
the BC246t Sanner. I am having the same issues and cannot find the solution. I used to be able to
connect my scanner now with windows 7 I cannot. I got the updated prolific drivers installed but no
help

Thanks

What cable are you using?
What drivers does it require?
What errors do you get when you try to connect?

(Anthony hasn't posted in over 3 years...I suspect you won't hear from him.)

 

[doublem]

Hey Guys!

I have a BC246T as well. Uniden does not support USB connections for this device and discourages the practice. Having said that, I connect via USB using a Keyspan serial to USB adapter (USA-19HS) with no issues. Simply use the serial port cable that cames with your device. I'm using WIndows XP and ARC246 software.

 

[ka3jjz]

If that were true, why does Uniden advertise their USB-1 to work with the 246?

I think you will find that the vast majority of folks that have problems with USB connections to scanners (in the Uniden world) fall into three categories;

a. Not loading drivers, or loading out of date/incorrect ones;
b. Not setting up the scanner to make the connection (yes, you need to go into the menus to do it. ;
I created a page in the FreeScan user guide just for this purpose

Freescan - Connecting Scanner to PC - The RadioReference Wiki

c. Not setting up the software to make the connection.

Unfortunately not all manufacturers are making drivers that are 64 bit compatible - which should be interesting once Win8 comes online, never mind the folks using those versions of Win7 that use 64 bit addressing.

Mike

 

[ka3jjz]

Another thing to keep in mind is that the driver load process is not intelligent - it can, and sometimes does, tries to allocate a com port that's already used by something else. That's why the article below goes into how to get to Device Manager, which is what you would use if you suspect you have a connection issue due to a conflict...

Connecting scanners via USB - The RadioReference Wiki

It's the price we pay, sadly, for PC manufacturers moving away from serial devices....Mike

 

[UPMan]

1) I cannot believe how so many PC manufacturers have cheaped out by not including the serial port. (Just had to get one lick in from my side.)

2) Another issue that has recently arisen is the use of counterfeit electronics in some of the really cheap converters out there. Recently Prolific has implemented anti-counterfeiting measures in their drivers which will only work with cables using their authentic chip set. (Uniden uses only authentic Prolific chips in the USB-1 cable, so this is not an issue for those who go that route.)

 

[cpuerror]

If you are like me then, all your USB converters that you got from eBay have the fake chips. That is why I keep a copy of ancient drivers on my site, the old ones cannot tell the difference. However, I would not recommend using them if you are using Vista or higher as they can cause the system to be unstable.