Retevis Cannot install OpenGD77 on my Retevis RT3s: Com Port cannot be accessed

[hamster-radio]

I am new in this forum and I ask my question here, as I am not a licensed OM and as such, I cannot request in the OpenGD77 forum.

There are lots of information, how to reprogram the RT3s with OpenGD77 firmware inclusive YouTube videos. But I had no success, even following precisely each step. I am using a laptop, which (of course) does not have a hardware serial out. On this I am running Windows 7 professional. In the device manager, I cannot see any Comport. After having installed the original STM DFU driver successfully, I could access my RT3s by the original Retevis CPS software and create backups of my CPS and of the calibration data (as recommended).

After this, I have installed the OpenGD77 CPS installer, which also did install the USB UART serial driver successfully. I could see the success message in a terminal window, which popped up and then could be closed.
The OpenGD77 manual tells, that in the Windows device manager, there will appear the necessary comport, as soon as I connect the radio with the computer and power it on. But this does not happen. The only thing, that happens, is that the USB DFU device will appear in the windows device manager, as soon as the radio is connected and powered on.

Perhaps it is of interest, that I can successfully connect a Digirig Modem and a serial port / comport with UART via USB shows up in the Windows device manager immediately after I connect the Digirig.

At this point I am stuck completely. I searched the OpenGD77 forum very intensively, but I found several requests there with the same problem. But the solutions, which were propagated there, did not lead to success in my case. I also have searched this forum here and did not find a solution for me either.

I would be very happy, if someone here can give me the relevant hints, to get rid of this comport problem!

 

[weyforthr]

TYT MD-UV380 / RT-3S Installation information​

TYT MD-UV380 / RT-3S Installation information - OpenGD77

Are you following the steps outlined on the OpenGD77 forum for the RT3S? if so, at what step is it failing? If not, then follow the steps.

I have successfully installed OpenGD77 on the RT3S using Win 7. as well as 3 other TYTs.

 

[hamster-radio]

As I just had described, I did follow the steps in the OpenGD77 forum precisely – at least because I did not want to brick my RT3s.

After installing the USB DFU driver, the next step was to start the OpenGD77 CPS installer. This installer does not only install the OpenGD77 CPS software but also the serial UART USB driver.

In a terminal window, which popped up, when installing the serial UART driver, I could see, that this driver was installed successful.

Next step would be, to connect the RT3s with the PC and switch on the radio. Immediately when radio is running, the Windows device manager should show up a comport "serial UART" with its comport number.

At this step, I could not see any comport in the device manager. And because of this, the OpenGD77 software cannot read from the radio and it says "connection error to the radio".

If you say "I have successfully installed OpenGD77 on the RT3S using Win 7. as well as 3 other TYTs." then I wonder where the difference is between your procedure and mine. Would you please tell me?

 

[weyforthr]

Put the radio into firmware upload mode

• 1. Turn radio off.
  2. Connect your radio to the computer via the programming cable.
  3. Holding the button SK1 (button on side nearest the top of the radio) and the PTT button
  Turn the radio on.
  The LED on the top of the radio should now flash Red / Green
• In the Windows device manager you should see a STM DFU device under the “Universal Serial Bus Controller” section. If you don’t see this device you have not correctly installed the STM DFU driver.

Did you put the RT3S in "firmware upload mode"?

With that in mind, there may be a certain order of connecting the USB cable to the radio and then the PC, but I am not sure if that is necessary, but...

What I have done is start the CPS, then put the radio in firmware upload mode. After the LED is blinking red/green, connect the USB cable to the radio first, and then connect the other end of the cable to the PC. Shortly after this point, "STM Device in DFU Mode" should show up in the Universal Serial Bus controllers section. You should be good to go at the point of selecting the "donor" file and then the appropriate radio firmware file. Good luck...

 

[hamster-radio]

Thank you for your description. Now I know, what I did wrong: I assumed, that there should be a comport available immediately after having OpenGD77 CPS installer inclusive the driver for the serial port installed.
Instead I have to install the new Firmware at first and after this, the Comport becomes available.

Thanks to your patience with my ineptitude! And thanks to your description I now could successfully flash the firmware of my two Retevis RT3s. After installing the GD77 code plug, I could use the VFO-mode to listen to several amateur relays. Of course the next step is creating my own code plug…

But when trying to make changes in the code plug, I have been running into another problem: After initial writing the GD77 codeplug to the radios, they stop communicating over the comport! OpenGD77 tells me, that it cannot connect to the device and I should check the comport. But the comport is there in the device manager and it is marked as full functioning.

Switching the radio on or connecting it always made the comport show up in the device manager (without an error mark) and it disappears, when powering down / disconnecting the radio. This behavior is independent from the sequence whether I would first start OpenGD77 software and then connecting the radio or do it the other way round.

Perhaps you have a clue, what I am doing wrong and you would help me with this?

 

[weyforthr]

The procedure I use is:

With the radio off, start the CPS, plug one end of the USB cable into the radio, plug the other end into the PC, and then turn the radio on. At that point, the OpenGD77 driver should appear in the Ports section of Device Manager, hopefully associated with the correct COM port. You should be able to successfully read from (or write to) the radio.

It seems weird that I have to do it that way some times, but it does work consistently. Any other way it seems to be hit or miss...

 

[hamster-radio]

Thank you for your quick reply.
I tried your hint but only after 4 times trying, suddenly the comport was accepted and I could write my code plug successfully.

Then I wanted to write the same code plug to the other radio. The same problem occurred again. I tried all possible combinations of starting the program first or switching on and connecting radio first etc. For me this is not "consistently". :-/

BTW: It seems that each radio gets its own com port number, one radio will get Com 8 and the other Com 9. Is this OK?

 

[Louie7]

After initial writing the GD77 codeplug to the radios, they stop communicating over the comport! OpenGD77 tells me, that it cannot connect to the device and I should check the comport.

The explanation is simple: it's a bug and it will never be fixed.
Developers no longer deal with versions prior to Windows 10. If you do the test on a Windows 10 you will see that there is no longer any disconnection.

Someone had asked the same question on the opengd77 forum with the same codeplug disconnection problem and this is the answer the developers made.

I can't find the link on opengd77 anymore but that's because the administrator of the forum deleted all the topics that had been created by people who didn't have an ham radio callsign.

 

[hamster-radio]

Oh thank you!!! I am a Linux user since 2017 because I am a mental health professional and cannot accept Microsoft spying most sensible data from my computer. Therefore my only Win-7 installation "will never get fixed".

Beside this, I have found, that I have simply to restart the Win-7 computer in order to have access to the comport again. I could program my second radio successfully by this trick.

Many thanks to my helpers in this thread!!!