Need Help with Zadig and multiport USB Hub

[humblegeo]

Here's the problem. I have 4 rtlsdr dongles. They won't all plug into my computer usb ports due to side by side physical size issues. I purchased a 7 port powered usb hub that I would like to run the 4 dongles on. I have issues anyway with the drivers when I look at device manager the 4 dongles show up as (4) Bulk-in interface instead of RTL2838UHDIR or something like that. When I look at it with ZIDIG the 4 dongles show up as BULK-IN Interface (Interface 0) instead of RTL2838UHDIR although they still work with SDRTrunk they don't seem to be recognized by other SDR programs, because of this issue.. So I've got a mess.

I would like to start over from scratch and try to reload drivers for the 4 dongles with ZIDIG except have them connected to the multiport USB Hub and yet still show up on Device Manager as RTL2823UHDIR and not just 4 Bulk-in Interface devices. So I need help with this process. I don't know If I first need to remove existing drivers or not and how to use ZIDIG to replace drivers but thru the multiport hub and make it all work. ZIDIG instruction are pretty clear for installing drive for (1) new rtlsdr but what if your using a multiport hub and when replacing drivers with ZIDIG for 4 rtlsdr dongles, do you do them one at time? Do you do 1 then unplug it and then do the next one, then unplug it, so forth and so on??

 

[rabbit108]

Here's the problem. I have 4 rtlsdr dongles. They won't all plug into my computer usb ports due to side by side physical size issues. I purchased a 7 port powered usb hub that I would like to run the 4 dongles on. I have issues anyway with the drivers when I look at device manager the 4 dongles show up as (4) Bulk-in interface instead of RTL2838UHDIR or something like that. When I look at it with ZIDIG the 4 dongles show up as BULK-IN Interface (Interface 0) instead of RTL2838UHDIR although they still work with SDRTrunk they don't seem to be recognized by other SDR programs, because of this issue.. So I've got a mess.

Hello, humblegeo

Try setting up just one dongle with SDRSharp. The Task Manager should look like this without the hub:



With the hub, it should look like this:

 

[rabbit108]

I don't have another dongle, so I added an Airspy R2 to the hub:



I suspect you didn't remove the checkmark to show all devices:





I did a tutorial on another thread about Zadig:
rtl-sdr

My posts start at #20:
rtl-sdr

If you still need help, come back here.

 

[humblegeo]

Should I do something with all these Bus Controllers and Bus devices before attempting to reload everything? I do know one usb port is being used for my keyboard. Another may be used for my wireless mouse. I believe the computer has 6 usb ports. I have 4 RTLSDR dongles that I need to setup properly. They are working but not identified right in Device Manager. I don't necessarily need to use the power hub but I would like to.

 

[humblegeo]

I unchecked "ignore hubs and composite parents" in zidig and looked at list all devices. The 4 dongles show up as 4 individual RTL2838UHIDAR (composite parents). I plugged in the powered USB hub and plugged all 4 dongles into the external hub, looked at zidig again and all 4 RTL2838UH'S are still showing. All 4 are being recognized in SDRTrunk and working. When I look at Device Manager they all still show bulk-in interface. But it all works so at this point I don't think I'm going to worry about it. Wish I could make it right but maybe more trouble than it's worth at this point. I think I went wrong by not unchecking "ignore hubs and composite parents" it looked like that check mark was grayed out which to me meant that it wasn't an option to check or uncheck but I was wrong to assume that.

 

[rabbit108]

I unchecked "ignore hubs and composite parents" in zidig and looked at list all devices. The 4 dongles show up as 4 individual RTL2838UHIDAR (composite parents).

It's Zadig, not zidig.

I plugged in the powered USB hub and plugged all 4 dongles into the external hub, looked at zidig again and all 4 RTL2838UH'S are still showing. All 4 are being recognized in SDRTrunk and working. When I look at Device Manager they all still show bulk-in interface. But it all works so at this point I don't think I'm going to worry about it.

It will probably be OK for SDRTrunk, but not all other software because it still says bulk-in interface which means it still doesn't have the correct driver.

Wish I could make it right but maybe more trouble than it's worth at this point.

It's fairly easy to do, by deleting the wrong driver. But first you must look at its Properties to be sure you are deleting the wrong driver for the dongle, not some other device. Leave the USB Composite Devices in the Universal Serial Bus controllers alone for now, especially since you haven't looked at their Properties. Just look at the Properties of the USB devices by right clicking on them.



This is the dongle with the wrong driver that was installed by the software after you clicked on install-rtlsdr in the SDRSharp software. Use the Zadig in the SDRSharp software instead after deleting the wrong driver.

I think I went wrong by not unchecking "ignore hubs and composite parents" it looked like that check mark was grayed out which to me meant that it wasn't an option to check or uncheck but I was wrong to assume that.

That is correct. I will show delete after lunch.

 

[humblegeo]

It's Zadig, not zidig.

It will probably be OK for SDRTrunk, but not all other software because it still says bulk-in interface which means it still doesn't have the correct driver.

It's fairly easy to do, by deleting the wrong driver. But first you must look at its Properties to be sure you are deleting the wrong driver for the dongle, not some other device. Leave the USB Composite Devices in the Universal Serial Bus controllers alone for now, especially since you haven't looked at their Properties. Just look at the Properties of the USB devices by right clicking on them.

View attachment 136735

This is the dongle with the wrong driver that was installed by the software after you clicked on install-rtlsdr in the SDRSharp software. Use the Zadig in the SDRSharp software instead after deleting the wrong driver.

View attachment 136736

View attachment 136737


That is correct. I will show delete after lunch.

Appreciate all your helpful examples. Larry G

 

[rabbit108]

You can leave the present driver if it's working OK for you, but if you want the correct driver for the RTL dongle, you will have to delete the present driver and install the correct driver using the Zadig that is downloaded to you when you click on install-rtlsdr in the SDR Sharp software. It should only be necessary to do it for just one dongle without the hub. The alternative method is to Replace driver, but that takes longer.

To repeat myself: Don't delete any drivers in Controllers. It will mess up your USB ports. Just do it in Devices. If you have any doubts about deleting a driver, create a Restore Point before doing it.

 

[rabbit108]

Why not leave it up instead of delete post. I'm 70 years old and it may take a while for me to sort it out. Appreciate all your helpful examples. Larry G

What ever you think is best Larry. I'm 89, and I made my first crystal set when I was 8. It takes me a long time to figure out software too.

Good luck and Best regards.

rabbit

 

[rabbit108]

Just to make this complete, this is the way to Replace the driver if you see it listed as RTL2838UHIDIR (Composite Parent):

 

[humblegeo]

Ok, when I look at Device Manager universal serial bus devices. I see 8 and they all say bulk-in interface. When I look at properties and details they all look the same except that 4 say bulk-in interface (interface 1) and the other 4 say bulk-in interface (interface 0). I currently have my 4 RTLSDR Dongles plugged into my external powered usb hub. All 4 working fine with the main program that I use. SDRTrunk. But I probably do need to still make this right, for other programs to work properly.

 

[humblegeo]

What ever you think is best Larry. I'm 89, and I made my first crystal set when I was 8. It takes me a long time to figure out software too.

Good luck and Best regards.

rabbit

That's ok, my Dad just turned 100.

 

[PDXh0b0]

You are pretty deep in, looks like to this point you have replaced the drivers for bulk interface 0 & 1 , creating multiple instances. At this point I would remove three of the dongles, with just one dongle in open zadig, replace the driver for rtl2838uhidir Composite parent. Pull the dongle, reboot. Plug in one dongle, check device manager, hopefully it only shows rtl2838uhidir once, no bulk interfaces. Plug in the other 3 dongles, hopefully it only shows 4 rtl2838uhidir's

 

[humblegeo]

You are pretty deep in, looks like to this point you have replaced the drivers for bulk interface 0 & 1 , creating multiple instances. At this point I would remove three of the dongles, with just one dongle in open zadig, replace the driver for rtl2838uhidir Composite parent. Pull the dongle, reboot. Plug in one dongle, check device manager, hopefully it only shows rtl2838uhidir once, no bulk interfaces. Plug in the other 3 dongles, hopefully it only shows 4 rtl2838uhidir's

I'm going to try that and I guess do it all thru my powered hub? Got to run an errand first.

 

[PDXh0b0]

I'm going to try that and I guess do it all thru my powered hub? Got to run an errand first.

Hub is fine, you're not writing to the dongle. In the future, if you do any edits to the dongles eeproms, I would only do that one at a time plugged into the computer itself

 

[humblegeo]

Hub is fine, you're not writing to the dongle. In the future, if you do any edits to the dongles eeproms, I would only do that one at a time plugged into the computer itself

If I can ever get this sorted out, the only thing I might do in the future is change the serial number on one of the dongles since I've already done that to 2 of the 4. So all 4 dongles will have a different serial number. Right now only 2 of the 4 have different serial numbers.

 

[dave3825]

Like @PDXh0b0 mentioned, it's always best to do one dongle at a time plugged into the pc.

 

[humblegeo]

You are pretty deep in, looks like to this point you have replaced the drivers for bulk interface 0 & 1 , creating multiple instances. At this point I would remove three of the dongles, with just one dongle in open zadig, replace the driver for rtl2838uhidir Composite parent. Pull the dongle, reboot. Plug in one dongle, check device manager, hopefully it only shows rtl2838uhidir once, no bulk interfaces. Plug in the other 3 dongles, hopefully it only shows 4 rtl2838uhidir's

 

[humblegeo]

Wow finally got it. Appreciate all the help and all the helpful screen shots. Now to try and change the serial number on 1 or 2 of the dongles.

 

[rabbit108]

Wow finally got it. Appreciate all the help and all the helpful screen shots. Now to try and change the serial number on 1 or 2 of the dongles.

Good job, Larry. Glad you finally got it.