RKI: RS USB cable Cat. No. 20-047 does not work with Win96 in Windows Vista

[MHZ]

I have the RS Cat. No. 20-047 USB Scanner / PC Interface Cable. It does not seem to function with my cheap Windows Vista computer. The supplied RS CD is also not compatible with Windows Vista.


Just connecting the USB cable without being able to install the RS CD also does not work.

I am unable to upload or download using my Starsoft Win96. I keep getting error messages.

I'm not familiar with computers, but perhaps I have the wrong COM port listed.


Starsoft Win96 lists 256 different COM Ports in the Serial Configuration menu. Doubt I'll live long enough to try each one in each of my 4 ports. Currently the Win96 serial configuration menu is listed to COM Port 4.

My computer has 4 built in USB connections. I have tried putting the RS cable in each one and trying it out.

There is a light on the tip of the RS USB connection, when I place that directly in the computer USB connection, it does not turn on.

However, when I place the RS USB tip into a 4 USB socket multiplier connected to one of my computers USB connections, the connection tip light turns on.


With the Win96 program,

During Download:

Two dialog boxes open up in Win96 indicating:

"Failed"

"Timed out waiting for header"


During Upload:

The light in the orange plastic tiny motherboard card located in the center of the USB cable flashes. This is the only time this light turns on.

I see a "Writing data," then "done" dialog box appear in the Win 96 program, apperently writing. But the screen on the Pro96 shows nothing,

Next time I try it,

Shows, "Failed" with "Expected to read back the data we just wrote- this failed.
Ensure the correct COM port is selected, a supported cable is attached to the COM port and the scanner, and the scanner is turned ON."



"Virtual Scanner" mode I get this error message:

"No response (or incomplete response) from the scanner. Ensure that it is connected to the correct COM port (COM4) with supported cable and is turned ON."


On other USB devices, such as memory sticks, when I place them into the computer directly or indirectly through a 4 socket multiplier, software within the device itself automatically downloads to my computer creating an almost instant recognized connection. Unfortunately, the RS USB cable does not function the same way and its supplied CD is not compatible with Windows Vista..

It's too late to return the cable to RS so I'm stuck with it.

Any ideas what model and catalog number USB cable I should buy from RS that will work with Windows Vista and come with an updated CD if required? Hopefully" Plug and Play" or "Fire and Forget."

Using Starsoft, I would like the USB cable to work with RS Pro 96, 95 and 97 if I'm able to get them all one day, thanks.

 

[DonS]

RS 20-047 does work with Windows Vista. I have two of them and have plugged them into various ports on a new-ish Sony laptop running "Vista Ultimate". I never used the drivers on the CD, as Vista seemed to already have the required drivers (and no, there haven't been any other compatible devices plugged into the laptop since its purchase which would've installed the correct drivers).

Here's how I did it....
1. Plug 20-047 cable into laptop's USB port, hear "boop-beep" from Windows indicating a device attached
2. Look in Control Panel, Device Manager, Ports (COM & LPT) to find the COM port number Windows assigned to the cable
3. In Win92/Win93/Win95/Win96/Win97/Win99/Win500, go to the Configuration -> Serial Port menu:
a. select COM port number from #2
b. make sure the only "option" checkbox that is checked is "enable readback tests"
4. Make sure I'm not using the little 4" stereo/mono adapter that came with the 20-047 cable
5. Plug 20-047 cable into scanner and turn scanner on
6. Download from / upload to scanner

All seven programs seem to work just fine.

 

[SCPD]

Also run in admin mode..

 

[n5ims]

Per Radio Shack "Also includes a CD with a USB driver for Microsoft® Windows 98, ME, XP and 2000." Since Vista is not mentioned as a compatible OS, this shouldn't be a surprise.

You may try the 'Updated Drivers' link from this WIKI article. http://wiki.radioreference.com/index.php/Pro-96

 

[DonS]

Per Radio Shack "Also includes a CD with a USB driver for Microsoft® Windows 98, ME, XP and 2000." Since Vista is not mentioned as a compatible OS, this shouldn't be a surprise.

You may try the 'Updated Drivers' link from this WIKI article. http://wiki.radioreference.com/index.php/Pro-96

As many people have reported in various forums/threads (including a few posts in the "reviews" section of the RS product page), Vista may not even require a user-supplied driver. *My* factory installation of Vista didn't need anything from me - I plugged the cable into a USB port and Windows reported a new COM port.

 

[TES]

. . . *My* factory installation of Vista didn't need anything from me - I plugged the cable into a USB port and Windows reported a new COM port.

Same experience here.

 

[zzdiesel]

I got my 20-047 cable last week and I'm running Vista Ultimate. When I plugged it to the USB port the first time it started looking for drivers and found them through Windows Update. It has worked flawlessly for me. So yes, the cable works with Vista. Mine reports COM 18. I am using Win97

 

[N8IAA]

I had the same problem with XP. Don't use the driver cd to set up the cable. Followed what DonS said, and it has been working great since. XP has the drivers to run the USB cable.
Larry

 

[dune614]

For the com ports, stick to one USB port and just keep changing the COM on WIN96 for it, don't go fishing around. I ended up getting mine on trying COM4. Should only take about 10 mins to check all 256 if you have read-back checked because it kicks it right back and doesn't have a signal.

 

[MHZ]

RS 20-047 does work with Windows Vista. I have two of them and have plugged them into various ports on a new-ish Sony laptop running "Vista Ultimate". I never used the drivers on the CD, as Vista seemed to already have the required drivers (and no, there haven't been any other compatible devices plugged into the laptop since its purchase which would've installed the correct drivers).

Here's how I did it....
1. Plug 20-047 cable into laptop's USB port, hear "boop-beep" from Windows indicating a device attached
2. Look in Control Panel, Device Manager, Ports (COM & LPT) to find the COM port number Windows assigned to the cable
3. In Win92/Win93/Win95/Win96/Win97/Win99/Win500, go to the Configuration -> Serial Port menu:
a. select COM port number from #2
b. make sure the only "option" checkbox that is checked is "enable readback tests"
4. Make sure I'm not using the little 4" stereo/mono adapter that came with the 20-047 cable
5. Plug 20-047 cable into scanner and turn scanner on
6. Download from / upload to scanner

All seven programs seem to work just fine.

Following your instructions, I plugged in the RS USB cable into my cheap Sony Windows Vista running basic home edition computer (about 1 year old, cheapest version they make) and got the positive message on screen:


USB Serial Converter installed

The software for this device has been successfully installed.

USB Serial Converter Ready to use



My control panel shows the location as:

Location: Port_#0001.Hub_#0004


In Win96 I entered COM # 1 (assuming "Port_#0001.Hub_#0004" means port 1.


I go to my Win96 program and click download to scanner,


I get two error messages,

Initializing....

Unable to open the port: \\.\COM1

2: COM1 does not exist



To try something different, I also changed Port 1 entry in Win96 to 4 and entered COM Port 4, and received two error messages:

Timed out waiting for header

Failed


Note that the built in light on the tip of the RS USB connection and the tiny motherboard encased in orange plastic in the center of the cable did not turn on.

However when I place this cable into a USB hub multiplier, the hub multiplier light turns on.



BTW, Starsoft Win95 and Win96 operating in Windows 95 using my old RS cable worked flawlessly, unfortunately that computer is gone. I can't imagine even being able to use a scanner without Starsoft.

I'm probably making a simple mistake along the line. I'll read through the other posts and see what else I can do. Thank you to everybody.

 

[MHZ]

Got it!

It works now! Download worked great, I'll try the other uploads and virtual later.

COM Port 4

Like DonS said, I must only leave the Enable readback test box checked.

This new updated version of Starsoft Win96 looks great, can't wait to try out Win95,

Thank you to all!

P/S dune614 that was a great suggestion too, thanks

 

[DonS]

My control panel shows the location as:

Location: Port_#0001.Hub_#0004


In Win96 I entered COM # 1 (assuming "Port_#0001.Hub_#0004" means port 1.

I note that in a later post you got it working on COM4. For future reference, though...

In Device Manager, under "Ports (COM & LPT)", you should see an entry like the below when the cable is plugged into a USB port (and it will not be there when the cable is not plugged in). In the capture below, I have two of those cables plugged into my PC - one on COM7 and the other on COM8.

 

[MHZ]

Thank You

When I plugged and unplugged the RS cable, in "Device Manager," under "Universal Serial Bus controllers" the last entry (Orange Arrow below):

"USB Serial Converter" with the location "Port_#0001.Hub_#0004" (new location, I switched things around a bit) appeared and disappeared, so I mistakenly thought this #0001 was was Port #1 and entered it into Win96.

Yes, when I look under "Ports (COM & LPT), "USB Serial Port (COM4)" also appeared and dissapeared. This is what I should have entered per your instructions in Win96.

Thank you

 

[KQ4KK]

"Make sure I'm not using the little 4" stereo/mono adapter that came with the 20-047 cable"

I just bought the RS 20-047 USB programing cable and installed it under VISTA. Works great if you do not plug the programing cable into the earphone jack, but the PC jack on the side<g> AND you MUST use the MONO cable.

 

[DonS]

AND you MUST use the MONO cable.

Not with a PRO-95, PRO-96, or PRO-97 using Win95, Win96, and Win97 (the scanners and software mentioned by the OP).

 

[zzdiesel]

"Make sure I'm not using the little 4" stereo/mono adapter that came with the 20-047 cable"

I just bought the RS 20-047 USB programing cable and installed it under VISTA. Works great if you do not plug the programing cable into the earphone jack, but the PC jack on the side<g> AND you MUST use the MONO cable.

I use this cable on my Pro-2055 and I'm using it on Vista Ultimate. I don't have to use the mono patch.

 

[kd5dga]

I plugged and played. VISTA home premimum installed the drivers autmatically. Now when I first got my computer I did have issues with the adapter getting the radio shack drivers to install, The I reformatted to clear all the pre installed junk the factory installed on my computer. Once this was done I plugged in the adapter which defaulted to com-4 and works great.
I did not know that the little mono calbe for the adapter was not needed for the pro2055.