ver 1.89 problem

[trap5858]

I just downloaded ver 1.89. When attempting to access the scanner, the program gives an error message that it is unable to open USB <> Radio scanner cable. I followed the instructions to update the cable driver which had been done previously. Did it again just for sport I suppose. No luck. Continued on the update the driver thru Virtual COM Port Drivers

Again no luck. The program is not giving me the option to select a com port in the configuration setting. There is no drop down for this option.

This is getting very frustrating. I love the program but lately it has become a chore to operate.

I'd appreciate any thoughts on this issue.

 

[qlajlu]

A Long Shot

There seems to be a spate of this type of thing going around right now for some reason. I'm certainly not a guru in the computer and related electronics and programming, but btritch experienced a port problem explained in this thread after updating his WIN500 program and tells what he did to fix it.

It might be a long shot, but maybe you could/should play "musical ports" using Device Manager to change assigned USB ports until you find the correct one. I don't know if upgrading the drivers would change the ports or not, and I don't know if this is the problem, but it might be worth a try.

Just sayin....

 

[Dubbin]

What program are you talking about?

 

[Highpockets]

What program are you talking about?

The above message tells you, win500.

 

[trap5858]

I had read over that post several times, the instructions are for windows 2000. XP does not let you make the same changes. At least not that easily.

The way I read the error message is that one possible scenario is the port is in use elsewhere or the driver is not current or I am using the wrong cable or words to that effect. Nothing else is connected to any serial port at this time, the driver was updated today, last week and several weeks ago just trying to satisfy the error message and the cable worked last week. I'm just out of ideas at the moment.

Thanks for looking in and offering some suggestions

 

[qlajlu]

...the instructions are for windows 2000. XP does not let you make the same changes. At least not that easily.

Well, that is not exactly true. Once you get into Device Manager, right click the USB port after expanding Ports. Right click on the USB Serial port and then click on Properties. Click the Port Settings tab in the Properties dialog box, then click Advanced. Now you are where you can see a drop-down menu that you can use to change the port assignment. The path is exactly the same.

The user in the thread linked above was using Vista, and if he could change port assignments in Vista, it certainly is possible in XP.

Another question that just came to mind; did you have the cable hooked to the computer when you downloaded the drivers? The cable must NOT be hooked up when installing the drivers.

 

[TJMeredith]

V 1.89 corrected port connectivity...Had the same problem this afternoon trying to upload updated Virginia STARS sites and realized I was using version 1.88. Downloaded version 1.89 and went back into virtual scanner mode. It refreshed the folders perfectly...

Checked my device port and it was Com4. Noticed V1.89 simply asked me what kind of cable I had,,,no discussion of ports.

Thanks Don...

Tom M sends

 

[trap5858]

I have double checked all setting I can access. All USB ports are listed as functioning properly. I once again downloaded the driver update for the cable as well as virtual com port as listed in the instructions. Currently I have ver 1.89 on the system, I am still not seeing any question about what com port is in use. Still getting the error message about no cable detected.

Can someone please advise- in ver 1.89 in the configuration drop down menu- is there supposed to be a setting for which com port is used. This I believe had been part of the this menu in the past- maybe I am looking for something that does not exist.

Thanks again

 

[qlajlu]

Can someone please advise- in ver 1.89 in the configuration drop down menu- is there supposed to be a setting for which com port is used. This I believe had been part of the this menu in the past- maybe I am looking for something that does not exist.

In WIN500 click on Configuration > Programming cables....

There is no longer a port selection from inside the WIN500 program but it does ask the kind of cable you are using. In most cases, this is automatically detected by the program. Remember that the 20-047 from Radio Shack and the 30-3290 from GRE are virtually the very same cable. I do not know if the difference of these two cable makes any difference to WIN500 or not.

 

[TES]

. . . Remember that the 20-047 from Radio Shack and the 30-3290 from GRE are virtually the very same cable. I do not know if the difference of these two cable makes any difference to WIN500 or not.

Probablly not. From Don's site: "GRE offers a direct USB-Scanner programming cable, GRE part number 30-3290. This cable is highly recommended. The same cable is available from RadioShack as RS catalog #20-047. The only difference between the GRE and RadioShack versions is the color." As good as it is, I'm guessing that Win500 can't detect the color difference.

 

[trap5858]

Thanks again for your input. I am using the GRE cable. I have it attached to the scanner and the little green LED is flickering but when I click on download from scanner I get the error message "unable to open USB <> Radio Scanner Cable.

I wonder wha the chances are that the cable is defective? Other than having it communicate between scanner and computer, is there a way to test it?

 

[eyes00only]

?Attachment.

Didn't work

starrsoft.com / try the Winn500 USB download here

 

[DonS]

Thanks again for your input. I am using the GRE cable. I have it attached to the scanner and the little green LED is flickering but when I click on download from scanner I get the error message "unable to open USB <> Radio Scanner Cable.

I wonder wha the chances are that the cable is defective? Other than having it communicate between scanner and computer, is there a way to test it?

When you downloaded Win500.ZIP, you should've also extracted a file named "WIN500_COM.EXE". Run that one, and select "Serial Port" from its "Configuration" menu. Compare its list of serial ports to what you see in Windows' Device Manager.

I suspect that either a) the FTDI drivers are not installed correctly (though you say you did install them from the FTDI site above), or b) another program has the cable's serial port opened (the usual suspects included PDA "syncing" apps that monitor serial ports). If (b), then you should see "(already opened)" next to the port name in Win500_COM's list above, where the port name corresponds to the COM port number assigned in Device Manager.

 

[trap5858]

Thanks Don for offering some suggestions. I did as you suggested above and but got the following error when I attempted to open the to select the serial from the configuration menu.

" Cannot find import; DLL may be missing, corrupt, or wrong version file "winxxcommon.dll:"
error 126

I tried downloading the zipped file again and retrying the cable and scanner and got the same message. I could not see any open or in use com ports when I looked in the device manager.

How would I go about determining if a port is in use. Also how do I access the com port settings in win500_com- I could not open or run that file.

Thanks again

 

[trap5858]

With further playing I was able to determine com port 3 is already open. I am not sure what is causing that but will continue to look for a source.

 

[trap5858]

OK- Thanks to everyone who responded. I did find the culprit and disabled it. Things work as were designed.

I appreciate all of your time and efforts.

 

[qlajlu]

With further playing I was able to determine com port 3 is already open. I am not sure what is causing that but will continue to look for a source.

OK- Thanks to everyone who responded. I did find the culprit and disabled it. Things work as were designed.

I appreciate all of your time and efforts.

Okay, trap, there have been an awful lot of us following your odyssey and now that it is over you cannot leave us in the dark. What, exactly, was the "culprit?" We want to know so we can help someone else that may experience this problem, or at least tell them what to look for.

 

[trap5858]

The issue was something to do with the hotsync program for a PDA as Don suggested. It took some digging and I went on the PALM website and looked over their troubleshooting database and decided to disable their communication program. After all, programming the scanner is much more important than backing up my PDA.
By the way, there was no indication of why the program would have failed as it did.
Thanks again

 

[RKG]

This thread, and others of its ilk, have left me afraid to update my Win500 (currently running 1.68, which seems t do everything I want it to do). Why would a Win500 update no longer see my USB cable?

 

[qlajlu]

This thread, and others of its ilk, have left me afraid to update my Win500 (currently running 1.68, which seems t do everything I want it to do). Why would a Win500 update no longer see my USB cable?

"Others of its ilk?" You make is sound like its after you. Why would you not want to? Considering the few that have had problems compared to the number that have updated without trouble it doesn't make sense that you would decide against it. Ultimately it is your choice, though.

What makes you think that WIN500 would not see your USB Cable? The ones who have had trouble found other computer applications interfering with the program because they require the same resources. Yes, it has taken some time to get one or two of them up and running again, but they have not been left hanging to figure it out on their own, thanks to DonS. Do you sync a PDA from your computer? That is one item that caused problems.

I think you are being paranoid with little reason to be so.