This Win 7 - USB cable stuff is ridiculous

[DeDawg]

Read all the pertinent search stuff, tried everything I could see applied to a TRX-2 and Windows 7 x64.

I do use a card reader for all updates other than firmware, which is where the latest ongoing farce started.

I can eventually get the correct Whistler driver to be identified by having the USB cable (tried several) plugged in when booting the desktop. But, more often than not the computer throws the dreaded "Unknown Deveice" flag and the charade starts all over again. The Whistler site instructions are for Win 8 and up. The steps to not apply to 7, like holding down "Shift" while selecting restart.

Just did it after FINALLY getting a connection long enough to upgrade the firmware. Soon as it is finished, I get my other source of rage: "Waiting for the MAIN unit."

There is something seriously screwed up with the USB functioning of this radio. Some of the things read about sort of work, but not for long, and this "Waiting" thing is really over the top as it is new just from yesterday and today. Spent hours fiddling, and it still does it, unreliable as heck.

Radio still works, have not bricked it, but it would be nice to have a reliable USB connection.

 

[jaspence]

I use Win 7 and Win 10 64 bit for both of my Whistler scanners without any problem. The problem could be in the computer, as one of mine occasionally looses a port and a reboot is needed to get things going again. I also use 64 bit successfully with several ham radios.

 

[ka3jjz]

The first thing to look at is to see if you're getting booted off by another USB device (or software) - that can and does happen, as these drivers are not very 'smart'. Take a look at Device Manager and see what it is telling you

Mike

 

[BrianG61UK]

Certain USB ports just don't work with Whistler scanners.
Can you use a different, older computer perhaps?
Or if it's a desktop PC fit on old PCI-E or PCI card with USB ports on it?

 

[DeDawg]

I do have a Frewire card plugged in I can try for other USB ports.

Device manager only shows another Com port when the darn thing cooperates, and of course "Unknown Device" when it latches onto it's driver choice.

Be nice if there was a way of locking a device to certain drivers so Windows cannot go on a wild goose chae for something else.

Far as booting off something else, did have a second hard drive in a Raid 1 config, but undid that yesterday just to make sure.

 

[ka3jjz]

Actually when it says 'unknown device', it's generally because the driver is missing or not valid. Mike

 

[BrianG61UK]

Actually when it says 'unknown device', it's generally because the driver is missing or not valid. Mike

Some USB ports can corrupt the device id from the scanner so that even if the driver is present the scanner is still seen as an unknown device.

Sent from my SM-N9005 using Tapatalk

 

[DeDawg]

Actually when it says 'unknown device', it's generally because the driver is missing or not valid. Mike

Interesting. Yet it ignores the multiple correct drivers I have on the machine.


When I try a manual driver install and choose "Unknown Device" from the list (only choice actually) and steer it to the Whistler .inf, it refuses. Says it is not a x64 driver.

 

[DeDawg]

Some USB ports can corrupt the device id from the scanner so that even if the driver is present the scanner is still seen as an unknown device.

Yet if connected during boot, it finds the needed drivers without problem.

 

[BrianG61UK]

You said you had, after a lot of hassle, succeeded in updating the firmware.

That means the driver is installed correctly.

Sent from my SM-N9005 using Tapatalk

 

[DeDawg]

You said you had, after a lot of hassle, succeeded in updating the firmware.

That means the driver is installed correctly.

Yeah, well, that was the connection right after a complete reboot route. And of course, it bombed to "Waiting for the MAIN unit." instantly after the firmware load completed. Yet another complete reboot if I wanted the connection back.

Did not touch a thing, just sitting and watching. Something fishy about the TRX USB setup that glitches with the end of communication. Why would it suddenly reject the thing.

Looked at the driver running for the Serial port and it is usbser.inf, not Whistler anything. No USB device is seen in the device list, but might be named something not recognizable as the scanner.

 

[BrianG61UK]

Like I said it just doesn't work right with certain USB ports.

I had to fit a PCI-E USB 2 card to my desktop PC to get it to work right.
The card has a MosChip/ASIX MCS9990 controller and each port is recognized as "Standard OpenHCD USB Host Controller" for the USB 1 part (and "Standard Enhanced PCI to USB Host Controller" for the USB 2 part).

 

[lou9155]

oh yes ports com issues and drivers can make ya nuts

 

[DeDawg]

What irks me is my Dell Win 7 laptop found the TRX no problem, including a new card drive. Can even attach the USB cable after boot and it shows up. Still refuses to do a CPU firmware update though.

The desktip Dell Win 7 machine still insists on loading something it wants and refuses all efforts to load the Whistler .inf file.

Weird thing it, just sitting there a few dozen reboots ago, a window popped up shwing it was installg the correct drivers for USB and removable drive. THat was not permanent however, soon was back to "unknown device"

Wish Whistler would allow CPU and DSP updates from the SD card, loaded from a card reader first.

My TRX-2 would talk to the computer fine when I first got it, but something has killed that. Suppose I could go back to an old restore point, but would like to review what has changed since that time to know what needs a new load.

Well, belay that laptop working BS, it is now throwing the "Unknown Device" flag when plugged in while running, or before booting.

Starting to think the USB function of this TRX-2 is broken. Call to Whistler monday if I am not too disgusted with this thing.

 

[jaspence]

I have had a couple of cheap cables that work with some devices but not others. The Whistler cable is a standard usb male to usb mini, and the only problem I have had is with the cheap cables. All of the necessary electronics are built into the scanner, not the cable or connector as some scanners/transceivers.

 

[DeDawg]

Just dug out the cable that came with the radio.

"Error detected-Please contact Whistler Service for assistance.
Code: 4-00"

How encouraging, in an era of USB connections to everything, Whistler cannot come up with a reliable one?

Damn good thing the radio works well and I do not need the USB for any other than CPU and DSP updates.

 

[DeDawg]

Some USB ports can corrupt the device id from the scanner

On two totally different computers? Both of which worked for a while "at first" and then went ape-shiite with time.

I still suspect faulty USB circuitry in the scanner.

 

[Wackyracer]

On two totally different computers? Both of which worked for a while "at first" and then went ape-shiite with time.

I still suspect faulty USB circuitry in the scanner.

Your scanners USB connector could be bad or has broken solder joints.

 

[DeDawg]

Your scanners USB connector could be bad or has broken solder joints.

Put a call in to Whistler and waiting a call back.

Suppose the fact that the scanner did respond properly to the drivers when first loaded might suggest the connection is sound, but something creeps in and corrupts the connection n software.

The connecting when EZscan is first loaded really bugs me. Thought when all came up good on my laptop that I would just say to heck with getting the desktop to work, but then, of course...............All I have left is an old XP laptop to try.

 

[DeDawg]

Broke out the ancient XP laptop. Other than telling it to use the unsigned driver, EZscan and drivers loaded up fine. Had to do a reboot to get rid of the yellow ! on the USB port in device manager. Could not manually find a driver it was happy with, but the reboot seems to have done it. Shows up as another drive letter of course.

Windows 7 has been a great replacement for XP, but this driver issue it out of bounds. At least I now have a way to do CPU and DSP updates now, and a card reader for SD card programming.

So, the weird crap is still a mystery: Why the software loads with the drivers working fine the first time you do it (COM port and USB drive), but never again will it produce anything. No COM port and "unknown device". Uninstalling drivers and forcing which to use used to work well, but apparently not in Win 7.