USB to RS232 W2K driver install error

[Serial Killer]

Hi,

I've tested out my new "USB to RS232/4" external box on my Windows XP machine and it all went well. However when I tried setting it up on a Windows 2000, dual processor Dell PC, it fails to detect it properly listing in as a "USB device" with an explanation mark.

I've tried downloading the latest software (1.1 of the driver and then 1.7.1 of the CD) as I did see mention of dual processor fixes but still it is not properly being detected and I get "error installing device..." on the machine. USB pen drives work okay on the machine so I'm not sure if I should be concerned with the Windows USB drivers.

Any help would be gratefully appreciated. I've uninstalled, reinstalled and been in and out of the new hardware wizard quite a bit.

Thanks,
Michael

[JoshuaP]

It sounds like your drivers might have gotten in a bad state. I would recommend uninstalling the NI drivers and then just install NI-Serial 1.7.1. Make sure you perform this step with the device unplugged. Also, make sure you have the latest service packs for Windows. Once you have accomplished this, try reinserting the device and see if Windows can find the driver. I know the device will work on a dual processor system, because I have a USB-232/4 and a USB-485/4 on my hyperthreaded system and I have used them on dual processor systems without any problems. If you are still having problems check out the properties in the device manager and tell us what error you are getting.

-Josh

[Wasntme]

Hi Michael,

Sorry to hear that you are having trouble.

Heres a few steps to try and narrow down the problem.

Download and instal NI-Serial 1.71 from here - Note, log into the website to see the download link.

http://digital.ni.com/softlib.nsf/954feaeea92d90918625674b00658b83/e1e0b681afe1635786256f640054da71?OpenDocument

Instal the software and reboot.
Once powered up insert your USB-232/4.

This should be all you need. NI-Serial 1.71 does indeed support dual processors under Win 2000.

If this is still not working then run the Serial Troubleshooting Wizard, either from your install directory or better still from Measurement and Automation Explorer>Help>Troubleshooting>NI-Serial Troubleshoting wizard.

If you could post exactly where the error occurs and any additional error info that would be great. Your system specs would also be handy.

All the best,

[Serial Killer]

Thanks for all your help - I really appreciate it.

The error occurs in the "Found New Hardware" Wizard. It states "An error occurred during the installation of the device. The installation failed becuase a function driver was not specified for this device instance".

I've tried uninstalling all the NI software, reinstalling the 1.71 software (even in a different directory) then connecting the device at various ports but still the same message. I've tried going to Device Manager where the item is listed as "USB Device" with an explanation mark and in properties saying update driver. But regardless of what I point it to or specify it as, it still doesn't like it. I've tried it on another single processor machine in the office and it installed fine.

The specs of the machine with the problem are : Dell Precision 450, Dual Xeon 2.4Ghz processors, 1Gb Ram, Windows 2000 Service Pack 4. My only query is that some hint of the old software with the problem still exists or something and thats whats causing the problem. Other than that, I'm a bit stumped. Is there a specific inf file I can point to or something ?

Thanks again,

Michael

[Wasntme]

Hi Michael,

Do you still have the Pen Drive installed?
There may be a conlfict between these drivers.

If so try uninstalling that and reinstalling the NI-Serial 1.71 (again I know :-])

If it's not this then it would be nice to install the NI-Serial on a fresh Windows

Best regards,

[Serial Killer]

I'm just after trying to install the 1.7.1 software on a fresh Dell Precision 650 (same dual processor spec as before). This one has never had any other USB devices installed before nor has it had any earlier NI software installed on it before. Yet I'm getting exactly the same error message.

I'm off to the Dell website to see if I can get any patches that might help.

Thanks for your suggestions,

Michael

[JoshuaP]

I'll setup a dual processor Windows 2K system and test it with my USB-232/4 and let you know what I find.

-Josh

[JoshuaP]

Just wanted to let you know that I setup W2K SP4 on a Asus PP-DLW with Dual Xeon 2.66GHz processors running NI-Serial 1.7.1 without any problems. I plugged in 5 different types of USB-232/485 devices and everyone of them was detected without a problem. Try plugging the device into each USB port, so you can make sure that you don't have a faulty port. The only other thing I can think of is to go into the bios and look for options that might effect the USB ports.

-Josh

[Serial Killer]

I found a bios setting called "USB Emulation". I switched it from "On" to "Off" and when Windows started it detected everything and installed correctly !! I was over the moon. It was short lived.

The next day I came in and when I booted it up it was redetecting it again and bringing up the same old error. I checked the bios setting which was still set at "Off". I'm using the latest bios.

I'm waiting for a new model of Dell to arrive in (a PCI Express version of the one I've been trying) and I'll see if I can get that working. It is the intended victim of this adapter anyway because there's no normal PCI ports to plug in our internal serial port adapter.

Thanks for everyone's help. I'll keep you posted - hopefully with solutions.

[Serial Killer]

I’ve taken a Dell Precision 670 Dual Xeon processor with Windows 2000 straight out of the box and, without installing or doing anything else, installed version 1.7.1 downloaded from this website. After rebooting, I tried plugging in the NI Usb box. It brought up the "error installing device..." as with the other machines. I went on the Dell website, downloaded and upgraded to the latest Bios. I even tried looking for any USB Bios settings I could change but on this machine there weren’t any. Most of the time the device is listed with an exclamation mark as “USB Device” saying that the device has not been installed properly (Code 28) if it doesn't bring up the error message.

I left it for a couple of days (forgetting to switch off the PC). I came back, plugged in the device and amazingly it worked and lit up like Christmas! It was detected correctly and all the serial ports appeared. Someone insisted I had to reboot the PC though to make sure it was going to continue to work and unfortunately when I did it was back to square one with it back to appearing with an exclamation mark. I’ve tried replacing the USB cable for a brand new one but its still not recognised properly.

I’m at the end of my trouble shooting ideas. I don’t imagine it’s a dual processor problem but either a Windows 2000 software problem or an unlucky faulty serial box. Something might be going “Return to sender” – and it ain't the Dell 🙂

Thanks for your help,
Michael