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HWU can't find USB/RS485 adapter

Donl1150

By Donl1150
in LOR Hardware - General

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Donl1150 Member

Donl1150

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Trying to get my first controller up and running on my Windows 7 machine.  Have installed a licensed copy of LOR software and downloaded/installed the latest drivers from the LOR website.  Have the controller powered up, USB RS485 adapter plugged into PC and controller via cable.  When I do the Auto Configure in the HWU, it can't find anything.

 

Must be doing something wrong......any ideas?

 

 

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james campbell Member

james campbell

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first look at the light for the controller,,,is it blinking,or is it steady? if blinking the double check to make sure the drivers have been installed. I had an issue last year changing computers,I thought it was installed but was not.also what controller do you have,if it's a pro version or a version with dails  make sure it has a unit id set. pc models should be preset to unit one

Edited by james campbell
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Mr Sir New Forum User

Mr Sir

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Don,

I had this when I was new to LOR, ended up being a bad network cable from the RS485 adaptor to the controller. Make sure it is a straight thru cable also.

hope this helps

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Donl1150 Member

Donl1150

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Posted Yesterday, 05:54 PM

first look at the light for the controller,,,is it blinking,or is it steady? if blinking the double check to make sure the drivers have been installed. I had an issue last year changing computers,I thought it was installed but was not.also what controller do you have,if it's a pro version or a version with dails make sure it has a unit id set. pc models should be preset to unit one

The controller light is blinking green. I think the drivers are not getting installed properly. The dos box show the path as a 'temp' folder. Where are the drivers supposed to be installed? I simply downloaded the latest drivers to my desktop, clicked on the file and it began installing with that 'temp' path.....isn't there a correct spot for these dll files?

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Mr Sir New Forum User

Mr Sir

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Blinking means no connection, BTW Green? I thought controllers were made with RED led's

 

Open your Device Manager and check your comm ports. should be there in the device tree. Unplug and replug in the adaptor to see if it appears in the tree structure.

 

if so, the PC sees the adaptor.and note the port #

 

Check the network cable from the RS485 adaptor to the controller. Make sure it is a straight thru cable and tests ok. 

 

if the controller is steady LED, open the HWU noting the port # and add it to the port choices and rescan.   

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Donl1150 Member

Donl1150

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Thanks Ken, I will give this a try. One question though, this is driver version 2.08.30 and the latest version on LOR is 2.08.14 (2 years old). Is that of concern?

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Donl1150 Member

Donl1150

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Thanks Ken but it did not work. I am about ready to give up on this LOR project. I simply can not get the computer to find the USB RS485 adapter. The very first time I plugged in it into the USB port, which by the way has been the only time the computer found it, Windows apparently downloaded a generic driver. Unfortunately, when I ran the LOR hardware utility, it could not find the COM3 (or any other) port. Thus I began this long journey.

During this time, I have:

1) uninstalled/reinstalled the LOR software

2) uninstalled / reinstalled the USB 485 adapter drivers

3) run the FT Clean program which resulted in losing all COM & LPT ports

4) found on line how to reinstall COM & LPT ports

5) tried several cat 5 cables

6) tried all 6 USB ports on my laptop - they all work with other devices, but not LOR

7) tried also unsuccessfully using the RS485B adapter with my ELL units and

8) so far have stumped the help desk wizards at LOR......

What have I have missed? I have a feeling there may soon be about 75,000 incans & a couple of controllers going up for sale.......

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larryk5 Member

larryk5

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Even without the correct driver the computer should respond to the USB device, correct install or not. Are you plugging the adapter directly into a USB port, or into a USB hub? Also, if you do have it plugged into the computer USB port, is it a USB port on the front of the computer? The front ports are not as powerful as the ones on the rear witch are hardwired to the motherboard.

 

When I check for my devices I will look under "Devices and Printers", all my adapters show up there. From that you can figure out what comm port they are using.

 

Just thought I'd throw this out, since your having such a hard time. Sometimes it's the simple things! Wish you success!

 

Sorry didn't see you are using a laptop, so forget about port location! You have a laptop with 6 USB ports? WOW

Edited by larryk5
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Donl1150 Member

Donl1150

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Thanks Larry....yep, a laptop with 6 ports.  I am not using a hub.

 

I am making some progress....albeit I am still stuck.  Now when I plug in the USB cable, the computer makes that typical 'clunk' noise.  When I opened device manager with it plugged in, under USB Serial Buss Converters there it was.  I then left clicked and updated drivers for it.  It now has FTDI 2.80.30 drivers.  I think the computer may now actually sense the device,

 

But when I open the LOR hardware utility to autoconfig, it gets an error message.  I think the reason is that the com3 port in device manager has a yellow flag next to it.  I don't know how to get the port to operate properly.  I think once we do that, this thing may actually work....  Any thoughts?
 

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EARLE W. TALLEY Member

EARLE W. TALLEY

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Don, a friend of mine had the same problem with a laptop, I found that if you move to another port it would work, but keep in mind that once you find the correct port that it likes YOU MUST ALWAYS use that same port for this purpose (LOR).

Edited by EARLE W. TALLEY
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Ken Benedict Member

Ken Benedict

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Thanks Larry....yep, a laptop with 6 ports.  I am not using a hub.

 

I am making some progress....albeit I am still stuck.  Now when I plug in the USB cable, the computer makes that typical 'clunk' noise.  When I opened device manager with it plugged in, under USB Serial Buss Converters there it was.  I then left clicked and updated drivers for it.  It now has FTDI 2.80.30 drivers.  I think the computer may now actually sense the device,

 

But when I open the LOR hardware utility to autoconfig, it gets an error message.  I think the reason is that the com3 port in device manager has a yellow flag next to it.  I don't know how to get the port to operate properly.  I think once we do that, this thing may actually work....  Any thoughts?

 

 

With the suggestions above, how is your progress on getting this to work?

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  • 1 month later...
Donl1150 Member

Donl1150

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Well everyone, I am back after a little bit of a side trip..... :(   Late August, I broke my neck at C2-C4.  Was in the hospital for 3 weeks during which time they fixed it up and LUCKILY for me I am regaining all mobility.  Still have a halo on my head for another month so I doubt I will have time for an LOR Christmas this year but I am stuck on this damn COM3 port issue anyway.

 

My PC shows a COM3 port but it is not functional and thus the PC can't see the controller.  Anyone have some thoughts?

 

Don

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a31ford Member

a31ford

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remove the usb 485 adaptor, restart in safe mode, device manager,  hardware,  remove any device listings for the com3 AND the RS485 adaptor,

 

restart, do NOT install the rs 485 adaptor UNTIL it asks you to do so, (NOT EVEN ONCE)

 

What has happened, is the RS485 is installed with the wrong drivers, and windows is too dumb to realize that you want to use different ones, the only way out of this "catch 22" is to do a safe mode boot, so windows will show ALL the drivers that are installed for com3. (so you can remove them)

 

AGAIN, do NOT install the RS485 dongle on the laptop UNTIL it asks for it, or you will simply repeat the same problem.

 

Many "webcam's" have the same problem. It's NOT YOU, it's dumb Windows with stupid "plug and play" (the stupidest portion of windows).. NOT so affectionately called "plug and PRAY"................

 

 

 BTW, TG it's only a halo....... Best wishes for a full recovery.

 

Greg

Edited by a31ford
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Donl1150 Member

Donl1150

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Thanks Greg. In Safe mode, I removed the com3 port. There was no RS485 adapter anywhere in there. I rebooted without the adapter plugged into PC. I then plugged it in, it made the 'clunking' noise but it did not try to install any drivers. Went to device manager and there were no Com ports shown. Under Other Devices though, there was a USB Serial Port shown with a yellow flag. Tried to update drivers for that one by searching on the desktop for the drivers I downloaded from FTDI website. The folder they were in did not have .inf files (drivers), so I can't get it to find them. I think I am close but can't get this last step......any ideas on this issue?

Thanks

Don

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a31ford Member

a31ford

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Hi Don, remove the (in normal windows mode) the usb serial port that is there now, the trick here is that there might be a setup file in that folder from FTDI  it will install the correct drivers BEFORE you plug the USB dongle in.

 

Did you run the setup from the CD that came with the USB485 adaptor (dongle) >??

 

Greg

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