USB485 adapter not installing

[legogizmo]

Hi, I just got my LOR starter package yesterday and started setting it up but I can't seem to get the USB485 adapter to work.

I ran the driver setup provided on the CD, the cmd box popped up said installation completed, then I got the USB adapter (connected to a powered lightbox) and nothing happened. The instructions say that driver software should start installing like it would for any plug and play device, but the computer doesn't even recognize that something was plugged in.

Naturally the first thing I did was reboot, nothing changed. Then I tried downloading and running driver setup files from the LOR site and the FTDI site still nothing.

Any ideas would be appreciated.

Oh, I'm running Win7 64bit.

[Dennis Laff]

did you open the hardware utility to see if it finds the lor controller

[PhilMassey]

Open Windows device manager and look in the ports section. Do you have comm ports listed. If not unplug the USB cable and install the FTDI drivers again from the CD.

Then plug in the USB cable to the 485 adapter. Should have a comm port listed which you will use in the Hardware utility to connect to your controller.

 

This link may help

http://www1.lightorama.com/communication/

Edited December 9, 2015 by PhilMassey

[legogizmo]

I have checked device manager and have no comm ports.

I tried re-installing and still have no comm ports.

I have already tried most of the suggestions on that page with no luck. The only thing I haven't tried (but will when I get home) is uninstall and start from scratch.

[PhilMassey]

Look in programs and features and see if the usb drivers are there.

If so uninstall them and reboot with the dongle unplugged. Re install the drivers and then plug in.

If this fails it may be time for a help ticket.

[legogizmo]

Thanks for the replies, I have identified the problem. The reason my computer wasn't registering the USB adapter was because somehow all the USBs on my computers front panel didn't start up, nothing I plug in is detected and there isn't even power going to them.

I'm not sure what caused this problem (the only thing I've installed was the diver software) but it seems like its going be a huge pain to fix.

But I grabbed my old laptop installed the software and everything is working now.

[wmilkie]

I think someone mentioned before, Win may shut/disable off "unused" usb ports; I've seen this once

[PhilMassey]

Check for a disconnected cable to the front ports.

The rear ports which are usually directly mounted to the motherboard should be fine.

If they don't work then the chipset deivers may need reinstalling or perhaps Windows has disabled them although I have never seen that.

[PaulXmas]

Or they could be disabled in the BIOS (Google your computer to see how to check)

[legogizmo]

Thanks for all the suggestions, I finally got my computer back in order, and light show working.

[PhilMassey]

So, what was it, for future reference.

[legogizmo]

As to what caused the problem initially, I am not entirely sure. As for the fix, a system restore, multiple reboots, and working in safe mode for a while, and reinstalling drivers seemed to do the trick. Sorry to anyone looking for a more comprehensive solution.  

I can say that there was certainly a problem with the USBs initializing when nothing was plugged into them, this *seemed* to prevent the system from shutting down properly, since the computer was installing updates this caused more problems. When I discovered having something (in this case an Xbox360 controller) plugged into the front USBs allowed them to function properly and this allowed the computer to actually complete a shutdown without problems I was free to update the system and reinstall the system drivers.

 

Thanks again to everyone for all the advice!

This is an awesome community.

Edited December 11, 2015 by legogizmo