adccommunitymod (AutomationDirect) asked a question.
Created Date: November 14,2008
Created By: MachineMike
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I'm using Gsoft software to communicate with a GS2 drive - pretty slick for 50 bucks. My older laptop running XP Pro SP3, commnicates with the drive no problemo. I bought a brand new Dell running XP Pro SP3 last week and it refuses to communicate with the drive. On the new PC, I tried both a PCI serial port card and a USB-Serial adaptor. Both behave the same. They try to find the baud rate, parity, etc., using the "autodetect " feature but neither lands on the correct 9600, 7, N, 2 setting of the drive. I take the cable and plug it into my laptop, and shazamm, it autodetects 9600, 7, N, 2 within two seconds. I'm running the same OS's on both PC's, but the new desktop is a good 4 years younger. Any ideas anyone?? I was supposed to deliver this machine today but could not over this silly thing.
Created Date: November 14,2008
Created by: Steve Bailey
Check to see what COM port your adapter is using. It could be different than the one the software is trying to use.
Created Date: November 14,2008
Created by: MachineMike
I set the COMM port
In the device manager, I assigned a COMM port number 1 through 4 to the serial port, tried them all.
You can see from a flashing LED that the PC is communicating with the drive.
It's just that when the magic baud rate/parity setting comes up it passes it by.
Created Date: November 14,2008
Created by: Steve Bailey
You say your old laptop communicates fine at 9600, N, 7, 2. Does your new laptop not communicate at all, or does it just not find the correct settings using autodetect? Are you setting up the software in the new laptop to communicate with the same drive ID as in the old? Does the serial port on the new laptop work with any other software communicating with something other than a GS2 drive?
Created Date: November 14,2008
Created by: MachineMike
New Desktop not Laptop
The new PC communicates but just does not find the right setting (baud rate, etc).
I setup the new PC to communicate with a specified COMM port - and I tried them all.
I have not tried to use the serial port on the new PC to communicate with anything -- good idea, I just don't have anything that uses a serial port.
Created Date: November 15,2008
Created by: Steve Bailey
Now I'm confused. When you say "communicates but just does not find the right setting ", exactly what do you mean? To me, "communicates " means that the PC and the drive can exchange data. So if your only problem is that autoconnect doesn't work, what's the big deal? Why is that worth missing a delivery date over?
I suspect that when you say "communicates ", you mean only that the LEDs are flashing.
If you don't have anything else that uses serial communications, try Hyperterminal from your old laptop to the new one.
Created Date: November 16,2008
Created by: MachineMike
Communicates or acknowledges
By "communicate " I mean that the PC acknowledges the existence of the drive. For example if I have the wrong Comm Port setting, an errror pops up that says, 'drive not found ' or 'comm port in use. '
When the PC acknowledges the existence of the drive it tries to find the settings of the drive as the next step. But in my case it passes by 9600, 7, N, 2 (Drive default) and keeps on scrolling through a zillion other choices. When I hit cancel, it says "communication has been lost. "
So the PC acknowledges the drive is there, it just won't go to the next step.
If I try to connect to the drive without using the "autodetect " feature (since I know the settings) it does the same thing - can not connect.
Created Date: November 16,2008
Created by: Steve Bailey
I have a problem with "the PC acknowledges the existence of the drive ". If the baud rate or parity settings are incorrect, I don't see how the drive could be able to correctly interpret any command from the PC, much less send back a response that the PC would be capable of understanding. It seems to me that if the PC can see that there is a drive present, then it must be communicating at the correct port settings.
Are you using the same cable with both laptops?
Have you tried uninstalling and then reinstalling the software on the new laptop?
Created Date: November 17,2008
Created by: MachineMike
Communicating
I can tell the PC is on the right COMM port because it at least tries to find the right baud rate.
If I intentionally turn the power off to the drive or set comm 1 to comm 2 it says, 'drive does not exist. '
That's what I mean by the acknowledges its existence.
Yes, using the same cable.
I will try uninstalling and reinstalling the software.
Created Date: November 17,2008
Created by: MachineMike
Uninstalled & Reinstalled
And it didn't change anything.
Created Date: November 17,2008
Created by: Steve Bailey
Try connecting your two laptops together over an appropriate serial cable (pins 2 - 3, 3 - 2, 5 - 5) Run the drive software on one and Hyperterminal on the other. See what the drive software is sending for a character string. Then reverse which computer is running the drive software and which is running Hypertermianl and repeat. Look for differences. That should provide some clue as to what is the root cause of the problem.