Back to my main USB page - - - - The Complete Idiot Confessions Page. aka: stupid errors, not-so-obvious obvious mistakes, problem solving the Murphy way.

Larry's USB to COM port Converter

You know a good way to find things on this page is to use Ctrl+F - or Edit, then Find, and search for something like PLC, Yaesu, Palm, etc.

Guess I should make a page about PLC's as I get a lot of questions and email about them - like this one here (below) - but I think there are a lot of types/versions and applications - so I'll need to find out more details for each success/failure. 

Dec 2006,

Hi Larry, my name is:  Jason Berkhimer
I was using a belkin usb to serial 
converter to download to a plc. 
(http://www.comfile.com) it would 
regurarly lock up and not complete. 
your purple USB-G4 connects and downloads 
reliably every time.
--------- end of message -------

----- Original Message -----
From: 
To: 
Sent: Monday, November 10, 2003 2:52 PM
Subject: Thanks for an adaptor that WORKS

> Reference Pfranc page: home page
>
> Hi Larry, my name is: Chris
>
> I purchased your USB to RS232 adaptor 
for my Garman e-trex GPS unit. I am 
using a Dell Inspiron 1100 running 
Windows XP and Rand
McNally Street Finder. Everything 
is running perfectly. I had 
absolutely no problems installing 
the adaptor; the thing is completely
plug and play. ...
>
> I just want to say thanks for 
ending my quest for an adaptor 
that does what the description 
says. I should have purchased your
product first and saved myself 
about seventy-five dollars on 
poorly designed adaptors that 
only work with PDA's. Again, 
Thanks to you and your team.
>
> Chris Chocholek
>
> --------- end of message -------
Laptop Problems - Some laptops work when on AC but not on batteries! HP Pavilion notebook + XP is one. (17Jun02) solution not yet known. HA! Here it is! Jump down to Solution.

Problem after upgrading Windows from 2000 to XP. -- read about how Greg Cox spent 15 hours finding & fixing this problem - our USB converter would work for awhile then fail for no apparent reason! A great example of how these things can go wrong. (09/08/02)

Application software that does or does not work with our USB-COM converter. In addition to the Operating System and USB converter, the application software must have been written or updated after Windows 98 came out and it must be calling/using a bug free Windows 32bit virtual COM port dirver correctly! These software writing kids test their stuff with real COM ports, declare it working, and ship it.

> More Comments from our customers:

- - - (published here only with your permission, and I don't edit it, so don't hold back - let 'er rip! If this product sucks, I want to be the first to know, not the last!)

Problems with a new Toshiba laptop, Win2K, and my USB-COM:

> Hi Larry...
> 
> I received my USB-Serial Adaptor today; that was fast!
> 
> Unfortunately, I can not get the adaptor to function on my Toshiba
> laptop (only 4 months old) under Windows 2000. 
> 
> In Device Mangager, the "USB to Serial Converter" shows as installed and
> functioning, but the "Serial on USB Port (Com 3)" shows that blasted
> yellow exclamation point! Under properties, the following error is
> shown:
> 
> This device cannot start. (Code 10)
>
================================ the next day =======================
> Hey Larry...
> 
> I got it working! Like a charm, I might add. My internal modem was set
> to COM 3, and it was interfering with the convertor which must default
> to COM 3. So I changed the modem to COM 2, reinstalled and presto, I'm
> up and running.
> 
> Thanks for everything!
> 
> Have 5 Nice days!
>
> - Dan
>
Dan, you are the first to send more than "a" nice day my way -- 5 no less!
--- thanks! - larry,

Problems with a Garmin GPS and a very cool GPS Utility software product called GPSU. I contacted the creator of GPSU, Alan Murphy, and sent him a free USB-DB9F to check out the problem with, AND he actually did! And he fixed it! Here is his e-mail to me with the good news! ( We're discovering a lot of problems are like this one. Bugs in the application software. I wish more of the solutions were like this one - thanks to people like Alan who will actually look at the problem and then actually fix it! Why is this so amazing? ) I guess it's not that strange. Programmers write the software and test it with real COM ports 

From: murphy@enterprise.net (Alan Murphy)
To: "Lawrence Henry Berg" 
Subject: GPSU on USB/Serial cable
Date: Sun, 22 Apr 2001 12:25:25 GMT


I discovered a serious problem with 
the comms driver code that I was
using in GPSU (I was using Marco 
Cocco's ComDrv32).  Once I figured
out it was from his code, I then 
totally reworked the code to use the 
Varian Async32 code recommended to 
me by Peter (Thanks Peter).

This seems much better on the USB-Serial 
cable. I hope this solves the
problems that you and some of your 
cable users were having.

Anyway I just wanted to let you 
know where the original problem was
coming from - the ComDrv32 code 
was going into an infinite loop.

Now I know that GPSU works on your 
cable, I will be recommending it to others.

Cheers,
Alan







Date: Tue, 10 Apr 2001 21:24:10 -0400
Subject: Re: Notification for Payment Received
From: Dennis Hudson (dennis@zone5.com)
To: Lawrence Henry Berg (larry@hotmail.com)

Thanks for getting it out so fast. 
Installed and working on my G3 Powerbook
and Ham Radio! I love the longer cord 
too, no need for a second cable. I'm
passing your name to other friends as well.

Good Luck

Dennis






Larry;
    I have tested with Fugawi and GPSdb - 
    both communciate ok with the GPS device.
 
best regards,
john mitton


Hi Larry;
    Absolutely ok to mention my name. There is 
no point in others going through this process 
with Microsoft. They are still talking to me 
and I have one more message to go in and get. 
I will let you know where they stand. Make 
sure your readers know that the problem is 
with MS - that your device works great with 
the other two gps products I have tested.
 
take care,
john mitton
 
----- Original Message ----- 
From: john mitton 
To: Lawrence Henry Berg 
Sent: Tuesday, March 27, 2001 6:24 PM
Subject: Microsoft Knowledge Base Article - q263707


Larry;
    At last, from the bowels of Microsoft, 
this brief statement. I now have a support 
tech talking to me (via email), but whether 
they are prepared to fix the bug or not I 
don't know. This information may save some 
of your users a great deal of confusion. 
Perhaps Fugawi is the package I should have 
gone with as they will have Canadian streets 
available within a month or so. US streets 
now come shipped with their package. I'll 
let you know if we get it resolved.
 
best regards,
john mitton

This article pointer was forwarded to you 
from the Microsoft Online Support site. 
http://support.microsoft.com/support/kb/articles/q263/7/07.asp 






Received Saturday 31 MAR 2001, USPS 
is great!  It took me only five minutes
from plugging in the USB cable to having 
COM4 talking to my GPS III+.  It
took me longer to get the computer 
to recognize the Belkin 4 port hub.
The TX/RX LEDs are great for troubleshooting 
serial devices.  I would recommend
this to anyone needing more serial 
ports(you can put this on your website if
you wish).

P.S.  On Win98SE, one cannot renumber 
the port #s.  Oh well.

Leon S. Ciereszko III,  N4TCW

Where's Lee?   http://map.findu.com/n4tcw


Hey Lee, guess what the next USB 
product I'm looking at is?  Yes, a 4 port hub.
So far it looks really great, to me 
anyway.  I have a Belkin one and am 
not real happy with it.  There are 
so many to choose from out there how 
can one decide?  This one is really 
slick and needs no drivers.  I plugged 
it in and there it was, working in 
2 seconds!  And a great price too. 
But the only systems
I have here to test with (all 2 of them) 
are running W2K-pro. --- I'll send one 
to you, remind me in a week or two.

mybest, larry.






Sure...use "hasan schiers", 
email: schiers@netins.net and include my amateur
radio callsign - NĜAN - Hams are ALWAYS running 
out of serial ports. I'm going to do
a posting on the aprssig mailing list 
vouching for them and include your
url.

From: "hasan schiers" schiers@netins.net
To: larry@hotmail.com
Subject: Wow Larry!
Date: Fri, 23 Mar 2001 18:24:03 -0600

I got my 4 USB-RS232 converter 
cables today. OUTSTANDING!!!!

I'm using one with a weather station
...works perfectly. I'm using the other
for a push to talk keying line for 
my ham radio and some software that uses
one of the serial lines for PTT keying 
the radio. The Belkins won't work at
all in this app....your cables work 
PERFECTLY!

I am impressed. OK..so ...let me know 
as soon as your stock is replenished.
I want four more...I'm going to get 
all my Belkins out of service for my 3
machines here. (NO, I'm not reselling 
them at a profit). I really do have
about six belkins laying around and 
can't wait to replace them. I can't
believe how much BETTER these things 
are than the Belkins. Just astounding.

Please let me know when I can order 4 more.

(Robert "hasan" Schiers)

hasan schiers, NĜAN
schiers@netins.net






From: "Kurt Kleinschmidt" (olias@one.net)
To: "Lawrence Henry Berg" (larry@hotmail.com, 
larry@hotmail.com )
Subject: USB to COM Review
Date: Fri, 16 Mar 2001 12:57:14 -0500


I lost the original email asking for 
a quick update on my progress with this
product, so I went to the web page and 
got a couple of addresses.  I hope I
got one of them right.  If I did not, 
please let me know so I can continue
the search...

The USB to COM cable works very well.  
I use it to connect to my Garmin III+
(soon to be Vista!).  I have had some
 problem with it not accepting maps and
software upgrades, but I have the same 
problems with my old arrangement that
includes a real COM port, so I do not 
think the problem is due to your
cable.  The thing I use this cable
most for is to connect to the console
ports on various network devices, 
and that is working perfectly.

A couple of things that I have noticed 
Windows 2000 Professional)...

First, the USB to COM device does not 
appear on the list provided by the
system tray eject card icon.  It does 
appear in the system devices.  This
does not appear to be a big deal as 
I can remove the device without stopping
it with seemingly no problems to my 
system (maybe there are problems and I
am too ignorant to know about them? ;).  
You might want to look into seeing
how much work it would take to make 
it appear there.

Second, if I open an app that uses 
the COM port, like HyperTerminal, connect
then physically pull the USB end of 
the plug from my system prior to closing
the app, I get the blue screen of death 
and my computer reboots.  Yeah, sure
I should not be yanking this puppy out 
while something is using it, but you
might want to look into a cleaner way 
of dealing with this.

Finally, I would love to have a web link 
where I can go to update the driver
if 1) I loose the floppy or 2) you make 
updates.

(let me interrupt here with: 
 
The latest On-line Drivers

I do not know if I told you, but I have 
been looking for a cable like this
for quite a while.  The closest I could 
come was a 25-pin cable designed to
connect to a modem.  Your cable is 
*much* better, and I thank you for it.
Furthermore, I have recommended this 
cable to a whole bunch of folks who you
might be hearing from shortly.  
Thanks again!!!









Hi Larry,

I got it to work with the following steps:

Delorme Topo 4.0 Transfer Information
Plug in GPS and turned on
Set GPS to Garmin
Start Computer
Plug in USB to computer
Set port COM5 to 9600,8,None,1,None
Be sure Microsoft Serial BallPoint pointing device is disabled
Unplug USB Replug USB
Start TOPO 4.0
TOPO set at Garmin/Garmin COM5 9600,8,N,1

I purchased it from    gpsnow.com     it cost $53  (oh well)

----- Original Message -----
From: "Pfranc larry" 
To: 
Sent: Friday, June 14, 2002 12:26 AM
Subject: Re: Help with Delorme Topo USA 4.0


> Hi Bill,
>
> Yes it's the same unit I sell and uses the same drivers, so it should
> work.  I import them to the USA from MCT (the manufacture) in Taiwan. 
> Can I ask who you bought it from and how much you paid?
>
> mybest,
> larry,
>
> Purple Computing,
> PO Box 100,
> Murphy, OR 97533
> 541-479-8087
> pfranc.com
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: 
> To: 
> Sent: Thursday, June 13, 2002 7:07 AM
> Subject: PT: Help with Delorme Topo USA 4.0
>
>
> > Sent from Pfranc page URL:
> >
> > Hi Larry,
> > I am using a laptop without any serial plugs.  
> > I have 2 USB plugs.  I am using XP Home Edition.
> > I have a Garmin Etrex Vista.  I am using Delorme 
> > Topo USA 4.0   I purchased a USB to serial cable from
> > another company but I believe it is like you sell.  It has a
> > model number of U232-P9.  If you think this is not like 
> > yours please let me know and I will return it and purchase
> > one from you. The drivers sent on their CD did not 
> > include the XP drivers.  I have been able to get 
> > the XP drivers from the online source you mention
> > and have installed them.  I can get the GPS to send 
> > real time information to the computer.  I can not get 
> > the computer to send waypoints or routes I have 
> > created to the GPS.  Can you help me with this
> > problem?  
> > Thank you in advance for your help.
> > Bill Spinuzzi
> > --------- end of message -------
> >
>



From Mike --  July 3rd, 2002,
------------------------------------------------------------
On your page it says, "Some laptops work when on AC but not on 
batteries! HP Pavilion notebook + XP is one. (17Jun02) solution not yet 
known. It appears that system power management is disabling USB devices 
to conserve power. please let us know (me and Robert Carlson) if you 
discover the solution and I'll post it here."

I saw this address later on in the text and I hope you're the one who 
wanted to know this info.


In XP it's a simple thing to disable the power save "feature" on the usb 
ports. All you do is go into the Device Mangler by clicking the system 
icon in the control panel and then select the tab called Hardware. When 
you click the device mangler button it'll show you all the hardware on 
your machine.Down at the bottom of the listed devices will be USB 
devices. Just expand that list and double-click each USB Root Hub device 
to open it's properties.The power management tab is where you want to be 
so you can uncheck the box that allows the 'puter to power down the 
device when in battery mode.

Hope that helps.

Mike Wright
Salt Lake City




(9/9/02) Problem with Mapsource 4.06 and XP drivers (on the CD we send)???


Larry,

I installed the new driver per your instructions. Now everything works like
a champ.

Thanks,

Bob R.

> > > Hi Bob, try the new drivers here:
> > > http://pfranc.com/usb/usb.shtml
> > > run the uninstall.exe,
> > > reboot,
> > > insert converter,  wait for XP to run the new hardware wizard,
> > > follow directions (but do not let XP choose the drivers!)
> > >
> > > check that the COM# comes and goes when you "re-plug" the converter,
> > > MapS should "auto detect" it.
> > >
> > > if no luck, get it all setup and call me
> > >
> > > mybest,
> > > larry,
> > >
> > > Purple Computing,
> > > PO Box 100,
> > > Murphy, OR 97533
> > > 541-479-8087
> > > pfranc.com
> > >

==========================

> > Larry,
> > I have Mapsource 4.06
> > 
> > The interface works a little. for instance I can upload (gps to laptop)
> > waypoints and maps but not routes or tracks (ie files taking seconds but not
> > minutes). 
> > 
> > Bob
> > 





===========================================================================

9/2/2002 ---- Thursday Island --- Capn Navigation Program.  6.1  PROBLEM - SOLVED

===========================================================================


Hi Maree,

I'm very happy to hear you got it to work OK!

Thanks for the information!  Actually, in many cases our converter does work 
very well with ME and 98 SE - HOWEVER - not in all cases, as there 
are so many variables at play and the biggest, most variable, variable is the 
application software.    It's very possible that the Capn Navigation Program.  6.1
is using the virtual COM port drivers in a way that is not compatible with
an OS prior to Win2K AND our USB-serial drivers - 
and they may not even know it.   It's difficult (impossible) for
application software developers to test their new software on every possible
configuration of older hardware and older operating systems with all
the different USB to serial converters ( which change and improve all the time )
It's actually impossible.  AND there have been 32bit Virtual COM port drivers
in the public domain (used by application software developers) for years
that have BUGS that don't show up with real com ports and some OS's with
some USB-COM drivers. 

There is a point where newer things (like USB to serial converters) need
newer hardware and newer operating systems, AND newer application
software before things can be expected to work right because each are
evolving and each rely on each other.

It's amazing anything works!

Thanks again for your report.  It's my goal to figure out all this so we
can provide solutions to people.  We can now say that Capn 6.1 works
with Win2K --- at least in the configuration that Maree is using.

mybest,
larry,

Purple Computing,
PO Box 100, 
Murphy, OR 97533
541-479-8087
pfranc.com


----- Original Message ----- 
From: Ms Maree Cross 
To: Pfranc larry 
Sent: Friday, August 30, 2002 11:53 PM
Subject: Re: H.E.L.P. in capital letters


Thanks Larry for answering my plea.

We have finally fixed the problem.
HOW you may well ask

Well we tried every concievable thing.
finally we took the operqting system (ME) off and loaded 98 SE   
same thing didn't work.

SO loaded windows 2000 downloaded the driver and presto  it works .

So conclusion  the drivers supplied for the net for ME and 98  DON'T WORK.  
Someone should tell them.

Thanks again Larry hope this helps someone else.

Regards

Maree
----- Original Message ----- 
From: Pfranc larry 
To: Ms Maree Cross 
Sent: Wednesday, August 28, 2002 6:01 AM
Subject: Re: H.E.L.P. in capital letters


Hi Maree,

What often foils our efforts are our assumptions being wrong which
cause us to look in the wrong place for a solution to a problem.
The assumption that because an application software program works
with a real COM port means it should work with a virtual COM port is wrong.

The "kids" write this software stuff, test it on a real COM port and ship it!  
Bugs can be everywhere!  And not just in the application it self but also 
the drivers they chose to use to interface with Windows, or even in Windows, 
and of course the MCT drivers too... so you see --- there is oppurtunity 
everywhere for this to fail.  On the otherside -  the sun is very bright and 
the possibilities for fast easy fun computing are almost boundless - 
but there is a price to pay to use all the new stuff, which is, getting more 
new stuff.  USB is new stuff and doesn't work well with old stuff.   ME 
should be OK but it's a pretty lame OS and getting old.  We've had 
really great luck with XP.  It's come a long way.    When was the last 
update to the Capn Nav program?  We've helped many application 
software providers find the problems in their software - buggy drivers that 
they may be using, ... and if they want to continue supporting their stuff, 
they will have to address these USB virtual COM port things as the REAL 
ones are all going away.

If I was you, I would purchase the XP home upgrade, or a new laptop that
includes XP.

Best of luck, and I'd really like to know what you discover, though it's
too late for you, maybe we can save someone else many hours of frustration.

mybest,
larry,

Purple Computing,
PO Box 100, 
Murphy, OR 97533
541-479-8087
pfranc.com


----- Original Message ----- 
From: Ms Maree Cross 
To: larry@pfranc.com 
Sent: Tuesday, August 27, 2002 3:55 AM
Subject: H.E.L.P. in capital letters

Dear Larry,

I am writing to you in utter desperation.

I have a Garmin 11 Plus GPS. 
Compaq Presario 17XL482 running Windows ME
328 mg ram
20 gig harddrive.

NO SERIAL PORTS  AAAAAAAAAAAGH!!!!!!!

I have purchased ( over 12 months ago) a USB  U232-P9 CE  FCC  Converter.

I installed it and could not get it to work. 
I am using Capn Navigation Program.  6.1

Firstly with the original driver supplied, then with 
several others offered to me to try to solve the problem.
Many, many, many hours of frustration, and ---------- 
,
Situation now I have contacted MCT . It took them two months 
to get back to me with a new driver which I did then the computer crashed.

New hard drive and complete system re-installation  later I 
contacted them again and downloaded their latest driver  (Phillips)

I get the messages  found on com port 2
Have gps
listening

THEN   " NO FIX"

I have a docking station and when I go straight  nine pin to nine pin all works beautifully . 
So I know its not the progam and not the GPS.

I e-mailed MCT again and they sent me another driver 
that they said was for my gps

tried this same thing.

All works through the hypertermnal.

What can I do know. 

Signed   "Desperate"
alias Maree Cross
Thursday Island  Australia.

=======================================================================================

----- Original Message ----- 
From: Greg Cox 
To: 'Pfranc larry' 
Sent: Friday, September 06, 2002 2:41 PM
Subject: Yaaa Hooo!!!


Yaaa Hooo!  It works just like we planned!

The problem was on my end.  It took me about 15 hours 
to discover the solution by grinding through tons of 
wrong guesses.  But once I found the fix, it was 
embarrassingly quick and simple.  I was using a 
Dell Inspiron 8000 that I had upgraded from Win2K 
to WinXP.  The upgrade was working so well that I 
did not realize the computer needed more fine tuning.  
Running out of ideas, I tried downloading and installing 
BIOS and video driver updates.  It was amazingly easy 
and took about 15 minutes.  Presto, the GPS started 
working flawlessly with both programs simultaneously.  

You get an A+ for birthing a gee-whiz gadget.  
I get a C- for taking so long to find such an easy fix.

Tell your Win XP customers who may have problems to:
1)  Upgrade their BIOS and video driver with an easy 
     download from their computer maker's support site
2)  Load the latest driver for the USB to Serial converter
3)  Have some beers and get some sleep with the 
    15 hours they won't waste finding steps 1 & 2 listed above.

I suspect it would now take me about 3 minutes of true 
plug and play to get everything to work on an appropriately 
configured WinXP machine.

Greg Cox
Cox Land Company
1621 Walden Pond Lane
Waxhaw, NC 28173

Office:  704-243-2002
Fax:     704-243-2003
Cell:    704-577-1200
gregcox@carolina.rr.com 


================================================================

A very interesting and complete post by David A. Smith 
----------------------------------------------------------------------------


Okay here is what I found;

First a little background imformation. I am using a 
Dell Inspirion 2650 laptop with a P4 @ 1.4 GHZ with 
XP and of course no serial but 2 USB ports and the 
latest version of CAPN Mosaic (I think). I am using 
GPS data from a handheld Garmin GPS 76 and a 
fixed mount Furuno GP-30 in my boat. My previous 
experience with a converter was with a IOGEAR 
GUC232 unit (same as ATEN I think) and it's
 performance was very similar to the others I have
 read in this post.

My primary problem with it was the blue screen 
thing. This would happen anytime that the GPS 
datastream was running and CAPN wasnt. So 
this means if I tried to boot the computer or shut 
the CAPN down or even sometimes when the
 Laptop timed out and fell asleep I would get 
that blue screen. The recovery from that blue 
screen sometimes took several minutes. This 
scared me alot and I considered this very 
unreliable and distracting, especially when 
trying to handle a boat at the same time. A 
less major concern (but still annoying) was 
that the CAPN sometimes lost the GPS signal 
and I would have to do a "find GPS data" to 
recover it. Also it was sometimes several 
minutes before the CAPN would give me "
have GPS" upon start up. 

So I received the new converter ( MCT from 
WWW.PFRANC.COM) and tried to install it. 
When I plugged it in XP recognised it as the 
old (IOGEAR) converter and when I tried 
manually to install it XP said that it saw no 
new hardware (gotta love that plug n play 
stuff ??)I solved this by uninstalling the 
IOGEAR and then plugging in the new (MCT) 
converter. Then all went just the way Bill Gates 
says it should. I then updated the driver 
(ver 2.60) from the link on PFRANC website 
as per their instructions (basically another 
uninstall unplug and replug and add new 
hardware thing) and then I was set to go. The 
unit worked great right off the bat giving me
 instant "have GPS" when the CAPN was 
opened and causing no problems when the 
CAPN was closed. I was able to do everything
 while the gps data stream was active 
including booting, shutting down running Word 
and accessing AOL. I was only able to get a 
blue screen by unplugging and replugging the 
USB end of the converter while the CAPN was 
off(and the GPS data stream flowing). 
(the PFRANC website warned of this) I tried it 
on my boat and hooked it up to my handheld 
and drove to and from work with the CAPN 
running-worked perfectly. And then just as I was 
going to declare victory the serial ball mouse 
problem jumped out of nowhere. (after probably 
20-25 problem free boots)So remembering 
what CAL3D had wrote here (and some other 
people elsewhere) I disabled the serial mouse 
and the "hid compliant" mouse that popped 
up after him and all is well again.(it is quite 
difficult to make all those checkboxes to disable 
while the gps is causing the cursor to jump all 
over) I have now probably another 20 or so
 boots without any trouble (especially the blue
 screen) So far the GPS stream has no ill effect 
on the operation of the system.

I know maybe everyones problems are'nt the 
same as mine but I think this one is worth a 
try. I was ready to look for another computer
 and now I am all set(as long as no more 
problems pop up).

Good Luck, please post your results


PS

Somethings for the less computer savvy 
people (like me)

1) Don't try to uninstall your offending mouse 
(like I did) it must be disabled or it will reinstall 
itself at the next boot. (uninstall and disable
 are both functions in the device manager)

2) When I downloaded the new driver I put it 
on a 3.5 floppy and when I performed the "add 
new hardware-searching for drivers" XP 
could'nt find them. I ended up grabbing the
 two driver files for XP (a .ini and a .sys) and 
pulling them out of the folder and putting them
 in the root. XP then found them.

 NOTE: comment from larry about the above: 
try telling the Found New Hardware Wizard to 
"(*) Install form list" and (*) Don't search I will choose
and [HAVE DISK] then [Browse] to where 
you put the driver (.sys and .INF) files.  If you try
this and it works well - please confirm to me.


3) In regards to the serial ball mouse problem 
that just popped up after 20 or so boots, is this 
possible?? Sounds strange to me but could 
XP just learn this?? or is it something I did 
without trying???

4) Just a note---even with the serial ball mouse 
problem the system didnt blue screen or lock 
up it just jumped the cursor around the screen 
sometimes drawing boxes.

David A. Smith,
(9-Oct-2002)
Hi Larry, my name is: Dick

Just wanted to let you know that I used your USB>Serial Converter to successfully interface my Magellan Meridian Gold GPS to my Compaq Presido 2800 laptop. The only tweek I had to make was to change the original COMM Port assignment to 2, from 5 using Window XP's Device Manager.

Thanks,
Dick
--------- end of message -------

Back to my main USB page
Main page for Purple Computing is here.