Everything works fine with my MEgajolt Lite Jr when connecting to my older desktop (Windows XP) through the serial port. Found my laptop (Vista) doesn't have a serial port so bought a Nikkai "USB to Serial Converter" and (eventually, after hunting for a driver!!) got that installed. When I plug this in to a USB port the PC recognises it and Device Manager shows "Ports" and lists a "USB to Serial" port. I set the port baud rate etc as listed in the Installation Guide. I've restarted the laptop. However, when I connect the Megajolt it just doesn't seem to talk to the laptop (the Configurator loads OK).
If I recheck with my desktop PC all is ok, but with my laptop nothing happens. Any help very welcome ...
Regards
John.
Connection to laptop with Vista
Moderators: JeffC, rdoherty, stieg, brentp
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Kingswoodjohn
- Posts: 6
- Joined: Wed Jul 29, 2009 6:20 pm
- Location: Trowbridge, Wiltshire
Connection to laptop with Vista
John Corfield
Membership Secretary & XR2 Driver
Bristol Pegasus Motor Club
Membership Secretary & XR2 Driver
Bristol Pegasus Motor Club
Obvious, but did you set the COM-port the USB serial adapter is working at in the configurator software ?
I'm using an USB-adapter too (but on XP), and sometimes the USB- adapter chooses a COM-port that the configurator software can't be set to.
I'm using an USB-adapter too (but on XP), and sometimes the USB- adapter chooses a COM-port that the configurator software can't be set to.
All those who believe in telekinesis, raise my hand now !
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Kingswoodjohn
- Posts: 6
- Joined: Wed Jul 29, 2009 6:20 pm
- Location: Trowbridge, Wiltshire
WooHoo!!!! Success - The Configurator was set to COM1 and the USB-Serial Converter was set up on COM13. Reset the Configurator to COM13 from the Tools>Configurator Options and all is well. I had noticed a "cannot open port" message in the bottom of the Configurator window but being a bit of an 'end-user' it didn't mean anything to me - duh! If you're ever gonna be in Trowbridge let me know and I'll buy you a pint (or two).
Best regards
John.
Best regards
John.
John Corfield
Membership Secretary & XR2 Driver
Bristol Pegasus Motor Club
Membership Secretary & XR2 Driver
Bristol Pegasus Motor Club
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Kingswoodjohn
- Posts: 6
- Joined: Wed Jul 29, 2009 6:20 pm
- Location: Trowbridge, Wiltshire
Darn it - spoke too soon!!!! Success was achieved on my wife's old laptop running XP. Now I'm trying on my newish laptop running Vista I'm getting closer but I get a "Timeout reading ignition configuration" message quickly overwritten by a "Timeout reading cylinder count" message. I've compared port settings on both laptops and all seems to be the same so I'm stuck again. Any help on this one please?
John Corfield
Membership Secretary & XR2 Driver
Bristol Pegasus Motor Club
Membership Secretary & XR2 Driver
Bristol Pegasus Motor Club
Hm,
You mentioned installing drivers for the USB adapter. Did you do so as well on the Vista machine ? (Personally I don't like Vista at all, and avoid it at all cost).
I remember finding and installing drivers on my latest XP being a bit of a hastle.
Secondly, it might be so simple as the cable isn't properly inserted in the DB9 contact in MJLJ ! That has happened to me more than once.
And, I'm in Norway - so I'll have to pass on that beer.
But thanks anyway !
You mentioned installing drivers for the USB adapter. Did you do so as well on the Vista machine ? (Personally I don't like Vista at all, and avoid it at all cost).
I remember finding and installing drivers on my latest XP being a bit of a hastle.
Secondly, it might be so simple as the cable isn't properly inserted in the DB9 contact in MJLJ ! That has happened to me more than once.
And, I'm in Norway - so I'll have to pass on that beer.
But thanks anyway !All those who believe in telekinesis, raise my hand now !
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Kingswoodjohn
- Posts: 6
- Joined: Wed Jul 29, 2009 6:20 pm
- Location: Trowbridge, Wiltshire
Thanks for the further hints. I did struggle to get the driver for Vista but eventually found one on-line and got the port working (Device Manager said all ok). I even had a second USB to Serial Converter (different manufacturer) so ended up with a true back-to-back situation whereby, whichever combination I tried, I was ok on my wife's old XP laptop but not on the Vista laptop -with the Vista laptop giving the same 'timeout' message in all cases despite all settings (that I could see) synchronised.
Anyway, my wife has kindly donated her old laptop to my worthy cause (it's been shut away in a cupboard for year!) and I'm giving up on Vista (which I also do not rate at all in terms of user friendliness). My son (also my XR2 co-driver) is wiser than I am and if we do find a solution then I'll post it for sure. In the meantime (and I did notice your Oslo location ) the offer of a beer stands - you never know! 
Regards
John.
Anyway, my wife has kindly donated her old laptop to my worthy cause (it's been shut away in a cupboard for year!) and I'm giving up on Vista (which I also do not rate at all in terms of user friendliness). My son (also my XR2 co-driver) is wiser than I am and if we do find a solution then I'll post it for sure. In the meantime (and I did notice your Oslo location
) the offer of a beer stands - you never know! Regards
John.
John Corfield
Membership Secretary & XR2 Driver
Bristol Pegasus Motor Club
Membership Secretary & XR2 Driver
Bristol Pegasus Motor Club
serial/USB??
Has anyone managed to use a Vista laptop with a serial/USB convertor yet??....if so which convertor from where?
thanks
john
thanks
john
We actually use Vista for our development machine(s). And we use a USB-Serial adapter with one of the chipsets made by Prolific.
It can be a bit of a crap-shoot as you're mixing USB-Serial driver versions, hardware chipset versions, and different OS versions in varying levels of service packs / patches, and finally with varying levels of 3rd party software drivers layered on top.
Recently, we worked with a community member from Australia having problems with an adapter also using the Prolific chipset- it would not work on their machine, regardless of their extensive troubleshooting efforts. I believe it was Vista. They sent us the adapter for testing, and it worked immediately for us on both XP and vista, using their latest driver.
You can imagine all of the possibilities for fun. The purest way for testing functionality is a virgin OS install, patched to the latest service pack, and with the latest USB-Serial drivers, using a high quality, known-to-work chipset. This is often not practical for users, since much time goes into customizing / configuring their computer, and teeth gnashing ensues...
We have a page here that talks about known-compatible chipsets:
http://www.autosportlabs.net/USB-serial_adapters
It can be a bit of a crap-shoot as you're mixing USB-Serial driver versions, hardware chipset versions, and different OS versions in varying levels of service packs / patches, and finally with varying levels of 3rd party software drivers layered on top.
Recently, we worked with a community member from Australia having problems with an adapter also using the Prolific chipset- it would not work on their machine, regardless of their extensive troubleshooting efforts. I believe it was Vista. They sent us the adapter for testing, and it worked immediately for us on both XP and vista, using their latest driver.
You can imagine all of the possibilities for fun.
The purest way for testing functionality is a virgin OS install, patched to the latest service pack, and with the latest USB-Serial drivers, using a high quality, known-to-work chipset. This is often not practical for users, since much time goes into customizing / configuring their computer, and teeth gnashing ensues...We have a page here that talks about known-compatible chipsets:
http://www.autosportlabs.net/USB-serial_adapters