Problems with new Dongle

[LAF]

I've moved this discussion from the TidBits section (You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login).

I am having trouble getting a newly-built Dongle to be recognized by Windows.

I used the VCP set up executable file (CDM20600.exe) in the laptop (running Windows XP Tablet Edition).  But, after I plug the device with the USB cord (2 different ones tried) into the laptop, nothing happens. Windows does not seem to recognize that the device is connected. I tried reloading the software (even with internet disconnected, as suggested by FTDI) and still no luck.

I was going to uninstall the drivers and reinstall, but even after reviewing the documentation file (You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login), I could not determine which files within Windows to delete to uninstall.

I would appreciate some help in determining if the drivers are loaded correctly, how to uninstall and reinstall, or if there is something else that may be the cause of my difficulties.

Thanks in advance.

Larry F

By the way, the chip on the USB adapter from Mouser says the chip is FT245BL, but the documentation at Mouser says the processor supported is 245BM... I suspect that does not make a difference because it is the same driver from FTDI, but thought I'd mention it.

Also, I already checked all the USB adapter's joints on the Dongle PCB - they look OK to me.

[LAF]

An update... Even though I had tried 2 USB cables already (both >6 feet long), I decided to try a 3rd (it is amazing I have so many of these laying around).

When I plugged it in, Windows recognized it, but stated the device would not install properly. Under device manager, under USB controllers, it had something listed (do not remember what) with an exclamation point.

I disconnected the USB, and now when I plug it in again, I get nothing. Back to square 1.

I remember this happened when trying the 2nd USB cable - it worked initially, but nothing afterwards.

[RJ]

FTDI has a utility that uninstalls all it. I have never used it but did see it somewhere? Make sure your module is pulled in well with no bent pins.

RJ

[austindave]

Hi Larry,

Sorry I didn't chime in earlier... I hadn't gotten that far with the Dongle construction & installation.

Anyway, I finished up construction this evening, installed the driver & connected it. In my case, everything seems to be working properly. However, I did a little looking around and (think I) figured out how to uninstall the driver.

On XP, open Control Panel, then open Add or Remove Programs (it'll take a couple of minutes to open & populate the Currently installed programs list). Scroll down in the list to find "Windows Driver Package - FTDI CDM Driver Package (10/22/2009 2.06.00)" and click on it. Then click on the "Change/Remove" button that appears in the highlighting.

It looks like you need to reboot after uninstalling the driver package (I told it to remove the driver, then plugged the device in - it still detected the device & loaded the driver properly).

And for reference, the Device Manager reports the device in the Ports (COM & LPT) section as a USB Serial Port.

Hope this helps.

--Dave

Update: Larry, I found that the add / remove program thing didn't work - when I plugged the dongle back in after removing the driver (through add / remove programs) & rebooting, the dongle was detected & seemed to work properly.

HOWEVER, I built 2 dongles at the same time, when I plugged the second one in, it couldn't find the driver. So I told Windows to let me configure the driver. I had downloaded the file "FTDI Driver - CDM 2.06.00 WHQL Certified.zip" previously (but I used the .EXE to install the driver on my first pass, 'cause that's usually a little easier). But to install the second copy, I opened the zip file, copied the directory structure in the zip into my directory, then pointed the HW Detected driver installer to the driver directory. Note that there are two driver parts, so you'll go through the same process (pointing the HW detect installer to the CDM 2.06.00 WHQL Certified directory). As soon as I did that, everything worked properly.

So you should be able to initiate the process from the Device Manager (where the exclamation point is shown next to the device) & have it update the driver in this manner.

Hope this helps.

--Dave

[LAF]

FTDI has a utility that uninstalls all it. I have never used it but did see it somewhere? Make sure your module is pulled in well with no bent pins.

RJ

They no longer have their uninstall program.

I checked the module's connection to the PCB - it looks OK to me.

[LAF]

Update: Larry, I found that the add / remove program thing didn't work - when I plugged the dongle back in after removing the driver (through add / remove programs) & rebooting, the dongle was detected & seemed to work properly.

HOWEVER, I built 2 dongles at the same time, when I plugged the second one in, it couldn't find the driver. So I told Windows to let me configure the driver. I had downloaded the file "FTDI Driver - CDM 2.06.00 WHQL Certified.zip" previously (but I used the .EXE to install the driver on my first pass, 'cause that's usually a little easier). But to install the second copy, I opened the zip file, copied the directory structure in the zip into my directory, then pointed the HW Detected driver installer to the driver directory. Note that there are two driver parts, so you'll go through the same process (pointing the HW detect installer to the CDM 2.06.00 WHQL Certified directory). As soon as I did that, everything worked properly.

So you should be able to initiate the process from the Device Manager (where the exclamation point is shown next to the device) & have it update the driver in this manner.

Hope this helps.

--Dave

Thanks so much for your help. The problem with me using your method of updating through device manager is that the USB serial port listing is not there at all.  

I really think it is a problem with the module - maybe I have a bad one or somehow I ruined it when building the board. I cannot be sure, however; I need to figure out a way to test it - maybe get one working and then I will know.

I wonder - how much of the Dongle board to I need to have put together for the USB adapter to work? I have the parts for a 2nd Dongle, but I was thinking of soldering the USB adapter without the other items first, so I can check the adapter sooner rather than later.

[RJ]

With it's socket soldered to the pcb insert the USB. I think this is all that you need for it to be found by the computer. I bet you have a correpted setup on the computer but we have seen a couple bad usb modules. Very few compared to as many as has been built.

RJ

[austindave]

Hi Larry,

A question for you about the behavior you've seen when you connected the USB interface... Do you have multiple USB ports on your system? Is it possible you plugged the device into different ports the two times you saw it work? If that's the case, and you have another port on the system, plugging into another port should cause the driver to try to install again.

I'm thinking you're not seeing the driver attempting to load on subsequent attempts (after a failure) because there is a checkbox that's presented during one of the (failed) driver install dialogs saying something to the effect of "Don't notify me about this failure again", which is checked by default (so if you don't actively un-check the box, you'll never see it try to install the driver to that port again).

Now, I'm sure there's a way to force the driver to re-install...

When you say that the USB serial port listing isn't there at all, are you checking with the dongle plugged-in? If not, plug it in, wait a few seconds, then open device manager. If the "bang" (the device error indicator) isn't shown, try a refresh (Action > Scan for hardware changes). I'm hoping this will display the device (in which case, you can deal with it).

Now, there may be another way to go about this... The FTDI driver uses a couple of files - ftser2k.sys and ftserui2.dll. If you "hide" these files from Windows, it may allow a reinstall. Here's what I suggest. In Windows XP, there are two driver directories - C:\Windows\system32\drivers and C:\Windows\LastGood\system32\drivers. If you go to each of these directories and rename the two files *in both of the directories* to something else (like "hideftser2k.sys" and "hideftserui2.dll"), Windows won't know where they went after a reboot. This might let you reinstall the drivers. The reason I say to "hide" them in this way (rather than delete them) is that some other piece of hardware may need them - and if you're not able to make this work (quickly), you can return them to their original state, no harm, no foul.

Make sense?

--Dave

[jnealand]

I got the attached document from Lightorama, but since I believe both of the dongles use the FTDI chip that the information is useful for the Lynx Dongle as well.

[austindave]

According to the FTDI App note #104 (You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login - see section 3), FTDI no longer provides a driver removal tool. However, they do provide a little information about how to manually do it (if you can't get the device to show up in the Device Manager).

Here's a practical procedure:
1. Open a Command prompt on your Windows XP system (Start > All Programs > Accessories > Command Prompt).
2. In the DOS box (command prompt), enter 'CD \windows\inf' (without the quotes, replacing "windows" with the location for your windows installation, if necessary, making sure to use backward slashes). Press Enter.
3. Type 'find "VID_0403&PID_6001" /I oem*.inf' (using double-quotes around "VID_0403&PID_6001"), and press Enter.
4. There will (probably) be a long listing of files. Scroll back through the list, looking for entries that show more than just the filename. Some will show contents like this:
   %USB\VID_0403&PID_6001.DeviceDesc%=FtdiBus.NT,USB\VID_0403&PID_6001
   %USB\VID_0403&PID_6001.DeviceDesc%=FtdiBus.NTamd64,USB\VID_0403&PID_6001
      USB\VID_0403&PID_6001.DeviceDesc="USB Serial Converter"
Note the filenames for these files. In my case, they're OEM109.INF and OEM110.INF (yours will probably be different).
5. I'd suggest RENAMING these files with a new extension, so they can be easily restored if it creates any problems. Do this by entering 'rename OEM109.INF OEM109.OLD' (replacing "OEM109" with the correct file names for your system).
6. Now, you have to do some of the same stuff for the actual driver files. In the DOS box, change directories by entering 'cd c:\Windows\system32\drivers' and hitting Enter.
7. Rename the "ftser2k.sys" and "ftserui2.dll" files to something like "hideftser2k.sys" (I'm adding "hide" before the file names, so Windows won't see them, but you can easily find them if necessary).
8. Change directories to C:\Windows\LastGood\system32\drivers. Rename the "ftser2k.sys" and "ftserui2.dll" files as above.
9. Reboot the system.

You should now be able to connect the dongle & re-attempt the driver installation.

I'll try to provide more detail later...

--Dave

[LAF]

I sent an email to FTDI about uninstalling the drivers, and even though their support pages state they do not have the uninstaller anymore, the support tech at FTDI gave me the following link:

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I have not yet tried this (too busy with my real job), but will. I will also try rebuilding the Dongle, or at least just putting in the USB adapter in a new PCB.

I appreciate the effort made in trying to solve this. I will let you know what happens.

[spider236]

i found this:

CDM Uninstaller 1.4 - Windows Device Driver Uninstaller

here:

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[RJ]

Guys maybe you didn't notice but this post was 9 months ago. I hope he has it working but he never replied back.

RJ