USB to serial driver problem

[woodsman]

Hello all

Win 7 machine. I had my S4 working fine and it seems to me I had to use this Prolific driver I have saved. I had a crash and lost communication to the S4, went to device MGR, yellow exclamation point next to other devices/USB to serial controllers.
I click on it, says no driver installed, I select driver and then select update driver. Search automatically fails and manually I search my computer and select the folder (and sub folders) that says Win 2K_XP (I think this is the 1 I used before and it was fine.).
Windows cannot find this driver message.
The actual driver in my stored Win 2K_XP folder is listed as ser2pl.sys Prolific V 2.0.0.26
I am at my wits end.
Thank you for any assistance. The prolific driver site won't come up for me.
Woodsman

[woodsman]

AHHHH, I got it. I found the installer zip file and all is good in Win 7 mode , the 2 usb's are COM 3 and COM 4 but in virtual XP mode I cannot get the S4 to connect. Not sure what to do there. Port parameters always show 1 or 2 in the S4 screen on the PC with the S4 connected or not, but device manager in virtual XP shows COM 3 or COM 4.

Another thing when it does work, my checksums only check 0000-FFFE half the time I need it to checksum 0000-FFFF and I don't know why it does this.

Thanks.

[Dataman (Neil Parker)]

Hello woodsman,

Regarding the checksum range, the Green keys on the S4 that match the ZIF colour relate to functions directly with the device in the ZIF, the light Grey buttons on the right perform functions with the S4 user RAM.

The Green SUM key will always sum the address range of the current selected device (PROM). Whereas the light Grey SUM key will sum the contents of the user RAM and it is this address range that can be modified using the arrow keys and alpha numeric keypad to move and enter different values.

If you are still having problems with this please let me know.

Regards
Neil Parker
Dataman Programmers

[woodsman]

Hi Neil,

The orange buttons on the S4 do not work any more due to years and years of use and I have to do everything from the PC and that's where the problem is. Uploads, downloads, checksums get screwed up due to it not using the very last memory location about half the time, FFFF.
Doesn't matter what computer I use, win 7 or XP same thing. I can deal with it but if there was a software patch that would fix this that would be great. I use V2.17. Maybe I can get a screenshot of what i am talking about.
However, because these things are ancient history I don't expect that to happen and I must say the S4 has been a great device overall and I wish to thank Dataman for the great service and support over the years. Seems I have had this S4 since the 90's.

OK , I got a screenshot and edited this...I uploaded a file from the S4 to the PC and on the left you see 3000 to 3FFF but it didn't check all the locations as you can see, 3000-3FFE. The good thing is I always have 00 in 3FFF.
Sometimes it locks up if I try to move a file and call it 4000-4FFF for example when it is 1 off and actually 4000-4FFE and it is a HUGE pain when this happens.
It is in BIN mode.
Thanks
Steve

[woodsman]

My memory is coming back, it has been a while since I needed the S4 because i have been out of the car computer biz for several years but I still do it from time to time........this software error never happened back in the old days when using the S4DOS software and is consistent with working with .bin files using the windows software. If I remember correctly it is not something the engineers wanted to tackle because they were onto bigger and better things... BUT, if you have any tips, tricks or magic up your sleeve to solve this mystery that would be great .
Thanks !
Steve

[Dataman (Neil Parker)]

Hello woodsman,

Thank you for the positive feedback on the S4 and our support, its always nice to hear!

We still repair the S4 programmer for a fixed cost which would get your S4 back in full working order if you were interested, it sounds like your keypad has seen better days.

Regarding the S4 driver software, I would like you to try the previous version v2.16 available here and let me know if the situation improves.

Best regards,
Neil Parker
Dataman Programmers

[woodsman]

I've tried all the windows versions over the years Neil but I'll try 2.16 again after a while but it will do the same thing as it did before. It is something associated with working with .bin files. Some kind of glitch that has carried on through all the versions. You can see it on the screen. Either that or operator error of some kind.
When it locks up I know what happens and I'll look at FFFF and there will be erronious data in there sometimes then I will change it to 00 before I do a checksum. Then if I upload 4000 to 4FFFE for example and it won't lock up. I just manually keep 00 in the last location when I download to the S4 before I burn the file to a chip. The burn function works ok, it will do all of the locations.
Thanks for the keyboard offer but i am sure it is big bucks for as little as I use this S4 these days, I would probably be farther ahead just staying miserable using the windows software LOL

Thanks !
Steve

[khewei]

Hi
Most of the time, I'm only using the S4 to copy program between eprom.
Now I need to transfer hex file from PC to S4 for subsequent eprom copying.
I used a USB to printer parallel cable to connect but no handshake between the two.
Any advise on this connectivity problem? Seem like some kind of driver missing.
I've already installed the S4 software program V2.16 for windows.
Thanks
Kevin

[Dataman (Neil Parker)]

Hello Kevin,

The S4 has a serial port not parallel. This is described in the user manual which is available from the resources section of our website.

We sell both the serial cable and a USB-to-serial adaptor on our website.

S3/S4 Serial Cable
S4 USB Adapter

There is also an application note on transferring a new library to the S4 from the PC which covers some of the setup and operation of the S4 software over the serial link: http://www.dataman.com/dataman-s4-resources

If you have any questions, please contact me

Best regards,

Neil Parker