benhen31 Posted September 24, 2014 Posted September 24, 2014 Hi, We have several promethean boards that when used with our newest laptops refuse to connect automatically (using serial>usb converters). Using the manual 'Find' button from within the Activ Control Panel works fine, but our teachers are becoming less than impressed with having to do this faff every morning, or every time they unplug their laptop. I've seen reports that rolling back to the 5.7 driver will fix this auto-connect issue, but I can't find that version of the driver anywhere. Does anyone have a copy of 5.7 ActivDriver they can give me? Many thanks, Ben.
plexer Posted September 24, 2014 Posted September 24, 2014 Can you convert the boards to usb with all except for very very old models it was a case of just plugging in the promethan usb a to usb b cable Ben
hardtailstar Posted September 24, 2014 Posted September 24, 2014 The 5.7 indeed does work, I rolled back to this as we have a range of Win7 and 8 machines both 32 and 64 bit. Promethean have the driver, give them a call. That's what I did and they sent it to me.
pooley Posted September 24, 2014 Posted September 24, 2014 I have the x64 version of 5.7 if you need it? it's about 20mb
benhen31 Posted September 24, 2014 Author Posted September 24, 2014 (edited) I have the x64 version of 5.7 if you need it? it's about 20mb Yes please Pooley, that'll do nicely. bhenderson AT huntingdonprimary.cambs.sch.uk Can you convert the boards to usb with all except for very very old models it was a case of just plugging in the promethan usb a to usb b cable I'll see if they have a USB socket on them - they are very old so may not! I take it you'd leave the serial connected with the power jack in and just run the USB straight to the laptop? Edited September 24, 2014 by benhen31
plexer Posted September 24, 2014 Posted September 24, 2014 Yes please Pooley, that'll do nicely. bhenderson AT huntingdonprimary.cambs.sch.uk I'll see if they have a USB socket on them - they are very old so may not! I take it you'd leave the serial connected with the power jack in and just run the USB straight to the laptop? Yeah that'll do it I think they used to do a power only cable you could swap it with as well, newer boards went to usb only which can be a pain. Ben
pooley Posted September 24, 2014 Posted September 24, 2014 Yes please Pooley, that'll do nicely. bhenderson AT huntingdonprimary.cambs.sch.uk Sent mate 1
phillyrovers Posted September 24, 2014 Posted September 24, 2014 Hi benhen31, This issue is something we are aware of, and is with our development team to be looked into for a future version. The links for the 5.7 driver are below: 32 bit: https://promethean.box.com/s/c1x3nbcora39jv3cw8sr 64bit: https://promethean.box.com/s/acu3ekh5oo59c8yijpax Thank you
benhen31 Posted September 29, 2014 Author Posted September 29, 2014 Hi benhen31, This issue is something we are aware of, and is with our development team to be looked into for a future version. The links for the 5.7 driver are below: 32 bit: https://promethean.box.com/s/c1x3nbcora39jv3cw8sr 64bit: https://promethean.box.com/s/acu3ekh5oo59c8yijpax Thank you Thanks phillyrovers for those links - Box tells me I don't have permission to download them though. Any chance of an alternative link? Thanks, Ben.
phillyrovers Posted September 30, 2014 Posted September 30, 2014 Hi Ben, I have amended the permissions on the links. Please try again ) Thank you
garethEds Posted October 1, 2014 Posted October 1, 2014 Hi there, Just jumping into the thread - when you choose 'Automatic Start' in the driver Control Panel what changes? Is it registry? Is it in the profile? Is there something we can change with a .mst? I am aware that the 5.7 driver worked but the 5.9 driver does not - but some flag somewhere must change when it is clicked. Gareth
garethEds Posted October 1, 2014 Posted October 1, 2014 A quick registry compare shows that the following keys gets changed when setting Automatic Start. I guess this could then be set by a GPP. HKLM\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\services\ActivHidSerMini\Parameters\ActivPortStart: 0x00000000 to HKLM\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\services\ActivHidSerMini\Parameters\ActivPortStart: 0x00000001 and HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\ActivHidSerMini\Parameters\ActivPortStart: 0x00000000 to HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\ActivHidSerMini\Parameters\ActivPortStart: 0x00000001 I'll test it later. Gareth 1
garethEds Posted December 5, 2014 Posted December 5, 2014 Cannot believe this has not been fixed in the 5.10 driver version. GJE
PotNoodleTech Posted December 5, 2014 Posted December 5, 2014 The Serial boards needed to be plugged in before the PC(or laptop) was booted up in order to work. Not sure how the USB converter affects this, but you may find things are more reliable if the board is plugged in, then the laptop is booted up?
phillyrovers Posted December 8, 2014 Posted December 8, 2014 Hi All, This issue is still with our development team to be resolved. As soon as we have any update we will post them on here. Thank you
Tallwood_6 Posted January 2, 2015 Posted January 2, 2015 Can someone re publish the 5.7 drivers I only have the 32bit version and I'm having the startup issue as well on a new batch of PC's running win 7 64bit.
gerardsweeney Posted May 12, 2015 Posted May 12, 2015 Hi All, This issue is still with our development team to be resolved. As soon as we have any update we will post them on here. It's STILL an issue with the very latest drivers. Changing the registry keys suggested above works once. Change them and reboot, you're good. As soon as the ActivControl launches, it resets the key values back to port 1 and the board stops working at the next reboot. Can this PLEASE be looked at as a matter of some urgency? I'm about to roll out a few hundred COM-port-less PCs. Running a 5M USB cable isn't an option - the boards are wall-mounted on a cabinet enclosure. I'd need to get our building's Facilities management to remove the backing of each one to get at the thing. Not going to happen. I raised a call with Tech Support, saying quite specifically that I didn't want to roll back to 5.7, as we are endeavouring to have all boards running with the same version. The suggestion in the reply - roll back to 5.7. Exasperated sighs may have followed
SHimmer45 Posted May 12, 2015 Posted May 12, 2015 had something similar with a PCi-e Com port where for a couple of users would login and the board would not connect unless they clicked the find button, deleting all the active software settings in the profile and rebooting seems to have fixed the issue and they connect automatically without prompting, this is with the 5.9 driver on win7
chazzy2501 Posted May 12, 2015 Posted May 12, 2015 if you email their technical support with the serial number of any one of your boards they'll give you a link to the older version. Mine has never auto connected properly but the latest package fails to work with serial boards at all!
phillyrovers Posted May 12, 2015 Posted May 12, 2015 Hi All, This issue is still with our development team, at this time we have not been provided with an update as to when or even if they are going to fix this issue. Promethean have not released a Serial connected device since the AC2 board in 2004. I can appreciate the frustration that this issue is causing, however rest assured that the correct teams within Promethean have got this in their queues to be considered. Thank you
gerardsweeney Posted May 12, 2015 Posted May 12, 2015 rest assured that the correct teams within Promethean have got this in their queues to be considered. If I bought them a pint, would they bump it up their job queue a bit? (I don't offer to buy pints to just anyone y'know! Scottish, and all that jazz)
NikChillin Posted August 20, 2015 Posted August 20, 2015 Is there an update on this yet? Still getting default to manual start issues.
phillyrovers Posted August 20, 2015 Posted August 20, 2015 Hi NikChillin, What we do know is that fixing this issue is not going to be quick or easy, and at this stage it is extremely unlikely that it will ever get fixed, given that Promethean do not sell serial connected devices, and none have been developed since 2004. A workaround is to monitor the registry and on user log on change the value for ActivPort to "4": HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\service\ActivHidSerMini\Parameters\ Alternativly use a USB connection, if the board has got a USB port on the rear (you will need to keep the serial cable and keep that as your power cable). The issue has been caused at a deeper (kernel) level of Windows, and any implementation would require a full driver re-certification, which for archaic communication structure would not get carried out. Sorry we could provide a positive result on this one, if you want to discuss it further you will be best contacting Promethean's support team via PrometheanKB
NikChillin Posted August 20, 2015 Posted August 20, 2015 Thanks Phillyrovers, As it is a usb connection the 5.7 driver sorted the issue.
Recommended Posts