phillyrovers Posted August 20, 2015 Posted August 20, 2015 Hi NikChillin, I assume you are talking about a Serial to USB converter?? Some of our older boards are actually fully compatible with USB without the need to have the serial connection connected to the computer at all, which in turn is then fully compatible with the latest ActivDrivers, and the manual/ automatic connection is no longer needed. Our support team would need to know the exact setup and serial number of the boards in order to advise how this could be done.
gerardsweeney Posted April 21, 2017 Posted April 21, 2017 At the risk of resurrecting an old thread... Has the driver - after 2 years of asking - been updated with this fix in place? We're looking at rolling out Windows 10 64 bit, and schools are now looking at the smaller Mini type PCs without COM port. I'm unsure if Windows 10 64bit will happily support the rather old 5.7 driver. Replacing the COM cables isn't an option - they're buried behind wallmounts, so we'd need to pay the building FM a substantial amount of money to undo this. Replacing the boards isn't an option - the existing ones are still working perfectly well. Cheers, Gerard
peferraro Posted April 21, 2017 Posted April 21, 2017 Hi Gerard, Our 5.15.10 driver supports the serial connection. When you install check the option Legacy ActivBoard Serial Driver. Hope this helps. Pam
gerardsweeney Posted April 22, 2017 Posted April 22, 2017 Hi Gerard, Our 5.15.10 driver supports the serial connection. When you install check the option Legacy ActivBoard Serial Driver. Hope this helps. Pam Thanks for getting back to me. Just a couple of extra points, please? 1. Does it correct the issue we had with USB<>COM adapter (like keyspan). Specifically, does it correctly auto-connect? Previously, although the driver supported COM and keyspan options, users had to manually go in and select CONNECT each time. 5.7 was the last version which worked correctly. 2. With the MSI, do I need any additional switches to silently install the COM option? Regards, Gerard
markiof Posted April 24, 2017 Posted April 24, 2017 Hi Gerard As far as I know the auto connect was switched off after 5.7 and has not been turned back on in the newer drivers. To install all parts you need to use ADDLOCAL=ALL in the command line e.g. msiexec /i your.msi ADDLOCAL=ALL /qn This should install all features silently with no interaction Mark
gerardsweeney Posted April 24, 2017 Posted April 24, 2017 I tried it myself - Windows 7 laptop, USB keyspan adapter, MSI with legacy option enabled. Doesn't even detect the board. I go into the control panel, I can see COM3 (the Intel virtual COM port) and COM4 (the keyspan). Select Com4, click Connect, the GUI jumps back to COM3. Select "Automatic", and repeat the above Com4/connect - the GUI jumps back to COM3 with "Automatic" de-selected. Not particularly encouraging... Looks like we'd better hope 5.7 works on Windows 10!
DangPro Posted April 24, 2017 Posted April 24, 2017 Hi gerardsweeney , The driver 5.7 was not made to work on Windows 10. This driver come out a couple of years earlier than Windows 10. 1
gerardsweeney Posted April 24, 2017 Posted April 24, 2017 Hi gerardsweeney , The driver 5.7 was not made to work on Windows 10. This driver come out a couple of years earlier than Windows 10. That's what I feared.. This/next year's move to Windows 10 is going to be entertaining for the hundreds of COM-port-less PCs (HP UltraSlim and/or Minis) attached to serial-based boards which are mounted on enclosed wall panels. I'm going to retry my experiments with the latest driver on a PC which DOES have a com port, so I can confirm if it's just not working with ANY com port, or if it's just a problem with the COM support driver not knowing to look at any COM port which isn't COM1.
gerardsweeney Posted February 6, 2018 Posted February 6, 2018 At the risk of digging up an old thread again.. Tried the very latest 64 bit driver - ActivDriver_5_17_13_x64 Manually installed. Ticked Serial and Legacy options. Still doesn't detect a PRM-AB2-01 via serial port. At the risk of venting my spleen here.. This REALLY can't be that difficult to fix - the drivers now weigh in at almost 200MB when installed. We've got several hundred AB2s connected via serial. Changing to USB isn't an option - not without having to spend a significant amount of money arranging for the wall cabinets they're mounted on to be dismantled, wallplates swapped out and USB leads run through. Can someone provide a copy of the last known working 64 bit driver? I don't particularly care if it's been tested on 10 yet. I'll try that. It's got to be preferable to telling the schools they can't get Windows 10 unless a significant amount of money is spent to run a cable!
phillyrovers Posted February 6, 2018 Posted February 6, 2018 Hi gerardsweeney, You are describing a slightly different issue to one that this thread is about. This thread is specific to the automatic connection on a reboot not working on serial connected devices. If you cannot get your Serial devices to connect at all, I would suggest that you carry out the below: 1. Uninstall ActivDriver 2. Delete the following files/ folders - C:\Program Files\ActivSoftware\ActivDriver - These 3 files from C:\Windows\System32\drivers - ACTIVhidmini.sys - activmouse.sys - activhidsermini.sys Reboot the machine, reboot the board (disconnect power, leave for 30 seconds, reconnect) Reinstall 5.17, attempt to connect to the ActivBoard via the appropriate COM port associated to your COM port. The Serial portion of our ActivDriver has not changed in nearly a decade, since we stopped manufacturing ActivBoards that supported serial connections. The "change" to the portion of the ActivDriver that will fix the automatic startup bug, whilst from the outside appears to be a "quick" thing to fix, the reality is very different. It requires coding changes at a really deep kernel level, and any changes to that portion of the driver will require a full rewrite, along with Microsoft driver re-certification being carried out at a significant cost for a product that we no longer manufacture, support or formally test anymore. The last driver version that we were required to get re-certified on All of our current product use Microsoft provided drivers for functionality, the ActivDriver in effect is now a "bolt on" that provides us with additional tools that allow us additional control over certain features and functions of our hardware portfolio. What you could do to get around this is to monitor the below registry key: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\ActivHidSerMini\Parameters\ActivPort Ensure that if it changes to anything other than the associated COM port that it is charged before the machine reboots, you could possibly put it in as a script to check on the startup of the computer. If you want to try driver 5.7 you can do, the link to download is here: https://promethean.box.com/s/lg9uekmwvhjj6hwft4e7izvulsw1u6nm Hope this helps.
gerardsweeney Posted February 6, 2018 Posted February 6, 2018 Thanks for the reply. In truth, I think I answered to the wrong thread. My Windows 7 32bit PCs can't use the new version of the drivers when connected via a COM port. I've had to keep them on a fairly early 5 version, at which point they worked consistently. You can imagine my dismay when Windows 10 64 bit running the latest version displayed the exact same issues. (You don't need to imagine it - I vented quite prominently) I'll try the driver you've linked to, and see how it behaves. Cheers, Gerard
gerardsweeney Posted February 7, 2018 Posted February 7, 2018 Hi. The 5.7 driver you linked to worked when manually installed - my test Win10 64 bit PC is talking happily to our serial based boards. Next up will be wiping it again and scripting the install via SCCM. Then onto the fun that is PCs using keyspan/similar USB<>COM adapters. Cheers, Gerard
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