Promethean V1 & V2 - Windows 10

[robyholmes]

Hi All,

 

I'm aware the older Promethean V1 and V2 boards have issues with Windows 10. I support a school who has a lot of these boards and having upgraded to Windows 10 we're struggling to get them to work. My main school has a couple of V2 boards connected by USB and they seem to be working fine even. However the boards this other school has are serial versions with serial to USB adapters.

 

So I'd like to confirm if anyone has got these to work. School is running Windows 10 1809 (1903 is meant to have issues although we're running it here fine). We've tried a number of driver versions and the serial to USB adapter looks to be installed correctly. We've installed the ActivDriver with the serial option picked.

 

Thanks in advanced, Rob

[3s-gtech]

I have a couple of these boards working fine (on 1903), but (and it's a big but) they're connected by serial alone. No USB adaptor - the PC still has a serial port. Any problems you're having may well be a result of the adaptor. Are they Promethean ones?

[robyholmes]

I have a couple of these boards working fine (on 1903), but (and it's a big but) they're connected by serial alone. No USB adaptor - the PC still has a serial port. Any problems you're having may well be a result of the adaptor. Are they Promethean ones?

 

There not no. I should be able to find a PC running Windows 10 with a serial port I could try that. Drivers for the serial to USB (prolific based) are installed by Windows and device manager is happy.

[Cazale]

We've upgraded nearly almost all of our schools to Windows 10 without issue. Most of them now have Clevertouch, but a couple still use nearly all old Promethean.

 

Did you try Activ driver 5.7? (I've had issues with all subsequent versions, even on Windows 7).

[robyholmes]

We've upgraded nearly almost all of our schools to Windows 10 without issue. Most of them now have Clevertouch, but a couple still use nearly all old Promethean.

 

Did you try Activ driver 5.7? (I've had issues with all subsequent versions, even on Windows 7).

 

No I've been using the latest V5.8 version. Promethean released a special version for 1903 which we used as well and that didn't help.

[Sylv3r]

We've got these working on Windows 10 using 1709, 1809 and 1909.

 

It was an absolute nightmare finding the USB > serial drivers. I think with Windows 7 it would detect and install the drivers but it doesn't seem to do that with Windows 10 and these particular convertors we've got.

[chazzy2501]

We have these and they're working fine. We are using native serial as HP laptops still have serial ports on the docking station. I still use 5.7 (with auto serial support) (windows 8.1, windows10, 1803,1903&1909)

[robyholmes]

Sounds like the thing to try is directly connecting the serial to a machine which has one. To prove if the serial to usb adapter is the issue. If not then I can also try the V5.7 driver.

[1TF0rward]

Most of our classrooms have the old style boards with serial... Serial directly to the computer works fine on Windows 10 for us. Serial to USB doesn't work and then stops the serial working until a reboot. These are on the latest drivers. We will be looking to replace these boards as soon as we can.

[chazzy2501]

I was always curious about using one of these: https://www.amazon.co.uk/JINOU-Bluetooth-Adapter-Internal-Antenna/dp/B01GZYIK9C/ref=sr_1_3?keywords=bluetooth+to+serial&qid=1582622190&sr=8-3

[Cazab]

Had to install 5.7 and specifically the separate USB/Serial driver for the old Promethean boards to work, just last week whilst moving a school to W10.

[PotNoodleTech]

Interesting going to be starting this. Almost all boards are serial so will use the 5.7 drivers and hope it all works!!

[robyholmes]

So I've installed the V5.7 driver but now I'm getting this error and ActivManager won't start. I did a repair install but still the same. Any ideas?

[gpjt]

We have mostly V1 boards and as mentioned, no issues with directly connected to serial ports in the PC's. Tried to get a generic usb to serial adapter to work, but never managed to find a driver that would work.

 

I've been told that Keyspan adapters would work, but finding them at around £30-40 each.

 

I may try one of these in the hope that it works!

[robyholmes]

So I've installed the V5.7 driver but now I'm getting this error and ActivManager won't start. I did a repair install but still the same. Any ideas?

[ATTACH=CONFIG]56898[/ATTACH]

 

Just to update my own thread,

 

We've managed to get boards working but only by re-imaging the machines and installing the V5.7 driver. It seems once the V5.8 driver is installed you can't downgrade to V5.7 without having issues like the above.

[Cazale]

Just to update my own thread,

 

We've managed to get boards working but only by re-imaging the machines and installing the V5.7 driver. It seems once the V5.8 driver is installed you can't downgrade to V5.7 without having issues like the above.

 

It's been that way for years. This is an issue that has affected every school I've worked in, for numerous years (I'm going back at least 6 or 7 years that we've been stuck struggling to find the old 5.7 drivers because the new ones wont work).

 

This is an issue that most affect tens of thousands, if not hundreds of thousands, of older devices, and Promethean still haven't fixed it!

 

I seem to remember there was a Promethean guy who posted on here. He once posted on a similar thread that the latest driver releases had fixed this issue, so I tried it on a few of our PCs, and nope, it was/is still broken (and we had to revert to 5.7 again).

 

Having such a major issue unresolved for such a length of time really is pretty shabby. Things like this do hurt sales (as people reflect on the hours wasted as they make upgrade decisions), you'd have thought in the 6+ years that this has been an issue, that someone would have taken notice of the numerous complaints!

 

(FWIW, we've now replaced nearly all the Promethean boards with Clevertouch).

Edited March 9, 2020 by Cazale