penfold Posted October 4, 2011 Posted October 4, 2011 Hi, I have used a serial to USB converter to connect an old IWB up to an upgraded Comptuer. However, I cant get the connection working. I have used a generic converter but have since seen that promethean recomenned a specific type. I've installed all the latest drivers and tried setting the specific COM port and searching for the board but still no joy. So my question is do I NEED a specific convertor as if I do I need to order another one. Cheers
Marc-Engineer Posted October 4, 2011 Posted October 4, 2011 It is possible that you might but before you do check on the back of your board as you look at the back top right where the current lead connects and you may find you have a USB socket on the bottom of that block all you have to do is connect your normal A to B USB (printer) lead and away you go if it is a very early one you will have to get the serial adaptor they say. Marc Projector Engineer
penfold Posted October 4, 2011 Author Posted October 4, 2011 (edited) I would try that but I cant swap out the cable for a USB one as the PC connected is the other side of the room and the cabling is in the ceiling/trunking which would mean I would need a different cable than the one I already have. The only thing being replaced is the computer which is why I thought I could just use a Serial>USB converter which I have used in the past and I wouldn't have to alter any of the existing cabling and it would have been a quick job. I did ask the guys who were doing other installs and they said I could just use any adapter...should have checked myself really, but was trying to get it sorted quickly. Edited October 4, 2011 by penfold
witch Posted October 4, 2011 Posted October 4, 2011 (edited) No, I know from long experience that you can't use just any one. I have a couple that I bought thinking that but soon saw the error of my ways. It used to be a keyspan that you needed but they aren't around now - if you contact promethean they will tell you which one to buy and I can verify that the one they tell you to buy, works! Edited October 6, 2011 by witch 1
synaesthesia Posted October 4, 2011 Posted October 4, 2011 "Keyspan" are the ones Promethean used to recommend and fit. However nearly all the boards do have USB sockets in the back. I implore you to find long USB cables instead of serial converters - they are highly unreliable and will cause you a hell of a lot more work. 1
penfold Posted October 6, 2011 Author Posted October 6, 2011 "Keyspan" are the ones Promethean used to recommend and fit. However nearly all the boards do have USB sockets in the back. I implore you to find long USB cables instead of serial converters - they are highly unreliable and will cause you a hell of a lot more work. Isn't there a 5M limit on the USB run? I'll have to take a look at the back of the board when I can get into the room, but I think the cable would need to be longer than that. Thanks for the suggestions though.
chazzy2501 Posted October 6, 2011 Posted October 6, 2011 You've checked the board is getting power right? Check it beeps when you power it up, also most usb serial converters end up with com ports above 1~4 which the software doesn't like and you have to manually specify. On your PC disable any serial connectors in the BIOS(I know you have no connectors but sometimes they're referenced) In windows you can probably specify the com port for your adapter to use in the dev manager, use a low number 3 or 4 should do.
synaesthesia Posted October 6, 2011 Posted October 6, 2011 There is a limit yeah - 5m sounds about right, however nearly all IWB's these days are USB and cables certainly tend to go a bit longer quite often so there must be a way around that. I've certainly seen 10m USB cables around.
Arthur Posted October 6, 2011 Posted October 6, 2011 It used to be a keyspan that you needed but they aren't around now KeySpan are still around. They are owned by Tripp-Lite. I bought a USA-19HS USB to Serial adapter fairly recently, although not for use with IWBs. Cost was approx. £39.
plexer Posted October 6, 2011 Posted October 6, 2011 If it's a serial one due to the length then I know of at least 2 usb to serial converters that work one is the keyspan that's allready been mentioned and the other one I am using in a science lab so don't have the part number to hand. I did find what is possibly my last keyspan adapter the other day so if you want it pm your address and I'll get it in the post. Ben
witch Posted October 6, 2011 Posted October 6, 2011 It is interesting that you managed to get a keyspan - I bought an adaptor about 2 weeks ago and both my suppliers tried everywhere to get hold of one
achedgy Posted October 6, 2011 Posted October 6, 2011 Had this issue with a few older boards, as soon as i've installed activinspire, it can't find the board (and this is using a keyspan converter or the pc has a com port) Replace the cable with a usb one, works prefectly. Think Promethean are quietly trying to force people to dump serial connections...
K.C.Leblanc Posted October 6, 2011 Posted October 6, 2011 Have you checked to see if the PC has a serial header on the motherboard? Also are you using anything else with the PC that emulates serial ports. I had lots of fun and games trying to get a Smartboard serial adaptor and an AXE27 cable working on the same PC.
ToyHeartsFan Posted October 6, 2011 Posted October 6, 2011 It might not be the cable although they can cause problems, you need to check what driver version you are using with activinspire! I forget of the top of my head which version they started doing it with but by default the serial part of the driver is no longer installed. I deploy using group policy and for a long time I stuck with the old driver so our older boards still worked. Then I used a new driver but had to edit the msi file so the serial driver was installed (using an mst file didn't work for me).
penfold Posted October 6, 2011 Author Posted October 6, 2011 Yeah, the board is getting power, and I am using the latest driver and nothing else should be using a serial connection. Although when I tried to manually set the serial port through promethean software, I can see 2 COM ports to chose from but it still wont connect. Options were COM1 and COM3, if I changed the USB port it became COM1 & COM4 so it is seeing the connection but doesn't connect. I cant get into the room today, but will get everything suggested here to go round first thing in the morning to try suggestions on here. Thanks all.
plexer Posted October 6, 2011 Posted October 6, 2011 Had this issue with a few older boards, as soon as i've installed activinspire, it can't find the board (and this is using a keyspan converter or the pc has a com port) Replace the cable with a usb one, works prefectly. Think Promethean are quietly trying to force people to dump serial connections... By default the activinspire driver only installs the usb driver and not both this will apply by default if you allocate it via a gpo. If you run a manual install you can change it to install serial and usb. If you have a really old board the usb is provided by an inbuilt keyspan chip so you have to have the driver for this as well as the activeboard serial driver installed. Ben
plexer Posted October 6, 2011 Posted October 6, 2011 Yeah, the board is getting power, and I am using the latest driver and nothing else should be using a serial connection. Although when I tried to manually set the serial port through promethean software, I can see 2 COM ports to chose from but it still wont connect. Options were COM1 and COM3, if I changed the USB port it became COM1 & COM4 so it is seeing the connection but doesn't connect. I cant get into the room today, but will get everything suggested here to go round first thing in the morning to try suggestions on here. Thanks all. I would definately check you're using the latest driver and that the serial part is also installed, recommend uninstalling it and re-installing making sure to select usb + serial just so you know 100% it's all installed. Then reboot and see after that if you can use the find button to automagically find the board. Ben
masylvia Posted October 7, 2011 Posted October 7, 2011 You must have an older board, or perhaps you're not in the USA, I can't tell. But, Promethean stopped providing serial cables/connections long ago, at least here in the states. USB is much more reliable. To deal with the distance issue via USB, you can purchase and run multiple extenders/boosters as they come in 3m lengths as well. Or you can purchase a Cat5/USB converter and enough Cat5 to cover the distance. My company has installed 10's of thousands of Activboards and we use the USB/Cat5 converter to cover long distances. Most converts support lengths in excess of 25m.
penfold Posted November 1, 2011 Author Posted November 1, 2011 Just a quick update on this albeit a bit late. I eventually got this working after noticing that after following @plexer advice of uninstall>reinstall I didn't get the prompt for USB + Serial so it seems it was missing the serial drivers off. Managed to get this working by doing a reinstall of the driver and selecting modify. This allowed me to search for the serial driver and add it, as soon as I did this I could connect straight away. I only noticed this after testing the drivers on a different computer which gave me the prompt I was looking for so I must have installed it wrong in the first place. Thanks all 1
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