X10 Community Forum
🖥️ActiveHome Pro => ActiveHome Pro General => Topic started by: arf1410 on April 27, 2005, 11:03:19 AM
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The main reason I attempted to upgrade from
my Cm11A (which worked great) to the CM15A
was it appeared my PC could no longer
communicate well, or at all (via serial
port ) to it. I have purchased a USB to
Serial adapter, which seems to work well,
and now even got a new PC, which to my
surprise also cannot communicate to teh
CM11A via serial port. Internet has
provided some indication that XP SP2 may be
the cause of these communication problems,
but could not find a good fix. Anyone have
any ideas?
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ARF1410
It’s not XP SP2 the problem, is poorly
written software, any software that tries
to grab the hardware directly(serial port,
in this case) will not work trough a USB to
serial converter.
I just tried my old CM11A with Home Control
Assistant , (the free version) with XP SP2
and USB to serial cable, it connected fine
even trough Microsoft Virtual PC.
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I'm able to communicate with my CM11A using
the original ActiveHome with just the serial
port. I'm using XP SP1. however. There were
some USB changes in SP2, but I'm not sure
about serial communication.
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Though I am not 100% certain SP2 is the
problem, I have found info on the always
trustworthy internet on others with the same
problems of AH 1.42 not being able to
communicate after upgrading to SP2, and that
is roughly the time my problems started.
Don't know exactly, as it had probaly been
many months since I had previously connected
PC to CM11A. I have also found that there
are other serial devices that cannot connect
after SP2, so the problem does not appear
unique to CM11A. However, my garmin GPS can
connect fine via serial port in my post SP2
world, so obviously the problem does not
affect all devices.
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ARF1410
My Sony doesn't even have a serial port,
which made be use a serial to USB convert
from IO/Gear on my XP SP2 and it worked
fine before I upgraded to the DM15A. The
drive was even certified by Microsoft which
previously it was not.
Note the only problem seem to be you could
not move the USB to a different USB port,
if you did it installed the driver again
and would use the next available com port
which may require you to change it in you
CM11A configuration. It seem like the
SERIAL to USB would assign an dedicate that
com port only to that USB port. If you have
done this check your hardware configuration
to see what com ports have been assigned.
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I have been using the CM11A on XP SP2 with
no problem for months.
I recently have found that the CM11A will
sometimer not work with the serial port. I
however had no problem until I got the
CM15A. I use the Firecracker software
through the CM15A USB interface instead of
the old serial interface and now very often
the CM11A will hang up, but only after
using Firecracker sofware though the CM15A.
Maybe this helps....
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I have brand new PC, with essentially no
software, no CM15A, etc, but XP PRo SP2, and
the serial ports do not find the Cm11A, but
I can use it with the USB to Serial
adapter. Could it be a firewall or other
security setting with XP SP2?
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Window XP does not necessarily maps the USB
to serial as a COM1 to COM4, old software
are only aware of com 1 to 4.
Under Computer property – Hardware – Device
manager – Ports (COM & Parallel);
Check if your adapter is mapped as COM1 to
4, if not you can use property to remap.
If adapter is moved to another USB port
check the mapping again it will change.
It’s not unusual to see a USB to serial
adapter mapped as COM10 or higher, old
software will only recognize COM1 to COM4.
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The USB to Serial works fine on new PC,
just not the direct serial connection
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whoa - is someone saying that, with a
'serial-to-USB' adapter, they are running a
CM11a -connected- to an XP (Sp2) PC and it is
not dropping the connection? (i.e., logging
works?)
thanks!
/j
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With XP PRo, SP2, and USB to serial
adapter, my logging to my CM11A worked for
about 3-5 hours before connection got
dropped.
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I seem to remember using my CM11A connected
to my XP laptop, and it NEVER dropped teh
connection (It was attached to the built-in
serial port, not a USB serial port). I don't
know how I did it, as this laptop isn't
being used for that purpose anymore, but
that's the laptop that I used to use the old
AH software on, and I kept using it to "baby
sit" my CM15A until they got the Daylight
Savings Time bug worked out back in
October/November.
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Noam - with the direct serial, it shouldn't
ever drop the connection. Was your old
laptop XP SP1 or SP2. I am SPECULATING
that SP2 has something to do with the CM11A
not communicating at all directly with the
serial port
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The laptop was running SP1 at the time. It
has since been upgraded to SP2, but I
haven't tried the CM11A with it since then.
I was thinking of pulling it out, becuase my
activity monitor has been broken since
version 3.185, but I haven't had the chance
to yet. I'll try to post if I get it taken
care of.
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Maybe “Stand by” or “low power” mode is
enabled, that would cause the computer to
turn power off to some peripherals if it
thinks are not being used.
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carmine - I thought "standby" or "low power"
mode was only for laptop while operating on
batteries. How do I check that mode on a
desktop, and I thought USB draws power, but
serial didn't?
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Power manager is available for desktop else
(most newer desktop do), I have been caught
with peripherals shutting down before.
Depend on the computer it may have it’s own
power manager or windows manages power
settings; usually under “Display property –
Screen saver” there is a “Power” tab ; set
power scheme to “Never” for all options and
try again. In some computer the bios set up
has additional option regarding built in
peripherals power settings.