USB-RS232 Cable

[digidude]

After buying a new laptop with no RS232 COM port i bought one of these from ebay (search USB COMport)for about £6. Everything looked good on the sellers page and couldnt wait for it to arrive. it turned up, i installed the driver disc and............

NOTHING!!

After hours of online searching and finding not much help for them ive decided to make this how to. Enjoy.

heres the quick version

plug the cable into a usb port, the found new hardware wizard will start.
install the drivers from the disc as prompted
go to control panel
dpouble click system
click hardware
clickdevice manager
click ports (com lpt)
double click usb-serial bridge
click port settings
click advanced
click comport number and change to com1
click OK

after doing this TAKE NOTE OF THE ACTUAL USB PORT YOU ARE USING on your laptop as if you plug the lead into a different one it WILL NOT WORK

you now have a perfect com1 for any program that needs it using usb

 

[digidude]

First click START and open control panel

Next double click SYSTEM

Click HARDWARE

Now click DEVICE MANAGER

 

[digidude]

Click PORTS (COM LPT) then Double click USB SERIAL BRIDGE

Click PORT SETTINGS

Click ADVANCED

You should now see the following

 

[digidude]

Click COM port number and change to COM1

Now click OK

Now make a mental note of the actual USB port you have connected to on your computer if you have more than one, as if you use another port you will have to install all the drivers again, and the cable will not work properly

But you now have a 100% perfect RS232 COM1 using USB

Enjoy roud:

DD

 

[chronoman]

hi guys
thanks for replies.
I installed xp and got serial connected to another device to confirm working ,i looked at linked post and all is the same but dream still doesnt connect.
I am not using ethernet,does this matter?

 

[rickets]

I suppose you now have it fixed but I suggest a different ver of dreamup is what you need.

Have you tried hyperterminal to see if anything is happening ? Was some great threads on this previously.

 

[telewestTUM]

I bought a cheap usb-rs232 cable on fleabay and it just wouldbnt connect to my box! bought a more expensive one for about £7 and it worked a treat!!

 

[VectorZ]

I got a cheapy off of ebay and it plug and played lovely under Vista with no hassles. Connected via dreamup ok but never got it to do a decent flash. Ended up using the real thing in the end (only got usb version because couldn't be bothered leaning around the back of the htpc every time).

I guess you gets what you pay for... as long as you aren't paying over the odds for a piece of crap in the first place