No serial port on my new laptop!

What am I gonna do? I went to the computer place and they have an adaptor, it's only 150 BUCKS! He said a serial to USB port adaptor MIGHT work, its $50.
Jeez, I already spent $100 on the cable!

whats the make and model of the laptop? you can usually buy a port replicator for most models. i got mine for 19 bucks. It plugs into the laptops specialized port for devices like floppy drives and port replicators etc.

You have to buy an adapter. COMP USA carries the KEyspan adapter for $50 which works fine for me. The Belkin adapter works also but is around $80. Those are the only 2 that I know of that work. The cheap ones from radio shack WILL NOT work. Sorry those are your options, $50 or $80.

www.compusa.com

I ran into the same problem as you with my new laptop. The Belkin solved it. I got it at Best Buy for around $60.

BTW - I did try the $20 on from Radio Shack. Returned it about an hour later.. as mentioned, don't even bother with that one.

I know what you mean man. My Sony Vaio doesn't have a serial port either:mad: Luckily my wifes Compaq does.

I have the Belkin one but can not get it to properly load. I have a brand new Toshiba Satellite; it will say can not install hardware but immediately after it will work. Power the computer back up and it says found new hardware again.

Any ideas??

Ryan

Originally posted by Ryan94ZA4
I have the Belkin one but can not get it to properly load. I have a brand new Toshiba Satellite; it will say can not install hardware but immediately after it will work. Power the computer back up and it says found new hardware again.

Any ideas??

Ryan

I have a brand new Toshiba satelite as well. Did you make sure you used the Drivers off of the CD rom that is included? Try closing all pop ups from Windows XP about new hardware detected blah blah blah And just load the CD rom itself and let the CD rom do the installation itself. Otherwise take the belkin back and go to comp usa ( www.compusa.com ) and buy the Keyspan Serial adapter. that is the one I chose and had a similar installation problem with. I was trying to let Win XP install it for me and it didnt like it. It needs to have software installed along with the drivers.

Ditto on the Toshiba Sattelite....

On the AutoTap website, they list two adaptors that they say will work with the AutoTap cable...... has anybody tried either of these:


Q. Do you have a USB version of the AutoTap OBD II scan tool?

A. No, but you can use our USB adapter to add a serial port to your laptop or PC. We have tested AutoTap with B&B Electronics models UC232A and Edgeport/1 available here.


USB to RS-232 DB9 Converter for Win 98, ME, 2000, and XP -- UC232A -- $39.95

USB to RS-232 DB9 Converter for Win 95, 98, ME, 2000, and XP -- EDGEPORT/1 -- $79.95

I use a PCMCIA Serial card...

50 bucks shipping included on ebay...

i have autotap and my laptop doesn't have a serial port either, so i bought the edgeport 1 from the B&B website. have had no problems, everything works fine. it was 80 bux though. my laptop is an HP running windows XP by the way. thanks for helping me out in the LT1 tech section injuneer, your's was the only reply and it was very helpful :bow: .

andy

Originally posted by Ryan94ZA4
I have the Belkin one but can not get it to properly load. I have a brand new Toshiba Satellite; it will say can not install hardware but immediately after it will work. Power the computer back up and it says found new hardware again.

Any ideas??

Ryan

I think that's the same error I was getting when I was trying to use the drivers off the disk with XP. I had to go to Belkin's site to get the XP drivers and the thing has worked perfectly since then.