well i dont know how many of you have run into this problem but here it is.

andrew told me this is a growing problem with new laptops. becuase more and more dont have serial ports.

i recently bought a cable from andrew at www.cables.com about five days ago. well i dont have a serial port on my laptop. so i called andrew and ask him what to do, and he said just put a usb to serial adapter. well i did that and it didnt work, so i took it back got another one (diferent brand) to see if that would help, well it didnt. so i called andrew told him what ive done and that i had xp pro on the laptop. well he said come by his house and he would help me.

so i go over to his house and he works on my laptop for 2 hours, and eventually figure out what the problem is. i wrote all that to say this: some of the chips that are used to make the conversion from usb to serial are not compatable with the data master or any scanning software or tunning software. well here are the 2 brands that work so far are belkin and keyspan. and they have the correct chip for the conversion. andrew had a belkin adapter and pluged it in and worked like a champ. instantly pass all the cable test. try it and it started doing everything programming and tunning.

i wrote this up so maybe it will help people that have or may have this problem in the future.

but andrew being at the top of his game. will have usb cable in about a month in a half to two months for those who need it. and that will solve it all.

now i want to say this also: andrew is a great person to deal and very helpful, and a heck of a nice guy. and very knowledgable. and recommend anyone to do business with him.

hope this help some of yall out. so your not in my shoes. and buy the way the serail adapters are hard to fing in the store so you probably have to order it.

 

There is another alternative for anone who has a pc card port. Quatec makes a pc card that has a seriel port built in. The part number is SSP-100. You can get them through Express Systems
for $89. If you go direct through Quatec they are like $120.

 

have you personaly used this product with success. becuase from talking with andrew adding these adapters causes lota of problems.

i you have used it and it work that great, theres another alternitive

 

Yes, I use the card. I have used it with Datamaster numerous times and programmed with Lt1Edit twice. Connects with no problems or delays. When I bought my Dell laptop the salesman told me it had a seriel port, but guess what! It didn't. So a buddy who is a computer programmer by trade found this card for me and ended up getting one for himself too.

 

thats great news

 

97Z-M6---Approximately how much $ are the Belkin or Keyspan adapters??

 

belikn is about 60 bucks. model number is F5U103 heres the link. this is the one andrew used on my laptop that past all the test.


belkin usb to serial

 

How does the use of this adapter affect the speed at which the pcm contents can be read, or changes loaded into pcm? What time frame is required to complete these tasks with one of these adapters? TIA.

 

Circuit City has this adapter that is $30. I am thinking about trying this one myself.


http://www.circuitcity.com/detail.js...4&catoid=-9281

 

to be honest with youi wouldnt try anything that isnt proven to work allready, i just got home from andrew's was there for another 2 hours and we got evrything working now. if you were going to get into the programming part and you dont have a serial port, get the one i posted in the link above. this is the one andrew recomends. it is the one he personally uses.

as far as the speed, the adapter doesnt affect it but so of the problems was the way the software installs itself. mine keep installing on comport 10 and i had a heck of a time getting to operate on comport 2. had to restore the system then reinstall the software again. after about five times the ADVANCED tab showed up in the device manager. and then i was able to change it then. now its working out ok, ill be doing so work with it tommorow and ill post back. if you do get an adapter place it on com port 2 if you have xp. there is serval reasons for this. you will have to download the drivers from belkin's site. the install disc doesnt have the drivers for xp.

the reason he recommends the belkin model is becuase some of the adapters dont transmit data back to the laptop. becuase of the chip used to make the conversion from usb to serail and somtimes will lock up in the middle of a read of upload to the pcm and then its shot. andrew is about to make 16 usb cables so you dont need the adapter. but its to bad they are all going to the programmers of lt1 edit.

trust me about the belkin model if you get one get that one. I CANT STRESS THAT ENOUGH. I TRIED TWO OTHER ONES AND ANDREW COULDNT GET THEM TO WORK. SOME WOULD WORK FOR A SPILT SECOND AND THEN STOP. NOT GOOD FOR PROGRAMMING.

agian i cant stress andrew knowledge ont this subject. and he is a good guy.

and i will post back tommorow on how it worked. im prteey confiedent that it will work because andrew knows his stuff.

 

I was in the same boat with my XP laptop about a month ago - the Belkin solved my problems too (tried the cheap-o Radio Shack adapter and got nowhere). I got the Belkin at Best Buy for $60.

I have to admit though, Andrew told me the Belkin was the way to go from the beginning I thought I'd save a buck with the Radio Shack one.. at least I got my $20 back for that one!

 

yes andrew knows his stuff, and i will see this after noon how good the laptop does.

once you got yours to work with xp did it work ok? and has done good ever sence

 

Ok, I don't mind spending the extra money if that one will work. Thanks for the info and the link fo the one that works best.

 

yes that is the one that works, its the one i have and the one andrew uses, just remember to load it with the windows 2000 disc, thendownload the driver from belkins site, the as it load form the disc dont do the recommended load do the advanced and tell it to look on the cd and a specific place (that specififc place where you saved the download. then change it to comport 2. becuase it will load on comport 10 as default.

 

Just some FYI for you folks trying to save a buck on this. Buy the 60 dollar one. If you get a cheaper one to somehow work and it locks up while you are programming, Your PCM could be severly damaged. A 60 dollar adapter is a lot cheaper than a new PCM.