Garmin GPS - Serial to USB connection

Author

Serial to USB connection

Kev Howell

2007-04-23, 10:33 pm

Just bought the above for my Garmin Etrex Legend. It does not work. I
Installed the drivers but my Tracklogs software will not detect the
GPS. If I connect it via the serial it is ok. But got the converter
for the future when I buy a laptop which does not have serial ports.
Can anyone help....Cheers. Kev

emanon

2007-04-23, 10:33 pm

"Kev Howell" <orthodontic@tiscali.co.uk> wrote in message
news:1177365028.154205.143570@d57g2000hsg.googlegroups.com...
> Just bought the above for my Garmin Etrex Legend. It does not work. I
> Installed the drivers but my Tracklogs software will not detect the
> GPS. If I connect it via the serial it is ok. But got the converter
> for the future when I buy a laptop which does not have serial ports.
> Can anyone help....Cheers. Kev
>
Sorry to relay this, but I've heard the same comment from a lot of people
that bought Serial to USB connectors. This complaint goes across a lot of
forums. For what ever reason, these connectors seem very unreliable. I wish
I had a solution to offer you, but I don't know of any. You last part is
also true: serial ports seem a dying breed.

I know you can still get PCI serial port cards for a desktop, so maybe
there's a laptop solutions as well. I've never looked for one, but perhaps
there is a PCMCIA to serial card available.

Jeff Goodwin

2007-04-23, 10:33 pm

I bought three USB to serial connectors from eBay before I found one that
worked: http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI....em=230112804504
It does take a few days to arrive (from the US) and the installation needs a
"following wind", but it works fine with a new(ish) laptop and a very
ancient mobile 'phone that really should have a true MS-DOS serial
interface.
Good luck, Jeff.

"emanon" <emanon@erehwon.com> wrote in message
news:WI-dnR_Cq-5-p7DbnZ2dnUVZ_t-mnZ2d@comcast.com...
>
> "Kev Howell" <orthodontic@tiscali.co.uk> wrote in message
> news:1177365028.154205.143570@d57g2000hsg.googlegroups.com...
> Sorry to relay this, but I've heard the same comment from a lot of people
> that bought Serial to USB connectors. This complaint goes across a lot of
> forums. For what ever reason, these connectors seem very unreliable. I
> wish I had a solution to offer you, but I don't know of any. You last part
> is also true: serial ports seem a dying breed.
>
> I know you can still get PCI serial port cards for a desktop, so maybe
> there's a laptop solutions as well. I've never looked for one, but perhaps
> there is a PCMCIA to serial card available.

DanR

2007-04-24, 4:33 am

Jack Erbes

2007-04-25, 3:33 pm

Kev Howell wrote:
> Just bought the above for my Garmin Etrex Legend. It does not work. I
> Installed the drivers but my Tracklogs software will not detect the
> GPS. If I connect it via the serial it is ok. But got the converter
> for the future when I buy a laptop which does not have serial ports.
> Can anyone help....Cheers. Kev

Kev,

The way that would normally work is that you first install the drivers
before you plug anything in. Nothing very apparent happens at that time
other than that you want it report a successful install or at least not
an error.

What normally happens during the install is that it creates a folder
(off the root typically) and copies the driver files into it. The
folder would be something like c:\brand_name_or_som
ething and it may
have some subfolders for various version of windows (98, ME, W2k, XP,
etc.).

With the above done, when you plug the serial to USB adapter in, the
system should run a New hardware Found Wizard, the wizard needs to find
the folder with the drivers and, when it finds them and completes the
process, it will create a virtual COM port to receive the RS-232 data.

If you did not complete the process successfully the first time you
plugged the adapter in, you probably have a device in your Device
Manager with a yellow question mark on it. That results from the failed
driver attempt and it is blocking all further attempts to successfully
install them.

So to check this, first open the Device Manager and look for any devices
with a yellow question mark. If there are any like that, right click
the device and uninstall them.

Also, use Windows Explorer and look for a new of unfamiliar folder off
of the root of the c:\ drive and see if you can spot a folder with some
driver files (*.sys and *.dll files). Just keep that folder's name in mind.

Then restart the computer. When you get back to the desktop, plug the
new serial to USB adapter in and it should get a New hardware Found
Wizard going. Let if search for drivers. If it does not find them,
Back up and chose the option that will let you choose the driver location.

Then lead the wizard to the folder mentioned above. You may have to
lead it to that folder or maybe a subfolder under it. If you have to
choose a subfolder, choose the one for your OS. As you do that at some
point the OK button will go from grayed out to usable and that means you
have a folder with the right files in it.

Click OK and the wizard should complete the Plug and Play process and
set up the device.

If you have the Device Manager open as you do the above, you should see
a new COM port appear under the Ports (COM and LPT) category and that is
the virtual COM port you'll use for the adapter.

From that point on, you'll only have to plug the adapter in to use it.
If you plug it into a different USB port, you may have to install the
driver again for that port.

If you get though all that and the adapter does not successfully
install, it may be that you have a bad or incompatible adapter. I have
three adapters of different brands and they all work.

Jack

Kev Howell

2007-04-27, 12:33 pm

Cheers for all the advice. I have never had any trouble installing new
hardware and software before and have tried all your suggestions to no
success. Think I have a bad wire. I have no other serial hardware to
test it on. Cheers Again....Kev

Peter Wilkins

2007-04-27, 10:33 pm

On 23 Apr 2007 14:50:28 -0700, Kev Howell <orthodontic@tiscali.co.uk>
wrote :

>Just bought the above for my Garmin Etrex Legend. It does not work. I
>Installed the drivers but my Tracklogs software will not detect the
>GPS. If I connect it via the serial it is ok. But got the converter
>for the future when I buy a laptop which does not have serial ports.
>Can anyone help....Cheers. Kev

As others have said, USB'serial converters can be dodgy.
I bought a Belkin which would not work with my eTrex, so I exchanged
it for a Targus which did.

I solved the problem completely when my eTrex finally gave up the
ghost (salt water inside does make a mess) and I got a GPSMAP60 which
has USB.
--=20
Regards,
Peter Wilkins

LinkBot