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Hi all,

I am having some issues ever since the latest update of Windows 7 connecting to a V430 PLC over USB.

This worked perfectly up until that update.

I have tried reinstalling the prolific drivers and the drivers from within Visilogic but to no avail.

Has anyone got any ideas? Unfortunately Ethernet is not an option we must be able to connect via USB...

 

Jon

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Hi Jon,

What error message are you getting?

Are you connecting to the V430's USB programming port or the RS232 Port?(I suspect the RS232 port due to the prolific drivers the usb port should be a Silicon Labs)

Does your serial port setting in Visilogic match the COM port Windows assigned the USB device?

Have you tried putting the PLC into Stop mode and communicating with it?

Cam

 

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Hi Cam, thanks for the reply.

I am using the built in usb programming port, I assumed the prolific drivers were needed as in the past when connecting to the PLC it has shown up in Device manager as COM9 in Ports.

When I plug it in I get a windows error bubble saying 'USB Device Not Recognised'.  And an 'Unknown USB Device' pops up in Device Manager.

And as far as I am aware all of the comms settings havent changed. I have checked through them all and they are the same as they were before the update. If it helps, my Windows Version is Windows 7 SP1 Build 7601.

Stopping the PLC and trying to connect makes no difference unfortunately.

Jon

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Just an FYI, and this is probably not the right topic to post, I found a USB issue with UniStream 15.6 connecting to Win7pro 64bit laptop was being caused by Avast Internet Security subscription service. By putting avast in "silent mode" AND disabling the Avast Firewall I was able to successfully connect to the PLC. Makes NO sense why/how AV/firewall could block a USB connection!? Maybe because it's using ports?

I have fought all kinds of issues with Windows and USB serial convertor drivers during the 10 years I was in the Land Mobile Radio field. Every once in while you'd get that one that just didn't want to play nice.

I have five V430's in the field now and two laptops (XP and Win7) to communicate with them locally. So far no issues. Have you gone back and tried older versions of the CP210x driver? Went to device manager and force unistalled any drivers Windows may be trying to 'automatically" apply?

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  • MVP 2023

This problem dates back to when the USB to serial adapters were first introduced.  It is not a Unitronics-only problem, it's a Windows thing.

I have experienced multiple instances of the same driver trying to access the same COM port when it comes to the USB interface.  It is a royal pain in the butt and you have to rip them all out and start with a clean slate.  The problem is you can't see them all, even if you check "show non-present devices" in the Device manager.  There is an environment variable you have to set to truly "Display All Non-Present Devices".

This article describes the process to get all your defined COM ports to light up-

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff184583.aspx

You probably have a bunch of stuff defined that you didn't even know about.

Uninstall all the COM ports.  Then plug your PLC in and see what happens.

Joe T.

 

 

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31 minutes ago, Joe Tauser said:

This problem dates back to when the USB to serial adapters were first introduced.  It is not a Unitronics-only problem, it's a Windows thing.

I have experienced multiple instances of the same driver trying to access the same COM port when it comes to the USB interface.  It is a royal pain in the butt and you have to rip them all out and start with a clean slate.  The problem is you can't see them all, even if you check "show non-present devices" in the Device manager.  There is an environment variable you have to set to truly "Display All Non-Present Devices".

This article describes the process to get all your defined COM ports to light up-

https://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/library/ff184583.aspx

You probably have a bunch of stuff defined that you didn't even know about.

Uninstall all the COM ports.  Then plug your PLC in and see what happens.

Joe T.

 

 

 

The USB in the UniStream acts as an Ethernet card (while in Vision PLC, it acts as a serial port).

The USB of the UniStream is an RNDIS device, and for getting // assigning the IP address of the PLC over the USB-Ethernet an uPnP protocol is used. If the firewall blocks the uPnP handshake between windows and the PLC, then UniLogic will not be able to get the IP Address and communicate with the PLC.

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Ohh no, the old usb issues!

1  Perhaps Win 7 is now doing the W10 trick of updating drivers to whatever Msoft deems best, regardless of what the user wants/knows.  I'm still on 7 and haven't encountered this yet, but I very carefully look at every update that is offered and find what it is doing.  The immediate suggestion is if you have System Restore on, you should roll back to before the updates and see what happens.

2  I have had instances where a usb cable has suddenly broken a line internally.  I'm assuming you have tried another known good cable in your attempts?  In my instances the error messages you're getting were similar..."unknown but I know something has been plugged in."  Murphy's law says that this failure is going to happen just after an update that will appear to be the culprit!

3  Have a good read of this entire discussion:

In particular note the program I recommend:  http://www.pro-it-education.de/software/deviceremover/  

Edit: I have discovered this link doesn't work anymore.  Can now be found here:  http://www.softpedia.com/get/System/System-Miscellaneous/Device-Remover.shtml

I have found it incredibly useful for removing dud drivers Windows squirrels away.  If you haven't had luck doing 1 & 2, try getting rid of everything using it and start again from known good drivers.  ONLY install them.

4  I am finding more and more devices that used to be serial connections, but are now usb in the same looking body.  But lo and behold they have just added a prolific/fake chip onto the pcb so that it "looks" like the unit is usb to the user.  It is essentially still serial and the onboard chip lets them get into it if they don't have serial connections available, like modern stuff infuriatingly doesn't.  I have been exceptionally careful about what I allow to happen during the first insertion of any device that likely falls into this description.  It is a minefield.  Tread carefully!

cheers,

Aus

 

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Hi all thank you so much for your time and replies.

Unfortunately, none of these are working.

I've rolled back the windows updates to before it stopped working... No good.

I actually havent been able to try another cable... as I dont have one... however could a broken core cause this? Even though it still says it recognises a deive has been connected?

I have used that (very handy) removal software to get rid of all of the port devices and old drivers etc. including the ones that were hidden (Thanks Joe), then reinstalled the drivers from prolific directly. Then installed the USB drivers from Visilogic software. Still no good.

This is making my head hurt, again thank you all for your input.

Jon

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  • MVP 2023

OK.

1   Have you tried another type of usb device in the same socket on the PC?  Anything at all that previously worked ok.

2  In the same vein, have you tried using another socket on the PC?

3  Re the broken core, yes...it makes no sense that the system still recognises a plug insertion with one line down, but that's what happened, and happened a few times.  I don't know the mechanics of the usb process enough.  A new cable and away it went.  I am not at all hard on cables, but I do know there are many different construction qualities out there!

4  Go back even further on system restore....as far as you can?  Maybe it wasn't the update?  It still reeks of driver issue. 

cheers,

Aus

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  • MVP 2023

 

16 hours ago, Ausman said:

2  I have had instances where a usb cable has suddenly broken a line internally.  I'm assuming you have tried another known good cable in your attempts?  In my instances the error messages you're getting were similar..."unknown but I know something has been plugged in."  Murphy's law says that this failure is going to happen just after an update that will appear to be the culprit!

Ausman is a beast!

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Glad it's fixed.  It is annoying when it happens 'cause you don't really consider it.  And let's remember they're such low voltages etc that the slightest separation stuffs things.  We have a name for such a small distance in Aus, but I'd better not post that!  Then the damn cable works when you put it somewhere else due to a different angle blah blah.  Into the recycle bin immediately!!

And you learnt some other stuff along the way, which is always useful.

cheers,

Aus

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  • 4 weeks later...

I apologize for piggybacking on this post...  I'm trying to remote access a Vision V1040 through USB.  I believed I was doing this correctly, but since it has not worked I must be doing something wrong.  

When I go to the communication settings and the USB tab, I click 'install driver' and get an error 'invalid procedure call or argument'.  I can still open the device manager and find the COM port I need however.  Then when I click on Remote Access the HMI pops up momentarily, but then I get a run time error and everything closes.  I tried to completely remove and reinstall Visilogic as was suggested in a post for a similar problem, but this didn't seem to make much difference.

If someone could help me out in understanding what I'm doing wrong I would greatly appreciate it!

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