Same as hblin94. No USB Serial Converter is listed.
COM port connections not working on Windows 10 20H2
Usb to serial windows 10 recommendation
Issues with USB-to-Serial on Windows 10
Does anyone encounter any problems with serial -> usb port to a com and not accesing data after 22H2 update ?
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I recently started using a system built on Windows 10 version 20H2. The previous system was the 1809 version. I have been having issues with COM port connections ever since… both direct serial connections and serial to USB connections. I have added Prolific Drivers and COM port drivers to the system to no avail. In my research it seems that I am not the only person to experience this issue with the 20H2 build. Is there something I am missing when it comes to troubleshooting this issue? Is there a known fix? This is for work and I am required to stay on the 20H2 for the time being so upgrading to a newer version is not an option. Any help is appreciated.
I don’t have a solution for your existing adapters (we moved away from Prolific when Win10 came out because our adapters at the time were not compatible). I’ve had tremendous luck with TrippLite’s Keyspan adapters on all builds of Windows 10, up to 21H1. If you’re not able to get the existing stuff working, this may be a good alternative.
Hi guys,
Anyone know an good usb to serial adapter with windows 10 support (without blueschreen every 5 minutes?)
Thanks!
This is largely (almost always) due to the manufacturers of cheap USB => Serial converters not using true FTDI chips, generally cheap knockoffs.
USB is a serial bus, UniversalSerialBus
Serial comes in MANY forms (Although most people mean rs232 and rs485), so the makers of converters/cable are generally targeting an audience, such as networking equipment consoles, programming radios, etc. So the chis can do much more, but the device has to be limited to avoid the user potentially making mistakes like plugging a 5v into a 1.8v serial system. That can let out the magic smoke. ;)
So the function of the chip is restricted by the creator to make it fit a specific function, where another creator could use the same chip for another purpose. While all the while trying to make it "work" without making it "dangerous" to what it is plugged into.
In fact in HAM radio world when someone is having difficulty programming a radio, the first thing to ask is "How much did you pay for the cable"
The next issue will be drivers, some people love to reinvent the wheel, and each simple device has to have a special vendor driver (At least in windows word) making the second point of failure the person who wrote the driver. Was it for performance, or profit?
Funny thing, the linux kernel native supports every USB serial adapter I have ever tossed at it, including the ones others throw away because they cannot find the correct windows driver!
YOU CAN get more universal by looking at things like FTDI chip programmers and adjustable voltage UART/TTL like https://www.amazon.com/DSD-TECH-SH-U09C5-Converter-Support/dp/B07WX2DSVB you take the burden of knowing what you are doing, but you can talk to just about anything serial. Or you can get something like a bus pirate and explore things yu are no even sure what they are in relative safety. http://dangerousprototypes.com/docs/Bus_Pirate
Had similar experience.
The inexpensive USB-RS232 adapters performed erratically: some days no issues at all, but then at other times, most or all characters were garbled.
Turns out that the ground connection on the USB side of the adapter was not shorted to pin 5 of the DB-9 connector. So signal ground relied on each end on the serial link to have the exact same ground.
When both USB adapters are connected to the same PC host, the ground issue is severely lessened. Each USB end is connected to the same PC, therefore the exact same ground. The RS-232 sides of the adapters are both using the same floating ground.
For your target device, make sure its power supply is using the same power strip as the PC host. Or connect a short, large (small gauge) copper wire between grounds of the target device and PC.
Of course a simple continuity test using a DMM could confirm if your adapters have a similar broken ground connection.
The "reliable" and "unreliable" USB-RS232 adapters that I have use the same Prolific PL2303 converter chip. So do not blame this converter chip as the culprit or indicator of this missing ground connection.
Uninstall the USB root hub drivers, in fact this will probably solve a host of usb-serial problems. I was getting really connection problems, with ports getting stuck. I think uninstalling the root hub might reset registry errors that might be happening. I was also plugging in two separate devices with FTDI 230Q chipsets so that could have caused problems. Anyway the fix is to find all USB root hubs, uninstall then click on scan for devices:
Source: https://thegeekpage.com/fix-error-usb-device-descriptor-failure-in-windows-10-solved/
I found another solution to this, as uninstalling the USB root hub didnt work for me.
I used a FTDI chip to communicate with the PC/MCU. It seems like because my MCU started sending data as soon as it was plugged into the USB port, the computer would get confused during the enumeration process.
I added a 3 seconds delay on the MCU before starting to send data to the com port (UART) on wake up/reset. And my issue was solved.
As the title says, we have a few old but very good serial scales in production and we seem to encounter this problem.
Thank you
From personal experience, I find that any USB to Serial adapter that use the FTDI chip works well in Windows 7 and 10. My laptop is running Win10 1703 and I have no issues.
Here is the cable I use. I’ve never had a problem with this cable on any of my PCs.
Startech
1 Port FTDI USB to Serial RS232 Adapter Cable with COM Retention
Did Win 10 Pro update on a couple production machines last night and now have found that the update removed existing, working support for a USB to DB9 serial converter that I was using to control equipment. We are trying to roll back the update. Anyone else heard of such a thing? Seems pretty wild to me.
USB ports are terribly unreliable in this way. The only way to get a reliable serial.port is to use a PCI card or an Ethernet device server. You will never get a consistent connection through USB.
We get a bug reported in our serial port comms about one a month, and every single occurrence is due to someone using a USB to RS232 converter. As soon as we install better hardwarec the issue vanishes.
Try disabling the "USB selective suspend" feature
- Open Control Panel.
- Click on Hardware and Sound.
- Click on Power Options.
- Click the Change plan settings link for the plan you're currently using. (If you change the settings on the power plan that isn't active, this won't work.)
- Click the Change advanced power settings link.
- Expand USB settings.
- Expand USB selective suspend setting.
- Select Disabled from the drop-down menu.
- Click Apply.
- Click OK.
If you're changing the settings on a laptop or tablet, you'll see two options: On Battery and Plugged in, so make sure to change those settings accordingly.
Once you complete these steps, Windows 10 will no longer power off USB devices connected to your computer, which can fix any problem you may have as a result of this feature.
While this guide focuses on Windows 10, USB selective suspend has been around for a long time, and you can use the same steps on machines running Windows 8.1 and Windows 7.
For more details check https://www.windowscentral.com/how-prevent-windows-10-turning-usb-devices#:~:text=When%20a%20USB%20device%20is,feature%20to%20fix%20the%20problem.&text=Windows%2010%20includes%20the%20USB,re%20not%20actively%20in%20use.
The prolific adaptors seem to have issues after version updates with windows 10. When they work, you still have to trick the PLC programming software by updating the Prolific driver to a generic Microsoft USB to serial. The newest version of Windows screwed up two programming workstations so far.. We use Omron and Click PLC's.
Does anybody have a tried and true tested USB to serial solution that works with Win 10? I have been tempted to add PCI serial cards to move forward so I don't mind serial card recommendations either.