USB to Serial Console Windows 8 drivers PL2303 HXA chips

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Worth
 
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USB to Serial Console Windows 8 drivers PL2303 HXA chips

Post by Worth »

I wonder if anyone can help setup the USB-->Serial console on Windows 8 on the Raspberry pi? It appears that Prolific's USB-->Serial drivers do not work with the PL2303 HXA chipset that appears to be on my Raspberry pi. Setup and Raspberry PI work fine on a Windows 7 computer.

Prolific's PL2303 Chipset checking application shows the chip on the pi as "PL-2303 XA/HXA chip". I also manually tried to use the driver from Windows 7, ser2pl64.sys, but to no avail.

After detecting "New Hardware" when I plug the USB to PI console cable, Error message on the Prolific USB to Serial Comm Port property page says: "This device cannot start. (Code 10)

A device which does not exist was specified."

Any ideas?

Thanks

Worth

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adafruit_support_bill
 
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Re: USB to Serial Console Windows 8 drivers PL2303 HXA chips

Post by adafruit_support_bill »

Have you checked the prolific web-site to see if there have been any driver updates for windows 8?

Worth
 
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Re: USB to Serial Console Windows 8 drivers PL2303 HXA chips

Post by Worth »

Thank you for the quick reply. Their webpage says:

"Windows 8 is NOT supported in PL-2303HXA and PL-2303X EOL chip versions"

Their (Prolific) chip checker program says the RPi has a PL-2303 XA/HXA chip. Looking for an alternative driver/application if one exists for Windows 8.

Worth

tldr
 
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Re: USB to Serial Console Windows 8 drivers PL2303 HXA chips

Post by tldr »

if you've got an ftdi cable around, you could rearrange the wires in it. or if you've got an arduino you could pop the chip out and connect 5v, ground, rx and tx to your pi. this assumes that there are ftdi or uno drivers for windows 8.

Worth
 
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Re: USB to Serial Console Windows 8 drivers PL2303 HXA chips

Post by Worth »

tldr -

The arduino solution is clever. I appreciate the advice.

Worth

JPSR
 
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Re: USB to Serial Console Windows 8 drivers PL2303 HXA chips

Post by JPSR »

Well, it's the end of the year, and I ordered a USB Console Cable to allow easy access to my Pi from my laptop while on vacation. Unfortunately, my Laptop runs Windows 8.1, and the drivers from the linked Prolific website do not work (10/23/2013 WHQL) - the device showed up in de Device Manager with a warning triangle beside it. When I double-clicked on it, it had a message stating "This device cannot start. (Code 10)". I then installed the driver on my wife's desktop running Windows 7, and ran the Chip Version Checker which is included in the driver folder. This identified the chip being used in the USB Console cable as a "PL2303 XA/HXA" chipset. Upon returning to the Prolofic website, I noticed (in Red letters) a message stating: "Windows 8/8.1 are NOT supported in PL-2303HXA and PL-2303X EOL chip versions."
OK, so it looks like the chipset in these cables are end-of-life and will not work with Windows 8 and up, which was not stated on the website when I purchased the cable. Do you have a cable which is compatible with Windows 8? If not, can I return the cable for credit?

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adafruit_support_bill
 
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Re: USB to Serial Console Windows 8 drivers PL2303 HXA chips

Post by adafruit_support_bill »

OK, so it looks like the chipset in these cables are end-of-life and will not work with Windows 8 and up, which was not stated on the website when I purchased the cable. Do you have a cable which is compatible with Windows 8? If not, can I return the cable for credit?
Unfortunately, we do not have control over product development life-cycles at either Prolific or Microsoft. If you are not able to use this cable, you can return it for credit. Please contact [email protected] with a link to this thread to arrange that.

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davidh22
 
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Re: USB to Serial Console Windows 8 drivers PL2303 HXA chips

Post by davidh22 »

Request: For the benefit of future customers, please put on the Adafruit website that the USB-serial adapter is not supported on Windows 8/8.1. That would have been helpful to know before purchasing this item.

In my case personally, I have computers in my home running Linux, Windows 7, and Windows 8. So 2/3 of my computers can use this, so I am 2/3 happy with the product...

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adafruit_support_mike
 
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Re: USB to Serial Console Windows 8 drivers PL2303 HXA chips

Post by adafruit_support_mike »

That's a good point. I'll pass that along to the team who work on the website.

adafruit
 
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Re: USB to Serial Console Windows 8 drivers PL2303 HXA chips

Post by adafruit »

Hi, the text has been in there since we got notification, we made it more obvious. we'll try to get a version that is supported!

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sigma21
 
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Re: USB to Serial Console Windows 8 drivers PL2303 HXA chips

Post by sigma21 »

Hi - I bought one of these cables (product #954) from Adafruit about a year ago and had a trouble-free experience in getting it to work with Windows 7 x64. I've been disappointed today to find that it does not work with Windows 8.1. Anyway I've done the same sleuthing as others have done and have found that the Adafruit product is identified as follows using Prolific's checkChipVersion_v1006 tool.
This is a PL-2303 XA / HXA chip
I am writing to state that I find the current write up for product #954 on Adafruit's site (https://www.adafruit.com/product/954) to be a little confusing / misleading:
  • In the DESCRIPTION section it says Windows 8 is not supported at this time. I think this should be re-written to state "Windows 8 is NOT supported at all."

    However, in the TECHNICAL DETAILS section, you list under the heading "Downloads" drivers for a DIFFERENT version of the PL2303 (the PL2303 HXD, which IS supported by Windows 8) and a datasheet for that product.
I think you need to be clear that the Adafruit product #954 is a PL2303 XA / HXA and NOT a PL2303 HXD.

Finally, I would like to ask (like a previous poster) when/if Adafruit will get a USB to TTL Serial Cable that is compatible with Windows 8.1. Microsoft seems to think Windows 8.1 is a valid replacement for Windows XP (boo!); I guess it's time for us all to get with the program.

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terryo75
 
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Re: USB to Serial Console Windows 8 drivers PL2303 HXA chips

Post by terryo75 »

I am confused. I can not get the usb to serial cable to work under Windows 8. Worked fine under Windows 7. This thread seems to imply that people have verified that the chipset will NOT work with Windows 8 and they specificly asked to have the associated product page updated to say that 'Windows 8 is NOT SUPPORTED!

And yet today, 9/25/2014 I find the product page states that "Windows 8 is supported!". What is up with that?!
https://www.adafruit.com/product/954

So if Windows 8 IS supported, how do I get this device to work?

I get the following error for the device status:
This device cannot start. (Code 10)

A device which does not exist was specified.

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adafruit_support_bill
 
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Re: USB to Serial Console Windows 8 drivers PL2303 HXA chips

Post by adafruit_support_bill »

Prolific now has a Windows 8 Driver for this: http://www.prolific.com.tw/us/showprodu ... 25&pcid=41

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terryo75
 
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Re: USB to Serial Console Windows 8 drivers PL2303 HXA chips

Post by terryo75 »

Well to say the least, trying to get this thing to work, is very BANNED and frustrating...

The Driver install package comes with a tool to check the chip version to see if the driver will support the chipset.
This tool has you set to the com port number that Windows has designated for the Prolific com device. In my case COM6.
So I check port 6 and get a 'OPEN COM PORT FAILED' message as output of the tool.
The problem is that I set the tool to check ANY com port number and get the same message.
So as far as I'm concerned, this check tool sucks, doesn't work.
How do I interpret this message?

And by the way, installing the new driver does NOT work, same problem as before.

Windows 8 is a pile of $#$#$@#@#@#@@!!! Arrogant Microsoft!!

Why can't you guys tell me based upon the sales order whether the chipset that you sold to us is supported or NOT? I feel so agitated that I am wasting SO MUCH TIME just trying to get this thing to work. I didn't have a choice in whether I had Windows 8 or not, it came with the laptop that I purchased 2 years ago (after my Windows 7 laptop was stolen). I wanted to use minimim extra devices (like a monitor and external keyboard) but it looks like that is IMPOSSIBLE! And your product page says that Windows 8 is supported!!! B.S.

So what do I do now? Punt?!

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adafruit2
 
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Re: USB to Serial Console Windows 8 drivers PL2303 HXA chips

Post by adafruit2 »

terryo75 wrote:Well to say the least, trying to get this thing to work, is very BANNED and frustrating...

The Driver install package comes with a tool to check the chip version to see if the driver will support the chipset.
This tool has you set to the com port number that Windows has designated for the Prolific com device. In my case COM6.
So I check port 6 and get a 'OPEN COM PORT FAILED' message as output of the tool.
The problem is that I set the tool to check ANY com port number and get the same message.
So as far as I'm concerned, this check tool sucks, doesn't work.
How do I interpret this message?

And by the way, installing the new driver does NOT work, same problem as before.

Windows 8 is a pile of $#$#$@#@#@#@@!!! Arrogant Microsoft!!

Why can't you guys tell me based upon the sales order whether the chipset that you sold to us is supported or NOT? I feel so agitated that I am wasting SO MUCH TIME just trying to get this thing to work. I didn't have a choice in whether I had Windows 8 or not, it came with the laptop that I purchased 2 years ago (after my Windows 7 laptop was stolen). I wanted to use minimim extra devices (like a monitor and external keyboard) but it looks like that is IMPOSSIBLE! And your product page says that Windows 8 is supported!!! B.S.

So what do I do now? Punt?!
terryo, is your cable with a black connector or purple connector?

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