Issues with XTend-PKG drivers

Question

I have several Digi Xtend-PKG modules which are all showing up differently when I plug them into a Windows 7 computer. In the Device Manager, the units show up as:

- Under "Other devices", "USB Serial Port"
- Under "Ports", "Digi USB Serial Port (COM8)"
- Under "Ports", "USB Serial Port (COM3)"

For the two units that show up under "Ports", I've noticed significant differences in behaviour between the two drivers:

- The "Digi USB Serial Port" driver seems to buffer data, so if there is a steady stream of incoming data it will appear to my application in chunks.
- The "USB Serial Port" driver delivers data smoothly.

The unit which shows up under "Other devices" isn't even accessible, since it is not exposed as a COM port.

On my Windows 10 computer, the only one of the three which seems to be enumerated at all is the unit that shows up as "USB Serial Port" under "Ports" on Windows 7. This underscores my feeling that there is actually something wrong with the other two units.

I need to get all of these units enumerating properly under Windows 10, and ideally I'd like to have them all show up with the "USB Serial Port" driver on Windows 7, so that the data appears smoothly. How can I do this?

Michael

Answer 1

I would first suggest that you use the external power source to power all three radios.

Next, I would download and use the Windows 10 VCP driver from FTDIchip.com.

Comments

Using an external power source seems to improve the reliability of enumeration. Do you think the unit was just drawing too much power from my powered USB hub?

I tried uninstalling the "Digi USB Serial Port" driver on my Windows 7 machine and then unplugging and replugging the unit. Windows was not able to find a driver automatically, so I downloaded the "CDM v2.12.24 WHQL Certified" driver from the FTDI website and tried installing from that folder manually (with "Include subfolders" checked). However, Windows comes up with a message, "Windows was unable to install your USB Serial Port". Presumably it was not able to find a suitable driver in that folder.

Michael

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Use the Setup file from http://www.ftdichip.com/Drivers/CDM/CDM21224_Setup.zip with the radio connected via the USB port.  Also make sure that you are using the external power source s this device wants more power than what your PC can provide.

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With the module connected to external power, I plugged it into my Windows 7 machine. This particular module shows up as "USB Serial Port" under "Other devices" in Device Manager. I then ran the executable installer you linked. However, it didn't seem to have any effect on the module's appearance in Device Manager.

I then tried unplugging the unit and replugging it to see if the new drivers would be loaded, but there was no change. It simply showed up under "Other devices" again.

Finally, I tried right-clicking on the module in Device Manager and updating the drivers. I chose the automatic search option, but this did not find any suitable drivers.

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I still have not been able to load the FTDI driver for several of my radios. What can I try next?

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What do you mean by "Load the driver for several of my radios"? Are you running the setup file each time you connect a new radio to the PC?

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I have five Xtend-PKG radios. However, for some reason they do not all use the same driver. At present, two of the radios are recognized by Windows, but after I tried to force Windows to use the FTDI driver above, three are not recognized at all.

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Are you powering the radios from an external power source or are you trying to use the USB port to power then?

Are you connecting the USB port first or the external power source first?

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I am connecting to external power first (9 V 1.1 A) and then to USB.

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I have a bit more information for you. I opened up all five radios to take a look at the date code on the FTDI chips. Two units have date code 1106 and three have date code 1113.

The units with date code 1106 enumerate as "USB Serial Port" with an assigned COM port on both my Windows 7 and Windows 10 machines.

The units with date code 1113 enumerate as "Other device" with no assigned COM port on my Windows 7 machine (where I deleted the "Digi USB Serial Port" driver) and as "Digi USB Serial Port" with an assigned COM port on my Windows 10 machine.

The units with date code 1106 enumerate with VID/PID 0403/6001, whereas the units with date code 1113 have VID/PID 0403/EE18.

A more superficial difference is that the units with date code 1106 have a white USB port, while the units with date code 1113 have a black USB port.

The following document seems to give FTDI's actual VID/PID for the FT232BL as 0403/6001:

http://www.ftdichip.com/Support/Documents/TechnicalNotes/TN_100_USB_VID-PID_Guidelines.pdf

Note that the devices with this VID/PID (date code 1106) have been using the FTDI driver without problems, while the other devices don't recognize the official driver.

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All of these use the same driver regardless of the PID and VID. Other than updating to a more current driver that supports newer versions of Windows, Digi has not changed what driver is supported.

With that said, I would strongly recommend using the FTDI driver remover from FTDIchip.com and downloading the new driver from the same site. Make sure you use the Setup.exe version. Make sure you only run the setup once as that is all you should have to.

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Are you completely certain that these devices will use the same driver regardless of VID/PID? My understanding is that the operating system uses the VID/PID listed in the driver's ".inf" file in order to identify the device. Looking at the two ".inf" files in the CDM driver distribution, both identify the 0403/6001 VID/PID combination but definitely not the 0403/EE18 combination.

I tried running the CDM Uninstaller to get rid of the 0403/6001 and 0403/EE18 drivers. It reported success with the 0403/6001 driver but said that it could not find a device with VID/PID 0403/EE18. This is consistent with my suspicion that no driver is being installed for the latter VID/PID combination.

I then ran the CDM Setup to reinstall the drivers. Finally, I plugged each radio into external power and then into USB. The devices which enumerate as 0403/6001 appeared as expected in the Device Manager, but the 0403/EE18 devices appeared in "Other devices" without an associated COM port.

One thing I am wondering is if the FT232BL chips themselves are at fault. I can't see why a properly functioning chip would identify itself as anything other than 0403/6001. I've purchased a couple of FT232BL from Digi-Key with date code 1616, and will try replacing the chip on boards which identify as 0403/EE18. I'll let you know what I learn.

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Yes, if you use the most current driver, it will work on all of the radios. Including some of the very first versions of the Digi USB radios that ever existed.

You need to run the setup after you plug the devices into the COM ports.  You may even need to enable the COM ports via the device manager and the advanced function of the USB driver.