One for the IT gurus

[Bixxer Bob]

I spent a couple of hours on a Crypton gas analyser for my mate who has a garage today.  Problem at first was his dad blew the Dell PC it's based on which runs Windows XP.  Not entirely his fault I think because it was full of crap, some of which may have been metal based.  He had a spare PC so put the old hard drive into it and hooked everything up.  Now it runs up but won't connect to the sensors hooked up to the USB ports.

The sensors are connected to the USB ports through serial /usb converters.  The keyboard and mouse are also connected through the usb ports.

So far I've learned that, in Device Manager, all USB ports are ok ie no yellow icon.  (The video adapter has a yellow icon but the screen is working so I've ignored it for now).  All USB port properties report everything working normally.

IF I swap the port connections around so that the mouse is in a new port, as expected, I get a "new hardware" flag after which Windows installs it and reports ready for use.  I do not get that message for the sensors.

What I'm thinking is, in order to get the sensors working (assuming they are not faulty (one is brand new) and because the hard drive is in a similar PC not an exact same PC, that I need to unplug the sensors, delete the drivers, connect the sensors and install the drivers.

Can anyone confirm, or correct me please??

There is no software installation CD to work from so the hard drive is all we've got.   Luckily, using explorer, I found that the software folder contains a driver subfolder.  I tried updating the driver from that folder but Windows just said I was already using the same version.

[Sin_Tiger]

Had similar using other types of diagnostic equipment. In that case it was a matter of finding (in both cases original makers supplied drivers) the hub/convertor drivers. I was reliably informed later that XP USB drivers for legacy input devices can be very make and type specific, right down to serial number specific as they were often designed or based on equipment originally conceived to run with serial protocols.

In short, I think you're on the right track, keep digging.

[Bixxer Bob]

Roger that Niall.  That might be the case for one of them, I didn't think of checking the serial converter driver (doh)! The other is straight usb connection so I'm convinced that's the problem now.

As I said the original Crypton drivers are in the software folder and Windows recognises them because I got a check message.  Just got to find where the others are lurking.  I'll take an old XP disc with me next visit because the ethernet port drivers are not loaded so no internet connection. Without that can't get drivers from the internet,  Catch 22.

At a couple of quid each, it might be easier just to buy two new adapters as they come with the drivers on a minidisc.

[London_Phil]

A couple of things come to mind, based on my own experience.
USB ports can be assigned a com port number, and even  if the old and new systems are identical, the ports will probably  assign com numbers based on use.
So if your software is looking for a sensor on com4, which was originally 3rd usb port from the left or whatever, unless the that usb port is assigned the com number the software is looking at, it won't work.
I used to have this issue with systems with touch screens and barcode readers, when the hard drive was swapped from one pc to another.
You may even find the port selection can be confirmed with the software programs settings.
Secondly, you need to check the serial connection baud rate setting etc the serial converter is using on the system as it needs to be correct for the sensor/serial converter/usb passthrough.

[Timbox2]

I'll have a think about this and get back to you. I reckon Phil is on the right track, but also because of something called the HAL (Hardware Abstraction layer). Its basically a .dll file that forms part of the interface between the OS and the hardware and unless the hardware is identical it will throw its toys out. With the sensors plugged in do you see any entries in Device Manager under "Ports (Com & LPT)" ?

[London_Phil]

I'll have a think about this and get back to you. I reckon Phil is on the right track, but also because of something called the HAL (Hardware Abstraction layer). Its basically a .dll file that forms part of the interface between the OS and the hardware and unless the hardware is identical it will throw its toys out. With the sensors plugged in do you see any entries in Device Manager under "Ports (Com & LPT)" ?

I'm actually impressed XP didn't just throw its little legs in the air and do a blue screen.
I'd probably delete the usb ports in hardware management, and force a rescan to start with.
My stuff at work was embedded XP, and even when we swapped so called like for like pc's. XP would normally do a death spiral...

[Sin_Tiger]

Tim's a lot more up to date than me but Phil's comment about baud rates jogged my memory on another legacy issue.

Earlier serial devices were often set up by a simple batch file  (null modem cables were a favourite), more often than not named Config.bat, not unknown for amateur IT people to move an old file to a back up directory without renaming it when updating the file for newer hardware. The batch file sets up the software to look for a specific hard com port that might differ from that which the USB driver has assigned. Restoring older systems, these files can get overwritten.

[Timbox2]

Im thinking on the fly now, bit late but if it was me I would have tried to source a system board for the old PC. Any idea what model of Dell it was. I was a Dell Accredited PC engineer up to about 5 years ago when our company switched allegiance to HP. About 10 years ago Dell had a monumental issue with thousands of PC's all over the world blowing up, some literally catching fire. The capacitors which Dell had bought in millions from a Russian or Chinese company had been overfilled and were popping, sometimes with spectacular results. I personally changed a couple of hundred boards in my time. Because of this I think that finding a system board would probably be quite easy on ebay. If youve still got the old PC there is a sticker on the motherboard which has the part no amongst it, I could decipher it for you and see what I could find, I even have an old mate in the game who sells hundreds of the things.

[London_Phil]

Lets have some piccys of the old system, hopefully not  along the lines of

https://www.reddit.com/r/techsupportgore/

We can possibly advise on the hardware,  if the software is no longer available for the analyzer program.


We had capacitors leaking mostly due to overheating, and mainly IBM 8212's
Lots of swap outs

pc Looks the same, same part no, but oh look, blue screen,  hardware change during manufacturing run......

[nickjtc]

I'm reading this post with interest, but frankly you all could be saying "blah, blah, blah, blah-ity blah" for all the sense it is making to me, not being computer savvy. 

[Bixxer Bob]

All great stuff guys.  The machine is 8 miles away in my mates garage so unless he'll let me borrow it a lot of this is going beyond what I can do.  I'll try the easy stuff and if it doesn't work I'll see what he says.  I think it's a Cropton 680 so quite an expensive piece of kit.