RS-232C device control with Windows XP

[Hoss7687]

Question...  I have a projector capable of receiving commands via RS-232C, but I haven'e been able to find the correct configuration of my PC to accomplish.  Please help.

I've done it before with Windows 3.11.  Very simple.  I opened a terminal window, set the baud rate and other easy settings, and bam - I was talking to the device.

What am I missing with Windows XP?

Dan
[email protected]  

[johnchain]

Found this....

"If you create a direct connection by using a serial (RS-232C) cable, the port that you select in the New Connection Wizard is enabled for connections that use a null modem."

This is for direct connecitons however, but I think the principle is the same. In the device manager check your ports. Make sure you have all drivers installed for the hardware.

[pcdoc4christ]

Hoss:

If this is a newer computer it will not have any physical RS-232 ports (also called serial ports).  Most modern computers that come with Windows XP use USB 2.0 ports, instead.  Have you installed Windows on an older system?  Are you sure your system has the RS-232 DB-9 connectors (the ones with nine pins)?  

If so, Windows XP still might not support such an archaic legacy device.  You can try checking the Web site of the manufacturer of the projector to see if there are any drivers you can download and install for the device.  If not, consider upgrading to a newer projector.

Doc

[Hoss7687]

Thanks for your thoughtful replies.  This motherboard does indeed have the DB-9 connectors available which made the physical connection to the projector an easy one.

However with the projector "hanging" off of the port, Windows XP automatically loaded drivers and configured port for IEEE1394 (otherwise known as Firewire) which is used for device control AND a high speed media transport.

The only information available from the manufacturer is a (very nice) list of command codes shown in ASCII and HEX.

It really was very easy with Windows 3.11.  It's been a while, but I believe all I did was open a terminal emulation window and I was immediately able to "talk" to the device using similar ASCII commands.  Maybe if I were more familiar with computer networking I could better explain what used to be so easy in 3.11 and can't be accomplished (by me) in XP.

Keep working with me.

Dan
[email protected]

[pcdoc4christ]

...However with the projector "hanging" off of the port, Windows XP automatically loaded drivers and configured port for IEEE1394 (otherwise known as Firewire) which is used for device control AND a high speed media transport...Dan

Hey, Dan:

Yeah, just as i thought.  Windows XP has incorrectly identified the serial port as a Firewire port and installed the wrong drivers, so the operating system will never be able to talk to the projector.  If you cannot find a Windows XP driver from the manufacturer's Web site, try a Windows 2000 driver.  If they do not have any Windows 2000 drivers, you might be out of options.

Doc