Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion Meridian - Systems 568 setup issues

I am attempting to configure the 568 using the laptop. I purchased a USB/rs232
adaptor in order to connect to the laptop. When attempting to fetch and save any
settings nothing is being recognized. There is no communication(s) between the
laptop and the 568. The ports are not recognized. What am I not doing correctly?
The 568 is powered and all connections are secure.
Thank you for your help.
Greg

See if the wiki helps.

http://www.meridianunplugged.com/wi...32%20or%20USB%20Communication%20Problems

Make sure that you are using the legacy configuration program not the configuration program - see link to Meridian software at the bottom of this page. The newer program is for newer kit such as G series and later versions of 800 series. Some of the bits in the Wiki are specific to the newer version software.

did you install the USB drivers with the cable ?

Ian-yes, the legacy configuration program is installed.
ncpl-the USB drivers are also installed.
George-I will research the Wiki, thank you for the link.

Quite often the COM port with USB/serial converters is not COM1 to COM4. IIRC, this was a limit in some of the Meridian config applications although I believe this is now fixed with some versions so you can specify a com port outside this range - it was actually a windows API limit and an application kludge was needed to get it to recognise values out of this range (or was it >com8?). The other alternative is to specify the com port in the windows device manager for the USB/Serial device as 1..4 if slots in that range are free.

I've also heard that the USB-Serial conversion may not work with certain brands of computers (eg, Dell) and M products. I ended buying an old IBM Thinkpad from eBay with Win 98 to have a laptop that could connect with my 568.1 - none of my Dell laptops nor desktops (even the older ones with a serial port) would communicate with the 568.

..............guess who has a Dell laptop..........? ME!
Thank you to all for your assistance. I am very grateful.
I will now configure the 568 using the remote and the OSD.
My brother has an IBM laptop, prehapse I can use his in the
future.
Greg

I REALLY doubt it has anything to do with dell. That's nonsense. It may be some junkware hogging cycles.

For the record I use a dell and I maintain about 40 dells at work of all ages and types and types connected to tons of different devices, inluding USB to serial and there is nothing specific to dell that makes incompatible.

I think it also would have been well known on this forum if dell computers didn't work.

I would not give up On the dell nor give up configuring it on the pc.

Some very early Via chipsets had USB compatibility problems when USB first came out. It was not Dell specific and we have moved on a long way since then and those chipsets have probably be consigned to the landfill, sorry, been recycled by now.

Well, after a fine night's sleep, a Saturday afternoon pint(or2) with some buds and words of encouragement from George, I have made numerous attempts to conqure this situation. No success. I have tried every possible configuration in
Device Manager, changing each USB port(4 of them)on the laptop, read and reread
the manual, turned the unit off and on so many times (so much so that the unit
and I now have a telepathic relationship). The following is what I receive after
an attempt to fetch and/or configure;
FAILED
Identify products on comms(has a check mark)
X Find product on comm(either 1-2-3 or 4)
X Connect serial port
Claim port(check mark on comm4 only)
No response-check serial lead and product power
No products found
The unit is in standby for each attempt. Am I missing a step?

Can you test talking to some other serial device? Another Meridian component?

Which cable are you using? Are you sure it's a NULL modem cable?

What COM port are you using?

Which COM port adapter are you using? Some adapters work aweful, but I'm not sure if that is still true today.

Have you tried setting it to another COM port? You can usually set these to any free COM port you want. You often do this in the device manager. Try using COM1 if it allows you to.

Because there is no hardware handshake the computer can't be busy doing other stuff. Virus protect has been known to cause problems etc. But usually if that is the problem it sees the component but gets errors when updating.

If it sees nothing it's usually the wrong cable, bad adapter or bad adapter driver setup.