USB GPS keeps losing connection after hibernation

htsource · 03-26-2007, 10:04 PM

Hi,

Just today I hooked up my Fujitsu Tablet in the car to a MS GPS (bundled with MS S&T 2005). I use iGuidance and when it works, it's great. The issue I have is though, if I put the tablet in hibernation, after coming out of hibernation, I have to un-plug and plug the USB cable to the computer for iGuidance to pick up the GPS hardware. Is this normal?

Is there any way through software that I can just hit a button and it will automatically refresh the USB connection? I really hate to unplug and plug the USB cable.

Your help would be much appreciated.

psyrex · 03-26-2007, 11:21 PM

You can first try changing the power setting for USB in control panel. This tip works for some motherboards, but i have no idea if it'll help your tablet.

Go to System in your control panel, go to the Hardware tab, hit Device Manager. Go all the way down to your "USB Root Hub", double click on them to open up the properties for each of them, and then find the Power Management tab. deselect the "Allow the computer to turn off this device to save power." Do this for every "USB Root Hub" you have on there.

If that doesn't work (it doesn't for this new motherboard I'm using), what I did is get a powered hub (looks like this but got from ebay: http://www.pcloft.com/sybecousb20h.html). I built a shutdown controller for it so that when the key is taken out, the hub immediately cuts power (essentially unplugging whatever's on the hub) but the carpc is still up for 30 more seconds. It hibernates as if the stuff aren't plugged in. When the key is turned on in the morning, the hub powers up before the carpc does, and it thinks the devices in the usb hub are new connections once it starts resuming from hibernation.

Sal R. · 03-27-2007, 09:56 AM

Another way around it is close/reopen IG before/after hibernation.

Even after adjusting the power settings under device manager, it didn't quite solve my GPS hibernation issue.

EricE · 03-27-2007, 11:06 AM

Isn't this also solved by using xport and telling xport to disable port on shutdown. Xport re-enables them on resume.

MatrixPC · 03-27-2007, 12:36 PM

Upgrade/downgrade the USB GPS driver also help in some case.

htsource · 03-27-2007, 04:20 PM

Hi guys,

Thanks so much for the suggestions, I spent 4 hours last night browsing around the forum and I found devcon.exe and Hibernate Tigger.exe. Seems to enable and disable the GPS just fine. However, it has no effect on iGuidance. I have not tried closing down iGuidance before hibernating though. Will give that a try.

It's not the end of the world if I have to un-plug and plug the USB cable, but it would be much nicer if this works. I have the Microsoft GPS bundled with S&T 2005 (Pharaos 360 I believe). Not sure if there's a newer driver I can use. I just installed the one that came with the disc.

I may try the powered USB option too. Does anyone know if the Apple iPod right-angled cigarette adapter is just a standard adapter? The car has a cig plug but I can't use that since the tablet PC is sitting on it. But the right-angled adapter would work perfect.

Thanks again for the suggestions.

htsource · 03-27-2007, 08:57 PM

I got HibernateTrigger.exe and devcon.exe, disabled the USB GPS before it hibernates, then enable the GPS after it comes back from hibernate. Still the same - GPS not found in iGuidance.

What seems to work is actually simply shut down iGuidance before hibernating, then start iGuidance after it comes back from hibernation. There's no need to disable/enable GPS.

But I'm not sure how to close iGuidance through HibernateTrigger.exe, any help would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

htsource · 03-27-2007, 09:11 PM

I found this process.exe file:

Command Line Process Viewer/Killer/Suspender for Windows NT/2000/XP

Seems to work except I when I put this in a batch file for HibernateTrigger.exe, it starts iGuidance and the DOS prompt stays until iGuidance shuts down, then the DOS window disappear.

It doesn't seem to bother me as I run iGuidance in full screen mode anyway, but still it would be nice to get rid of the DOS window once iGuidance starts.

So far I've tried hibernating the tablet for about 10 times and it works every single time by starting iGuidance after hibernation.

Thanks guys.

tbird2340 · 12-11-2007, 11:26 AM

So do you even bother using devcon or does simply closing IG before hiberation and reopening after work?

Thanks

Curiosity · 12-13-2007, 05:02 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by htsource

What seems to work is actually simply shut down iGuidance before hibernating, then start iGuidance after it comes back from hibernation. There's no need to disable/enable GPS.

That's basically what XPort does without any devices checked at the bottom. It will close and open the GPS COM port automatically. That's all we really need most of the time, plus a splitter is useful.

tbird2340 · 01-08-2008, 02:19 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by Curiosity

That's basically what XPort does without any devices checked at the bottom. It will close and open the GPS COM port automatically. That's all we really need most of the time, plus a splitter is useful.

I use Xport and I'm having this exact problem.. Sometimes it works coming out of hibernation but 90% of the time it doesn't. I have serial to usb driver for my actual GPS (com 3) and then use com 5 for road runner and com 6 for IG..

When I come out of hibernation I won't have any GPS in IG or RR... However, I will minimize RR and open Xport and it will show GPS data coming out of the comport and that both 5 & 6 are connected...

Any ideas?

Thanks!

Curiosity · 01-08-2008, 03:06 PM

Someone else is having a problem like that or similiar. Not getting a lock I think. It works without XPort but not with it until 5-10 minutes later. Can you tell if there's data in IG or RR? All I see is a GPS Info window but it doesn't show much.

tbird2340 · 01-08-2008, 03:23 PM

Well today while having the problem I went into the GPS thing in IG and it didn't show any data. Just all red..

Sometimes it will show it's connected but it will bounce all over the place and the speed will be all whack.

Curiosity · 01-08-2008, 11:30 PM

That sounds like a buffer overrun, but you have enough power with a 2800+ that you shouldn't have trouble like that unless the CPU is maxed all the time. I have something for you to try. http://curioustech.home.insightbb.com/XPort3test.zip
This version overrides the requested buffer size and makes it a bit larger. If that does fix it please let me know.

Jistari · 01-09-2008, 01:19 AM

Im curious, does anyone have their GPS antena connected via USB running iguidance and have no problem resuming from hibernation without any mods or jumping through hoops?

If you read the posts, you get the impression that everything is always a problem. Just wondering if it works for anyone?