Windows 7 and Xport

trader007 · 09-04-2009, 12:26 AM

i ran vista before, and xport worked fairly reliably. but on win7 it seems to only work after a hibernation cycle, sometimes. yes, after a hibernation cycle. if i cold boot the pc xport will not fix at all. if i then turn off the car and let it hibernate, when i turn it back on the xport fixes 3d. but it doesnt always work and like with vista, it can be unreliable at times.

i must say though, everything else is perfect.

i dont think its a gps driver problem. i have emailed my gps maker so we will see if there are known issues, but since i had problems in vista as well i think there just is something weird with my setup that xport doesnt like.

SFiorito · 09-06-2009, 01:24 AM

i've been fighting these same issues....in fact sometimes my BU-353 will not lock on after resuming from hibernation, but if I have the pc go to sleep and resume it will work, or in other cases I give up and have the car pc reboot. this is with and without xport. i haven't had a chance to try disabling power options for the usb root hub, as i've seen that mentioned sometimes. also, i wonder if it's an issue with hybrid sleep? do you have it enabled as that's what I use.

trader007 · 09-06-2009, 02:19 AM

yes i have hybrid sleep enabled- but i have it set to always go to hibernation for any kind of power off action... so hybrid sleep doesnt really apply in my case.

i have had it working fairly stable the last couple days. its still not totally right though, it does go to yellow a lot, which means its losing data... its clearly a problem with the prolific chipset drivers and something in the latest windows architecture (that goes for the latest vista versions as well as win7!). it also appears to be cross manufacturers too.... the pl2302 chipset is used in so many devices it just amazes me there arent better drivers for it.

BTW- i have some key tricks i use to coax Xport into working.

*Baud rate 4800 in Xport, and the driver port should be set to 9600 or 4800, which should be default anyway.
*If unsure about things, uncheck the 'enable ports' box and close out of xport. restart the pc, then open xport and configure if need to. then re-enable the ports, then restart the pc. if you do this whole process, it seems to clear out xport and then lock it back in to default behavior pretty well. the system restarts are key.
*if you know everything is set right, and you did the process i stated above, sometimes it seems to help to just drive around for 10 min to let the gps puck start sending sequential figures instead of random crap that it seems to give while standing still. i have noticed a few times that if i enable everything as i should but xport still wont 3d fix, i drive around and then it will just start working.
*use the checkbox next to your gps driver inside the xport screen. if you change this setting- leave xport running and do a system restart so when it does boot back into windows xport will load up with that feature enabled right at the start. again, this process of doing a system restart after any major change seems to help greatly.

Machinehead · 09-10-2009, 08:06 AM

Since I can't get xport to function properly with my hardware (BSODs a plenty), I've been using GPSGate. The developer claims it's Vista complaint, so hopefully it actually works with Win7. I'll report back once I load Win7 on my CarPC.

trader007 · 09-10-2009, 10:42 AM

please do. i emailed royaltek (my gps manufacturer) about a windows 7 driver for the PL2303 chipsets, but never got a reply.

i really dont think the problem is xport, its the prolific chipset and something to do with win7....

Machinehead · 09-10-2009, 10:54 AM

I have the BU-353, and from what SFiorito said above I may be in for trouble.

VegasGuy · 09-10-2009, 12:32 PM

I've been using a BU-353, Win7 and xport without problem for about 3 months now. I've used it with 3 different MBs (intel Atom D945, GigaByte G41 and now an ASUS P-5QEM) and i have'nt seen any issues. I don't use sleep or hybernation, so every shutdown and restart is a complete cycle.

I too wonder if this might be a driver or version conflict of some kind? it took me a week or so to get all the latest drivers and versions sorted, but since then it's been perfect.

[edit]

i've been using the Prolific USB to Serial drivers for the GPS from the getgo and they appear pretty stable.

VegasGuy55

SFiorito · 09-10-2009, 12:57 PM

I'm using the drivers from here: http://www.prolific.com.tw/eng/downloads.asp?ID=31

I disabled power management in device manager for the USB root hub which the BU-353 is running on. So far, I have not had problems resuming from either sleep or hibernation. HOWEVER it is slow as hell to acquire a good signal. Figure about 3-5 minutes (haven't timed it exactly yet). This is on Win7.

Machinehead · 09-10-2009, 01:04 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by SFiorito

HOWEVER it is slow as hell to acquire a good signal. Figure about 3-5 minutes (haven't timed it exactly yet). This is on Win7.

I had that exact same problem in XP with the BU-353 coming out of hibernation. I never have an issue when I cold boot though.

trader007 · 09-10-2009, 04:35 PM

its not an issue with the BU353 or any other gps- because they all have these weird problems and they all use the prolific 2303 usb chipset to communicate. the driver could be so much better its sad, because there are millions of these things out there.

MrZ · 09-17-2009, 06:56 AM

Xport has been quite unreliable for me. Sometimes it loaded itself several times, sometimes it wouldn't keep the options, sometimes it disabled itself.

I'm using GPSPlex right now, and it works flawlessly. It creates a single COM7 port that can be shared by all applications (unlike real ports). It's in Spanish but it's got no settings to fiddle with so it should be fool proof

trader007 · 09-18-2009, 05:04 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by MrZ

Xport has been quite unreliable for me. Sometimes it loaded itself several times, sometimes it wouldn't keep the options, sometimes it disabled itself.

I'm using GPSPlex right now, and it works flawlessly. It creates a single COM7 port that can be shared by all applications (unlike real ports). It's in Spanish but it's got no settings to fiddle with so it should be fool proof

looks like a winner. worked perfectly, both times to took a cruise today. completely solved all my problems.

this should be made more public, there are a lot of people with xport problems.

wmpwi · 10-08-2009, 10:44 PM

The Prolific BS has been driving me to distraction for months. From what I've read here, I am very hopeful for a change.

I tried GPSPlex and it would not locate my BU-353 on any port. How do you have it loading in / configured? Is it located in start up so it runs before the front end? I have absolutely no idea how to get this working, but I am a quick study.

Edit, I just saw your other posting here, but I can't get win 7 to accept any drivers for it and maybe that's part of the problem. Any thoughts?

Thanks.

Quote: Originally Posted by MrZ

Xport has been quite unreliable for me. Sometimes it loaded itself several times, sometimes it wouldn't keep the options, sometimes it disabled itself.

I'm using GPSPlex right now, and it works flawlessly. It creates a single COM7 port that can be shared by all applications (unlike real ports). It's in Spanish but it's got no settings to fiddle with so it should be fool proof

SFiorito · 10-08-2009, 11:10 PM

I thought I was all set with Xport and my BU-353 and usb-serial adapter for my HD radio, but now the HD radio will not reinitialize sometimes and I have to restart Centrafuse. Unsure whether it's a centrafuse issue, the hd radio plugin, the driver, or xport not resetting the driver...

MrZ · 10-10-2009, 07:23 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by wmpwi

I can't get win 7 to accept any drivers for it and maybe that's part of the problem.

It certainly is. You have to make your GPS work in W7 prior to trying to multiplex its port.

Quote: Originally Posted by SFiorito

xport not resetting the driver...

Yup. Once you are in the system and the HD is not working, try to reload Xport (uncheck and check the enable box), THEN enter Centrafuse. If that solves it you know what the problem is.

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