[RTTY] 4-port serial card for Windows 8.1 results

Fri Apr 25 11:31:47 EDT 2014

No sweat Joe. I think perhaps if I had shut the PC down using the SHIFT key that it may have made a difference. I don't know, but I'm going to get another shot at it soon as a friend of mine wants me to install a 4-port board into his 8.1 machine. So it will be interesting to see how that goes.

I kind of remember having some difficulties installing the 4-port PCI board in my XP machine. I think I remember that I had to run the driver installation four times, one for each port.

I'll let everyone know how the next 4-port serial card installation goes.

73, Don AA5AU

>________________________________
> From: "Joe Subich, W4TV" <lists at subich.com>
>To: Don AA5AU <aa5au at bellsouth.net>; RTTY <rtty at contesting.com> 
>Sent: Friday, April 25, 2014 10:20 AM
>Subject: Re: [RTTY] 4-port serial card for Windows 8.1 results
> 
>
>
>Don,
>
>Sorry the Syba card gave you problems.  My 2S1P card uses the same
>MOSChip set and was found/installed automatically when I built by
>new Windows 8.1 based system.  My recommendation was based on the
>total lack of problems with that card.
>
>73,
>
>    ... Joe, W4TV
>
>
>On 4/25/2014 8:06 AM, Don AA5AU wrote:
>> Great info again, as usual Joe.
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Don AA5AU
>>
>>
>>
>>> ________________________________
>>> From: "Joe Subich, W4TV" <lists at subich.com>
>>> To: rtty at contesting.com
>>> Sent: Thursday, April 24, 2014 11:08 PM
>>> Subject: Re: [RTTY] 4-port serial card for Windows 8.1 results
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> Part of the problem with installing drivers in Windows 8/8.1 is the
>>> new hybrid sleep (fast boot) capability.  In essence, Win 8/8.1 closes
>>> any running applications then saves the operating system and hardware
>>> drivers image to disk just like hibernate.  When rebooting that old
>>> image is reloaded complete with all the drivers that were previously
>>> installed - even if the hardware changed.  If the previous image had
>>> drivers for hardware that was no longer present or drivers that were
>>> to be replaced, that conflict can cause page faults and other (BSOD)
>>> errors.
>>>
>>> When installing new hardware the best thing one can do is to hold the
>>> shift key while shutting down Windows 8/8.1 before making any hardware
>>> change, install any new drivers, then restart Windows 8/8.1 before
>>> trying to run anything new.  Shift-shutdown and restart both force a
>>> complete (fresh) reload of the operating system and all drivers.
>>>
>>> Another little known tip ... when installing new USB devices, always
>>> disconnect any previously connected devices and restart before
>>> connecting a new USB device for the first time.  This allows drivers
>>> for the new device to be installed with a "clean slate" and prevents
>>> older drivers and drivers from hardware no longer present from
>>> interfering with the installation of a new device.
>>>
>>> 73,
>>>
>>>      ... Joe, W4TV
>>>
>>>
>>> On 4/24/2014 11:36 PM, Don Hill AA5AU wrote:
>>>> Thanks to everyone who sent information on the serial cards they were using in their Windows 8 computers. I purchased a new Dell
>>>> 3847 desktop PC with Windows 8.1 and it arrived this past Monday.
>>>>
>>>> On the serial card, I decided to go with a suggestion from Joe, W4TV, on the Syba model SD-PEX15011 for three reasons. One is that
>>>> Joe is usually good about suggesting hardware (I purchased two USB sound cards he recommended and they work great), secondly because
>>>> this particular 4-port board is the sister of the 4-port board I have been using in my XP Pro machine for many years, and thirdly
>>>> because of the price. It is cheaper than any of the others. Although the manufacturer is listed as Syba, it says "Best Connectivity"
>>>> on the box.
>>>>
>>>> I purchased the SD-PEX15011 from Newegg on Monday and it arrived today.
>>>>
>>>> http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16815124075
>>>>
>>>> I installed the board this evening using the instructions that came with the board. I'm sorry to report that nothing worked as it
>>>> was suppose to but in the end, for reasons I can't explain, all four ports magically started working.
>>>>
>>>> The instructions said to install the board, turn on the computer and Windows would recognize it - it did not. Windows did not like
>>>> the board being installed and kept giving an error that it had to shut down and restart because "page fault in non-paged area".
>>>>
>>>> I decided to remove the board and install the driver on the disk that came with the board, then re-install the board. There were
>>>> Windows 8 drivers on the disk. Windows still did not like the board being installed. On occasion it would give me the "page fault"
>>>> error and restart, but I did notice that COM 1 was showing up and the other ports were also showing in Device Manager but Windows
>>>> didn't know what they were. I tried re-installing the driver but it wasn't working. I went online to find updated drivers. The
>>>> drivers on the Syba website were actually older than the ones on the disk and I didn't see any for Windows 8. I did find a set of
>>>> instructions for Windows 7 that suggested to "Disable Driver Signature Enforcement". I finally found instructions on how to do this
>>>> in Windows 8.1 because the instructions for "Disable Driver Signature Enforcement" on Windows 8 are totally different. I am finding
>>>> out that Windows 8.1 is different than Window 8 in many ways.
>>>>
>>>> Rebooting after "Disable Driver Signature Enforcement" helped keep the PC from wanting to restart. I re-installed the drivers as
>>>> Administrator but the ports did not show up in Device Manager. So I switched over to my non-Administrator account for no good reason
>>>> other than to check the Device Manager; lo and behold, all four ports showed up in Device Manager.
>>>>
>>>> I went ahead and tested all four ports and they all work for radio control and FSK/PTT. I restarted the computer several times and
>>>> have not gotten the "page fault in non-paged area" error and everything seems very stable.
>>>>
>>>> I don't know if I would recommend this board to anyone other than to someone who has time to play with it to get it to work. I think
>>>> it's going to be OK, but if you want to spend a little more money, maybe something like a StarTech would install better. I don't
>>>> know.
>>>>
>>>> I will give it the smoke test in SPDX RTTY this weekend. I'm just not a fan of USB-to-serial adapters for FSK. Especially with the
>>>> BARTG 75 coming up on Sunday. Definitely need a legacy COM port for 75 baud on a homebrew transistor FSK interface!
>>>>
>>>> 73, Don AA5AU
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
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