Win10 won't install drivers for older PLC

[dennisL]

I have a first generation PowerLogger which works perfectly with my Windows 7 Pro laptop. Well, the laptop battery died so I borrowed a laptop from my son and this one has Windows 10. I followed the all the instructions (thanks, Eric) but Windows won’t install the PLC drivers.

Here’s the thing though, it isn’t complaining about a driver signature. I’ll explain what it does complain about. During the Update Driver process I browse to the folder for PLC Drivers (which I downloaded from this site) and I get the message “The best drivers for your device are already installed”. I’m attaching a screen shot so you can see I’m not making this s**t up.

Windows won’t let me install my drivers and it doesn’t link it’s drivers to PLC because it doesn’t know what the device is. The screenshot also shows the error “Unknown USB Device (Device Descriptor Request Failed”. Apparently the PLC board is not identifying itself when the usb cable is plugged in.

After multiple failed attempts to install the drivers (all with the same error) I wondered if the PLC hardware/firmware was at fault, so I hooked up the old laptop and it connects just fine.

I’ll get a new battery for the old laptop but I’m posting this in case others might encounter the same issue and it bugs me that I can’t get it to work. So, if anyone has a solution or suggestion for something to try, I’m all ears. Oh Eric, you mentioned in the thread for Win10 driver instructions that “There is a way to reprogram your old PowerLogger so Windows will recognize it more automatically, but I’ll cover that in a different thread …”. Is this what I need?

 

[EricM]

Hi Dennis, good to hear from you.
I don't think I've seen the "best driver already installed" message. I think the device descriptor is related to the signed driver issue.

I'm attaching the program and files necessary to reprogram the powerlogger, if you want to try it yourself. You will need to do this on the win 7 laptop since you can communicate with that one. After you reprogram it, win 10 "should" recognize it and use it's built in drivers (FTDI usb driver).

You can also send it to me to reprogram.

 

[dennisL]

Thanks Eric, I'll run the program and post the results. As for the signed driver issue, I tried with and without the signature check disabled and got the same result.

It has been awhile but I'm still kick'in and sincerely hope all is well on your end.

 

[dennisL]

SUCCESS!! I'm not exactly sure what fixed it and I'll tell you why.

I ran MProg3.0, no issues. I switched to the Win10 computer, tried to install the drivers and got the same message as before. Just for the hell of it I moved the cable to a different usb port. To my surprise, Windows installed the first driver and I installed the 2nd one. I fired up PLC, clicked the Monitor button (Auto connect was already checked) and it started displaying numbers. Awesome!

Thank you for the FTDI program. As I said, I don't know if it helped but it didn't hurt anything that's for sure. Oh, after running PLC I moved the cable back to the original usb port and now that works also. Another Windows mystery ...

 

[EricM]

Well, whatever fixed it, I'm glad you got it!