- PC Pitstop - PC Performance Roots. PC Pitstop began in 1999 with an emphasis on computer diagnostics and maintenance. During the early days of the dot com boom, our online PC maintenance tools were skyrocketing.
- The Ports class installer performs the following tasks when it installs a serial port: Selects a COM port number and sets a port name in the PortName entry value under the device's hardware key. The port name has the format COM, where is the port number.
Here are the latest step by step instructions for installing a USB to serial cable plus identifying and changing your com port number. This works with all Windows operating systems.
The following procedure works with all of our cables including the Allen Bradley 1747-UIC, 1761-CBL-PM02, 1747-CP3, and 2711-NC13
1. To begin, click the start menu and type 'Device Manager' and click the Device Manager link.
Gadget Serial (com4) Driver Download
I bought the adapter off Amazon- DSD Tech (China, cost $10). It has the FTDI R232RL chip and I used drivers (2.12.28) from the FTDI site. Works perfectly. So more investigating- The adapter appears as USB Serial Port (COM4) in Device Manager. The Driver information and Details under Properties are all good and the adapter works perfectly. In order to test any application or emulator create two virtual serial ports COM3 and COM4 with Virtual COM Port Driver and connect them in a pair via virtual null modem cable. All data sent by the first application to virtual serial port COM3 will be received on virtual serial port COM4, and all data sent to virtual serial port COM4 will be.
2. Without your USB to serial adapter plugged in, your Device Manager should look something like below.
3. Plug your USB to serial cable into your PC's USB port. Chances are the drivers are already installed. Look for it to show up under 'Ports (COM & LPT)'. If it does, then note the COM number at the end of the description and proceed to the software you are using it in. If it doesn't show up under 'Ports (COM & LPT)' then proceed to step 4.
4. If your cable does not show up under 'Ports (COM & LPT)' of the Device Manager then you need to install the drivers. They can be found in the PLC Cable Drivers section of our Drivers, Software, and Manuals page. Download them and extract the zip file to your PC.
5. Navigate to the 'Drivers for manual installation' folder and you will find two folders named CH340 and CP210.
6. Double click on the CH340 folder and you will find an EXE file in it. Right click it and select 'Run as Administrator'. Note that this will not work by double clicking the EXE file.
Gadget Serial (com4) Driver Download
7. Now navigate to the CP210 folder and then to the CP210x_VCP_Windows folder. You will see two EXE files, one for 32 bit and one for 64 bit. Right click the one that matches the processor of your PC and Right click it and select 'Run as Administrator'. Note that this will not work by double clicking the EXE file.