Is there an answer to KeySpan USA-19HS and VMware Fusion?

[kblume]

Hi,

I have searched previous posts of this topic, but I believe that most of them are out of date.

Should KeySpan software be installed

1. In the host OS only?

2. In the guest OS only?

3. In both?

4. Where in VMware Fusion can one see which serial (com ports) are available?

I am attempting to run my ham radio software by connecting my Yaesu VX-6 to either application of: ‘VX-6 Commander‘ or ‘VX-6 Programmer.’ Both programs need a com port. Neither sees one through the KeySpan High Speed USB Serial Adapter USA-19HS.

Parallels Desktop version 2 was able to, version 3 no longer is either.

Never tried with VMware Fusion. I am using the latest version of VMware Fusion. Mac OS X 10.4.11

Is there a solution?

Thanks,

Klaus

[cdmckill]

I have it setup on both the Host and the Guest OS. You are able to move the USB device between them just fine. The big thing I had to do is change the driver options to use Bulk rather then Interrupt mode (look for the ComPort in the Device Manager under Windows).

[kblume]

Hi,

Thanks for your speedy answer! I’ve been poking around in the ComPort settings and adjusted the Flow Control (I believe that is what you meant?) to alternatively Xon/Xoff, then to Hardware, then to none. I restarted Windows every time to have the settings take proper effect. However, no luck so far...

Cheers,

Klaus

[cdmckill]

On the screen where you are setting flow control, etc just hit the Advanced button. It will open an additional tabbed dialog and you will see the settings I am talking about.

[kblume]

Hi cdmckill,

Ahhh...! The plot really thickens now, doesn’t it always.

I didn’t realize that with the install of Keyspan USA-19HS a little

program ‘Keyspan Serial Assistant’ was installed as well. It is in

this Serial Assistant that one controls the functions of the adapter,

including the Bulk/Interrupt that you spoke of.

But, and it is a big BUT, when I opened the Serial Assistant, it told

me that no Keyspan drivers were installed, even though the Install

Wizard told me that everything is fine. Subsequently I removed the

KeySpan ‘drivers’ and reinstalled, being careful not to have the

adapter plugged in during the de- and re-install process, and

restarted Windows every time.

Still, Serial Assistant does not see the adapter.

Is there something in VMTools that prevents the install of other

drivers?

What does your Serial Assistant read when VMware Fusion is running,

and the adapter is plugged in?

Cheers,

Klaus

MacOS X 10.4.11, Windows XP

[rcardona2k]

What's the status of the USB menu when you are installing the drivers? Virtual Machine > USB > keyspan or the status of the USB icons in the status bar (blue glow or not)? You may need to have the device disconnected before installing the drivers, which is common for a lot of WIndows devices.

[P15D24]

The "Bulk" option is on the Keyspan Properties tab after you bring up the Keyspan Wizard. It is called "endpoints". Make sure you have the correct com port selected (I use com3)

I've tried it with my Yaesu FT-7800 software and it seems to work fine. Still can't get my Icom F4TR software to work correctly with a Keyspan USB to serial adapter. However I think it is an Icom issue, not Fusion, because I can't get USB to serial to work on my IBM Thinkpad either. The Yaesu software is documented to work with a USB to serial adapter. I installed drivers on both OSX and XP, but I think your really only need them for XP. OSX is 10.5., Fusion 1.1 Does the green light come on when you plug it in? Does the XP USB manager report something about a boot drive? I had one Keyspan unit die on me and when you plug it in the green light never comes on and it thinks it is a boot drive. (It's a known issue according to the Keyspan support FAQ)

[kblume]

Thank you all for giving me valuable hints. I have learned more about the Windows OS than I cared to know...

I have definitely narrowed it down to the ‘sketchiness’ of the Keyspan USA-19HS Serial Port to USB adapter. One program would just be able to read from my radio, but not write to it, another program would do neither.

I am using a ‘Prolific’ now (never heard of that name before), and it works just fine...

Cheers,

Klaus

[lascra]

Your post helped me pull it off. The bulk mode was the last step needed to get my Keyspan port working.

For me the problem was that the Keyspan windows drivers (ver37s) installed the Keyspan port at the next highest com port, above the previous highest one. It seems that WinXPsp2 on Fusion 1.1 defaults to setting up com1 and com2 as ports on some generic bus, which do not seem to correspond to any real physical port. I had to go into the XP ControlPanel-System-Hardware-DeviceManager-Ports window, and reassign com1 to become com3 on the port's Properties-PortSettings-Advanced tab. I also reassigned com2 to com4, but I suspect that is not necessary. Then I found a tab in the Windows Keyspan Serial Assistant that allowed removing all Keyspan entries in the registry, uninstalled the Keyspan driver, and reinstalled it. For me the Keyspan port was then assigned to com5, and I reassigned it to com1 as above, as well as switching to the bulk mode on the aforementioned Advanced tab.

Even then, the Adapter did not come up on reboot - I found that I had to click on the Settings Tab at the top of the Fusion WinXP window, then click on the Keyspan unit in the left-hand pane of USB devices, and then click on the "Connected" box in the right pane.

It got very confusing along the way, as the system seemed to need WinXP restarts often along the way, and on occasion that "Connected" checkbox was unchecked.

Sorry for the confusion above -- at this point I am just feeling luck to have hit a combo that works.

[kblume]

Well, isn’t this the funniest thing. Seconds before you posted your reply, I installed the Keyspan upgrade v3.7s. Guess what? Windows XP, or is it VMware Fusion?, now tells me that I have a ‘Texas Instruments TUSB 3010 Boot Device’ connected. Whaaaat?

Keyspan Serial Assistant doesn’t see any drivers that were installed.

I just want to confirm with you that you have v3.7s released on Dec 12th, installed?

Cheers,

Klaus

[lascra]

Klaus -- this is utterly bizarre. I did indeed download ver3.7s

from the Keyspan website earlier today, dated Dec 12, 2007.

I do see one difference, in that my Keyspan device is listed as a

USA-19H, not -19HS. But I saw both versions listed together

somewhere on the Keyspan site as using the same driver.

You probably can tell if its Fusion that is messing up by using the

"Settings" tab at the top of the Fusion window, right next to "Revert

to Snapshot." In all the fiddling I did today, it seems clear that

the left-hand white-background pane is a list within Fusion of the

system hardware Fusion sees. My device is listed at the bottom under

USB devices. The USB devices list also shows at the bottom of the

Fusion "Virtual Machine" Tab on the Fusion top menu bar.

It also shows on the Keyspan Serial Assistant listing with the same

name. (I would note, however, that even when I opened it to check

what I was going to write to you, the Keyspan Serial Assistant opened

with its "No device present" comment. I couldn't get it back until

I rebooted WinXP via the Start-TurnOffComputer sequence.)

I do see "Keyspan USB Serial Port (Com1)" on the Ports (COM & LPT)

section of the XP Device Manager.

This thing sure looks flaky -- it has me a bit worried as I move all

my non-apple software to the latest version in anticipation of moving

on to Leopard. Still much better than all my prior experience in

the Windows world (I got my Mac last summer.)

I hope this helps!

Lester