USB COM adapters jump around

Hi all

This is on Win 7 enterprise, but there is no group for win7

I have 6 comports + 2 on the mainboard.
2 extras are always on, and should be com 8 and 9 - however sometimes they assign themselves as com 8 and 3
There are 4 more (3-6) which are on an external power supply, so they only come on when the test equipment is started. However, it is almost random which ones comes on, and sometimes they also get new addresses.

Currently the registry (FTDIBUS) holds 2 COM9 and also 2 COM3 and one COM7

I have tried to uninstall all, incl the driver (FTDI 2.12) and clean the registry from those that do not exist (com 7 eg)

As I understand it they got this problem when they moved to win7
It seems like the used the same image for all computers, so "old" com ports were present in the registry, however only one computer shows this.

Can anyone give a hint what can cause this?

In message ,
writes:
Hi all

This is on Win 7 enterprise, but there is no group for win7

alt.windows7.general is a pretty good one.
[]
Can anyone give a hint what can cause this?

Sorry, no (-:
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

Anybody who thinks there can be unlimited growth in a static, limited
environment, is either mad or an economist. - Sir David Attenborough, in
Radio Times 10-16 November 2012

wrote:
Hi all

This is on Win 7 enterprise, but there is no group for win7

I have 6 comports + 2 on the mainboard.
2 extras are always on, and should be com 8 and 9 - however sometimes they assign themselves as com 8 and 3
There are 4 more (3-6) which are on an external power supply, so they only come on when the test equipment is started. However, it is almost random which ones comes on, and sometimes they also get new addresses.

Currently the registry (FTDIBUS) holds 2 COM9 and also 2 COM3 and one COM7

I have tried to uninstall all, incl the driver (FTDI 2.12) and clean the registry from those that do not exist (com 7 eg)

As I understand it they got this problem when they moved to win7
It seems like the used the same image for all computers, so "old" com ports were present in the registry, however only one computer shows this.

Can anyone give a hint what can cause this?

All I can tell you right now, is back when I installed FTDI,
there were two packages. One was labeled "Virtual COM Port"
or similar.

The FTDI device, doesn't have a proper USB serial number. But
what it does have, is some sort of identifier. A short identifier.
I don't know where it is stored. But what it does do, is if
you move the FTDI serial adapter around, the driver knows
which device belongs to which COM designation. As a result,
my COM3 dongle has remained at COM3 (UPS), the entire time.
Same with my COM4 dongle (interfaces to a dialup modem I
no longer use). I've never had them hop around, ever.

This is a composite picture of my COM3 dongle, as seen
from Device Manager in WinXP. (Javascript should be enabled.
Right-click the image and select "View Image" for a less
distracting view.)

http://i61.tinypic.com/2cyr5eg.gif

So you need to determine whether FTDI has changed their
scheme, changed it for compatibility with a newer OS,
or what has happened to it.

I have a Prolific COM6 port as well, which
doesn't have any fancy features like the FTDI did.
And to be honest with you, I don't know what COM
port was assigned to that one at installation.

Paul

Port numbers should not change. They appear to do
if Windows thinks that they are new ones. This
happens when a USB to serial adaptor has no USB
hardware serial number and is attached to a different
USB port. Then the device is seen as new one and
Windows assings the first port number which has
never been used before.
Which ports have been ever used is stored in the
registry:
http://www.uwe-sieber.de/misc_tools_e.html#arbiter

I've made a software to get control over serial
port numbers, but be warned, it's a bit hard to
configure (INI file).
http://www.uwe-sieber.de/comportman_e.html


Uwe



wrote:
Hi all

This is on Win 7 enterprise, but there is no group for win7

I have 6 comports + 2 on the mainboard.
2 extras are always on, and should be com 8 and 9 - however sometimes they assign themselves as com 8 and 3
There are 4 more (3-6) which are on an external power supply, so they only come on when the test equipment is started. However, it is almost random which ones comes on, and sometimes they also get new addresses.

Currently the registry (FTDIBUS) holds 2 COM9 and also 2 COM3 and one COM7

I have tried to uninstall all, incl the driver (FTDI 2.12) and clean the registry from those that do not exist (com 7 eg)

As I understand it they got this problem when they moved to win7
It seems like the used the same image for all computers, so "old" com ports were present in the registry, however only one computer shows this.

Can anyone give a hint what can cause this?