Jim,
I am like you, having numerous cables that have the fake chips in them. Once I learned what to do with them, through you and the Miklor site, it only takes about 2 minutes to roll back the driver, if I have to. When Windows 8 first came out, I spent 3-4 months fighting with cables not working. After learning what to do, I don't worry about it anymore. The nice thing is, is that I have cables for many different radios, but once you get the right driver installed, it works for all of them. I am not going to go out and spend money I don't have to, just to save me 2 minutes of work. I also do not have the skill set, tools, or time, to make my own cables out of earphones and some other chip.
I really do appreciate your testing the theories of why the cables are 'not compatible with Windows 10', etc. and coming up with the proper solution. It is just NOT THAT HARD TO DEAL WITH, when you know what to do.
Thank you.
Jardy Dawson
WA7JRD Ham Radio
Message relayed from secret Hillary Clinton server, located in the basement of her house. OOPS, you aren't supposed to know that!On Sun, Nov 20, 2016 at 10:37 PM, Garth Robinson<soundtek@vodafone.co.nz> wrote:Hi Jim,
..... so, how can one guarantee ( without dismantling the cable ) that there
is a genuine chip within the cable? I'm even suspect of the Baofeng cables.
Garth. zl1tue ..... an still shakin'
About 4 years ago I downloaded every version of Prolific driver forWindows I could find. I installed them one by one from the most recentto the oldest to find out exactly which driver was the absolute latestthat would work with a counterfeit Prolific chip. The answer wasv3.3.2.105. But although this driver works great with CHIRP, it isincompatible with most programming software written for Chineseradios.So my testing continued. It wasn't until I got to the Prolificv3.2.0.0 driver that it would work with all of my programmingsoftware. And it works with the latest Prolific chips as well.As you can see from the attached screen capture, I have 4 Prolificdrivers installed in my Windows 7 64-bit computer. I can switchbetween these driver versions at will to determine if a Prolific typechip is genuine.So if you have a programming cable with a Prolfic type chip, there isno need to test if it is genuine or not. Genuine Prolific chips arerare. Out of some 20+ Prolific type chip based cables that I havehere, I only have 2 that know are genuine.One came from a now out of business dealer. The description statedthat it contained a genuine Prolfic chip. It cost $10 more than thenon-genuine version that they also sold. The second came with (but waspurchased separately) a Wouxun KG-UV6D V2 radio that I purchased froma USA dealer.So if you run Windows XP or above, the non-destructive test todetermine if the Prolific type chip in your programming cable isgenuine is pretty simple. Plug it into the USB port and wait for thelatest Prolific driver to install. Then try it out. then if it works(not likely) it has a genuine Prolific chip. If it doesn't work (verylikely) it has a counterfeit chip.But if you already have the programming cable, it is too late to worryabout which type of Prolific chip is in it (genuine or counterfeit).Just download, install and select the older Prolific driver (it worksfor both).v2.0.2.1 Windows XPv3.2.0.0 Windows Vista, 7, 8, 8.1 and 10If the idea is to avoid the hassle of dealing with counterfeitProlific type chips, then note the following.A genuine Baofeng (the radio manufacturer based in China) programmingcable is virtually guaranteed to have a counterfeit Prolific chip.If the listing states that the programming cable only works with olderversions of Windows or states that it does not work with the latestversions of Windows, it is a good bet that is will have a counterfeitProlific chip. The same goes for listings where there is no mention ofthe chip the programming cable contains.So the best thing to do to avoid the driver hassle is to look for acable with an FTDI type chip. Even FTDI chips can be counterfeit, buteven the counterfeit chips currently work with the latest availabledevice drivers.Although I mostly use Prolific type chips here, I do have some withgenuine FTDI chips. My source for the last few has been Baofeng Tech(the radio dealer based in the USA).Jim KC9HI