On Tue, Jul 29, 2014 at 11:23 PM, Wes kb9oic@gmail.com wrote:
I was able to use my cable with the counterfeit chip and the correct driver while using Win 8. Everything worked fine. I upgraded to 8.1 and now the wrong driver keeps coming back even when I update the driver. I can delete and or upgrade, still the same even rebooting, even turning off auto updates. The correct driver will show up, without the exclamation mark, and within seconds of plugging in the cable, the screen will flash 2 or 3 times and the driver will show up with the exclamation mark. Any thoughts?
Wes,
The easiest solution would be to stop using a programming cable with the Prolific chip.
Purchase a programming cable that uses the FTDI chip. They are available from multiple sources (BaofengTech.com, BuyTwoWayRadios.com and Valley Enterprises come to mind).
Build a programming cable with a CP2102 module. I did this using parts acquired from eBay for under $5. http://www.miklor.com/COM/UV_Technical.php#progcable
The next easiest solution would be to not use Windows 8.1.
Download and "burn" CHIRP Live CD to a USB flash drive. The built-in Xubuntu OS driver for the Prolific chip doesn't care if it is genuine or not. Use the software called "unetbootin" to "burn" CHIRP Live CD to a USB flash drive. Be sure to include some "Space used to preserve file across reboots (Ubuntu only)" so that CHIRP can be updated and your CHIRP .img files can be saved to the flash drive (I would still copy the .img files to another medial for backup purposes).
If you still want to try to use your existing programming cable with Windows 8.1 I would suggest the following.
Plug the programming cable into the USB port that you want to dedicate for programming. Don't use a port on a USB hub.
Go into Device Manager and click the "Uninstall" button for the driver. On the next dialog box, be sure to "tick" the "Delete the driver software for this device" and then click the "Ok" button.
Now remove the programming cable and then reboot.
With the programming cable still unplugged, install the v3.2.0.0 Prolific driver and then reboot once more.
You now have a computer with the latest driver removed and the v3.2.0.0 driver installed.
Now disconnect your computer from the internet (unplug the Ethernet cable or turn off wi-fi). With the computer not connected to the internet, plug your programming cable into the dedicated USB port. The v3.2.0.0 driver will be installed for this device on this port. It can't be updated because there is no internet connection to acquire the update.
Good luck, Jim KC9HI