On Wed, Sep 21, 2022 at 9:18 PM Tom KX7TRW@wirch1.com wrote:

Hello,

I'm stuck! I am trying to program my KT-8900D with CHIRP, and I keep getting error messages, depending on which pc/laptop I use.

All of these are running Windows 7. In each case I want to "Download from Radio." And I have hooked up the programming cable after turning the radio off.

With my HP PC: After connecting the radio and turning it on, the 'cloning process' window comes up, then the the pc returns the message: "An error has occurred. Error reading data from radio."

With my Lenovo Laptop: Same set up. Error message is "Bad ack from radio."

With my Dell Laptop: Same setup. No matter which com port I specify, I get the error message: "could not open port (X): [Error 2] The system could not find the file specified."

Any advice that can be offered will be greatly appreciated. BTW, all three of these computers worked fine with CHIRP earlier. I do not know what went wrong.

Thanks, -73-

Tom KX7TRW

If you attempt to use the factory programming software and get the same sort of errors, this is most likely a programming cable/driver issue. To troubleshoot these issues, keep reading.

With the HP PC, the problem is probably a driver issue. With the Dell Laptop, the problem is you are not selecting a valid COM port number. For example if you choose COM256 (a port number that is not very likely to be automatically assigned to the programming cable), you will get the [Error 2] message.

Are you choosing the correct COM port? You should be able to open up Device Manager without the programming cable plugged into the computer. Next expand the "Ports (COM & LPT) branch of the Device Manager tree. And finally plug in your programming cable. The newly added entry is your programming cable.

Which USB-to-Serial chip is in your programming cable? Hint: Double click the entry in the "Ports (COM & LPT)" branch to bring up the device's properties and then click the "Driver" tab.

If it is a Prolific type chip and the driver version is not V3.2.0.0, then you must download, install and select this older driver to replace the driver that Windows automatically installed.

If it is a WCH type chip, I have seen Windows mistakenly try to use the Prolific driver with this chip and, for obvious reasons, this will not work. The fix is to download and install the latest WCH CH340 driver.

Links to the drivers and instructions for installing and selecting the older Prolific driver can be found here: https://www.miklor.com/COM/UV_Drivers.php

If you've done all this and it still doesn't work, are you plugging the programming cable into the correct data port of the radio? The headphone and data jacks are right next to each other on the back of the radio (which makes it easy to plug into the wrong port by mistake -- don't ask me how I know ;-) ).

Jim KC9HI