RFID reader suite with reader module - failed com connection

[em2018]

Hi all,

I am trying to use the reader suite that came with a RFID chip to "add a serial reader" in order to perform a scan.

I installed a driver to use the demo software that came with the reader module, and I am able to use the demo software to interrogate the chip and find its ID. Doing this also meant that for COM3, the name of the driver appears in the drop down list and I am able to select it. I get this far but then when I try to select the reader, I get an error message !

Does anyone have any ideas what could be going wrong?

Here is an image of the selection from the drop down list:




The error message given is just "FAILED TO OPEN COM PORT COM3"

Any ideas would be really great! I was wondering whether I needed a different driver but it seems to be recognised and working for the other software.

Thanks,
Em

 

[andre_luis]

Either this port is already open in some other instance of the terminal, or you have changed the USB slot cable and are now associated with another COMx. Try to see through Device Manager (in Windows) in the "LPT and COM" option if the driver is properly installed, and to which port.

 

[em2018]

Either this port is already open in some other instance of the terminal, or you have changed the USB slot cable and are now associated with another COMx. Try to see through Device Manager (in Windows) in the "LPT and COM" option if the driver is properly installed, and to which port.

Thank you so much ! I had a look and it turns out that the error was that it

"was not migrated due to partial or ambiguous match"

which I have found means that I am using the wrong VCP/driver.... Do you know how I may find a suitable driver for my RFID reader? I tried the usb to uart drivers from this website with and without serial enumeration:
https://www.silabs.com/products/development-tools/software/usb-to-uart-bridge-vcp-drivers

 

[andre_luis]

If you have that device plugged into any USB port, at Device Manager, on the COM option you should see the device ID by clicking at its properties. Something like that (it`s just an example) and then have a search on the Web for that number:

 

[em2018]

If you have that device plugged into any USB port, at Device Manager, on the COM option you should see the device ID by clicking at its properties. Something like that (it`s just an example) and then have a search on the Web for that number:

View attachment 146929

Thank you.....
I found this number in the "device instance path" which seems to be leading me right back to the driver I installed already "USB\VID_10C4&PID_EA60\0001".
The "device details" are just for the driver "Silicon Labs CP210x USB to UART Bridge"......
I'm not sure what the significance of this is, maybe could you suggest another possible approach?

 

[andre_luis]

So it just confirms that you have the correct driver installed, at least this do not sound as being the cause of the problem. A lot of resources gives the following steps to solve this issue, did you try ?

• Click Command Prompt (Admin).
• Type sfc/scannow
• Reboot PC

 

[FvM]

The device manager should show the assigned virtual COM port number, and allow to edit it under the advanced tab. Usually the COM port assignment appears already in the device name, like "Serial USB Converter (COM7)". I'm not sure if the VCP layer is correctly working in your installation.

 

[em2018]

So it just confirms that you have the correct driver installed, at least this do not sound as being the cause of the problem. A lot of resources gives the following steps to solve this issue, did you try ?

Thank you but even this didn't work. I have two sets of software, one came with the reader and one came with the chip. I assumed from the guides given and the format of the GUI, that the reader module software was to initialise the chip and communication for later use and the chip software was to do the actual programming of the chip. Is this wrong? Maybe there are extra steps I need to take before I can use the chip software? Or maybe the chip software could be incompatible when used with this reader (provided by another supplier)? (Supposed to both be compatible with my version of windows according to the datasheets though...)

 

[andre_luis]

At the Device Manager panel, in the specific device properties, you can rollback the driver to its previous installed version (if there were any); if you had luck, perhaps Windows give support for this with a default driver. It is strange, I have installed before the driver you are using right here in my laptop, and didn't faced to any issue. BTW, what are the general configurations os your system ? Anyway, did you install it in Windows 7,8,x compatibility mode ?

 

[em2018]

At the Device Manager panel, in the specific device properties, you can rollback the driver to its previous installed version (if there were any); if you had luck, perhaps Windows give support for this with a default driver. It is strange, I have installed before the driver you are using right here in my laptop, and didn't faced to any issue. BTW, what are the general configurations os your system ? Anyway, did you install it in Windows 7,8,x compatibility mode ?

sorry for the delay, it seems I never hit reply..... Thanks the system is compatable, I think the issue is just that the software which came with the chip is not compatible with the reader, as I am able to at least read the chip ID with the reader module demo software - so it seems the best option is to just use another software with the reader SDK. Thanks for your help