UART driver does not work on new PC

Hi,

The current version of the instructions for Zedboard are located on this page:
http://zedboard.org/support/documentation/1521
Search "Cypress USB-to-UART Setup Guide"

I do not see where that document is saying that it needs to be installed twice.  Make certain your document is v1.3.

--Dan

Hi Shvitzer,

I ran into this problem last week when I plugged a ZedBoard into my PC which I have never connected to before.  There was a long pause while Windows 7 searched for the appropriate driver.  I heard a few da-ding chimes as new devices were recognized but finally a da-dah error chime as the device was not recognized.  Upon inspection in the Device Manager, I saw the same "Virtual Serial Port Device 00" shown.

I tried updating the driver but that did not seem to help.  I tried loading the old driver, but Windows kept saying that the current driver is up to date.  I noticed that the driver that was loaded had a Driver Date of 6/1/2015 which is fairly new and must come from Windows Update when new hardware is connected to the system.  I kept trying things like uninstalling the driver and reconnecting the device but the 6/1/2015 driver kept being assigned to the USB-UART.

Finally this procedure worked for me:

1)  Download the "Microsoft Certified USB UART Driver Last Update: 16/01/2015" listed on the Cypress CY7C64225 page:

https://secure.cypress.com/?mpn=CY7C64225-28PVXC

2) Install the driver by running the CypressDriverInstaller_0.exe downloaded from the Cypress website.

3) With your ZedBoard USB-UART connected, first right click on the "Virtual Serial Port Device 00" device in device manager and select the Uninstall option.  If prompted, check the box for the "Delete the driver software for this device" option.

4) With your ZedBoard USB-UART still connected, next right click on the "USB to UART Adapter" device under the "Universal Serial Bus controllers" branch and select the Uninstall option.  If prompted, check the box for the "Delete the driver software for this device" option.

5) Now the Windows Update driver for the Cypress device has been removed.  In order to prevent it from being reinstalled, you must disable your wired and wireless networks before completing the next steps.  I know it sounds rather strange but this is the only way I could get this to work.

6) With networks disabled, disconnect ZedBoard USB-UART and reconnect.  The device should come up again as "Cypress-0123456" and now you can update the driver and browse to the Cypress driver files that were installed from Step 2 above.  On my machine, these files were located in the following folder:

C:Program Files (x86)CypressCypress USB-Serial DriverDriverBinaryCDC_Driverbinwin7x86

This should give you a new "USB to UART Adapter" listing with Driver Date of 8/12/2014 and the "Virtual Serial Port Device 00" will come back.

7) Now update the driver for the "Virtual Serial Port Device 00" device and browse to the same Cypress driver files that were installed from Step 2 above.On my machine, these files were located in the following folder:

C:Program Files (x86)CypressCypress USB-Serial DriverDriverBinaryCDC_Driverbinwin7x86

This should give you a "USB Serial Port (COM x)" listing with Driver Date of 8/12/2014 (on my machine it shows as "USB Serial Port (COM 38)" but now I am able to connect using Tera Term and see terminal output.

8) At this point, when you connect and disconnect the ZedBoard USB-UART the device should enumerate correctly.  Now you can enable your networking and resume life as normal.

Please let us know if this work around solves the problem on your end.

Regards,

-Kevin

I haven't gotten this to work with Windows 8.1 x64 the driver crashes. However works fine with Windows 7 x64. Suggest using Windows 7 if possible. Perhaps run it in a VM

Hi imode,

I am running Windows 7 x64 but have no access to a Windows 8.1 x64 machine to test that configuration out on my end.

Thanks for the suggestion to stick with Windows 7 in a VM.

Regards,

-Kevin

It doesn't work for me.  These all show as not having a driver:

Network Controller
SM Bus Controller
Universal Serial Bus (USB) Controller
Virtual Serial Port Device 00

I can delete them, reboot without Ethernet, uninstall and reinstall the driver, all to no effect.

If I right-click and select Update Driver, it doesn't find any suitable driver (for any of them) in C:Program Files (x86)CypressCypress USB-Serial Driver.

Win7-64

Not sure why you do not have drivers for the Network Controller, the SM Bus Controller and the Universal Serial Bus (USB) Controllers. Perhaps you deleted the drivers for the Universal Serial Bus Controllers by mistake instead of  "USB to UART Adapter" device under the "Universal Serial Bus controllers" branch. 

If so you will need to re-install the drivers from the Windows update as normal and then you may need to repeat the process. I did find that I did not have to disable my ethernet access during the update but just opend up the dialog box and told it to skip looking for a Windows update after I installed the driver from the Cypress website.

-Gary

Thanks Gary for the prompt response.  Yes, I think I deleted the drivers while trying to get the serial port driver to work.  Windows update doesn't find them, so they must have been either Xilinx or Dell drivers.  Arrgh!

Cypress has been able to reproduce the error on a Windows 7, 64-bit machine. They suspect this is an issue with the 3.13.0.53 version of driver. Their driver team is now working to fix this issue. In the meantime, do not install the driver from Windows Update. Use the driver download from cypress.com.

Bryan

Hi Mr. Kevin,
Thank you very much. I could solve my Cypress USB-UART driver problem today after trying for many days. I am very late to read your solution. Today i could find your comment and the job is done. Thanks a lot.

Cypress has disabled the 3.13.0.53 version of their driver. Windows is now pushing version 3.13.0.32 through Windows Update. I have tried this on a new Windows 7 PC and see correct operation when allowing Windows Update to auto-install the driver.

Cypress will soon be updating the driver to version 3.13.0.57 at which time the driver pushed through Windows Update and the downloadable driver installer will be same.

Bryan