PL8 Com Ports ?

[expresso]

Ok Back to the BT and PL 8 - having a strange issue now

First turns out my old BT dongle died - stopped working - i tried a newer one i had and it worked - any BT should work then - my MB has wifi and BT build in - i never connected the Antennas before - i did now - Wifi works BT dosnt even show up as installed - PC cant be discovered -

Turns out - i had to uplug power from the PC at the Wall - hold the power button on the PC for a few sec. plug it back in - turn it on - Bingo - it works i see it - no dongle -

now the BT was using stopped blinking red the single to connect - i removed it for now - i connected another one i got from Woody - i cant see any flashing lights - its covered with heatshrink -

i was able to a pair it - remove incoming com port etc, checked device manager - com ports match - BUT - the software itself - is having a very hard time to connect at all - i tried direct com port on the PL 8 - hangs up - i tried leaving it on Auto - its trying to connect and load the presets but never makes it to load any presets

its struggling - why ?

the other thing on the PL 8 software - how can i clear out the com ports that show up under auto - there are a few that are not the correct com ports to use - - i believe the BT is working itself - but the software is struggling to connect -

i am just charging direct now - no PC - to monitor - from the looks - i may be leaving it this way and just checking once in a while with the FUMI cable instead -

up till a few days ago - it was working great with my dongle - the dongle died - so i decided to figure out how to get my BT working on my MB and thats fine now -

i have no errors in device manager - i removed all hidden devices that are not in use - greyed out etc,

any ideas - software is struggling to load the presets - after 30 mins this is what is doing - back and forth trying to load them but never does

[expresso]

it finally connected and loaded the presets at the very end of the charge -

it was on Auto - showed Com 5 open - BUT - in device it shows Com 4 only -

not sure how it opened and works on Com 5 - it dosnt even show it in device manager and dosnt show it in the outgoing ports when BT was paired etc,

very strange - when set to Com 5 direct on the PL 8 - dosnt work - when set to Auto - it works after a long while with Com 5 open - how can this be ?

[Burgerman]

Never leave it on auto...
Thats a sure way to get it to screw up or crash.

[expresso]

it only worked when it was on Auto -

did you see the com ports - ?? -

why would it be so hard to load the presets ?

[Burgerman]

Because your machine has serial port conflicts or locked ports that are hidden. Auto does the same as selecting the correct port, but it runs hrough all of them in order. If it finds one that it THINKS is correct it but isnt, it will freeze up or crash trying to communicate with the wrong device. Dont use auto!

[expresso]

the problem is - when i pick the correct port that its been assigned - it doesnt connect either -

did you look at the pics above - did you see the ports it shows - Com4 - etc, when the BT was paired

but the PL 8 locks in Com5 - and was working -


when i pick Com 5 direct - it dosnt work - on auto - it picks Com 5 -

i checked the hidden devices - deleted them - rebooted - paired the BT again

then open the PL 8 and nothing happens -

its ok - i use it with out BT till it starts to work again - i can try another BT - i got a few from Woody - this is one of them - strange though when i search to add BT devices - it shows up two PL8 02 - thats what it was named - ? why two

one of them i clicked to connect - it just did no password - didnt work

the other one i had to add in the password - seems like the BT is working - but the PL 8 is just not getting the data - or hangs on loading presets and keeps trying to load them - maybe it makes it - then drops again most times -

on the PL8 drop down for Auto com etc, how do you get rid of them - i had mines showing com 5 twice -

does the PL 8 work Ok with Win 11 ? compatibility ?

oh well it was working very good last week on Win 11 -

its one of those issues that wont be resolved and then it will be resolved out of nowhere - if lucky -

thanks i give it a break just run it off the PL 8 manually

[Burgerman]

I have no idea what you are doing. I have 3 here and I allocated com4, com5, com6 to them.
I also have 2 bluetooth ones. Com7 and Com8.

I have 3 laptops, and a desktop computer. Each one connects predictably, on the same com port number, on each computer. So charger 1 is ALWAYS on com4. Same with the others. I often connect to say a blutooth one, and a FUIM3 one. And on the same machine at once. They are always very peredictable. But it didnt just randomly happen. I CHOOSE to put say charger 2 onto the same com port on each computer. So that it was all predictable.

You are having com port sharing or random loading issues or port configuration issues, or something. and you will need to fix it. Yes it works in all versions of windows inc 11.

[expresso]

it worked pretty much fine for years - with the very first BT - from snaker - thanks

had some hiccups not getting a signal at times no red flashing but managed to also get it working flashing again

this time - it stopped - so i tried a new BT - this is where i am at now -

its fine - i use it stand alone - no big deal - i can use a fumi cable every now and then to check

[Burgerman]

Its a different one? Maybe its unwell?

[expresso]

its possible - i did get a few extra - i can try another one and see -