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Old 04-08-2011, 04:33   #1
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BU-353 / Cap'n Problems

My computer doesn't want to recognize the BU-353 GPS, so the Cap'N software can't find it. The laptop recognizes anything else put in the same USB port. The GPS itself is lit, so assume it's working.

I have uninstalled, reinstalled driver and tried manually setting up the port. Neither worked.

Any thoughts?
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Old 04-08-2011, 06:42   #2
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Re: BU-353/Cap'N problems

no thoughts??
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Old 04-08-2011, 07:27   #3
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Re: BU-353 / Cap'N Problems

If you are using Win 7, a while ago someone here pointed me to the Win 7 driver. If it shows up as a device when you plug the GPS in, then maybe you have a problem with Cap'n.
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Old 04-08-2011, 07:32   #4
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Re: BU-353 / Cap'n Problems

I'm using Windows XP professional. The GPS doesn't shop up at all in the Device Manager. I called the folks at Sea Tech. Very nice and helpful, but alas we were unable to solve the problem.
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Old 04-08-2011, 10:05   #5
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Re: BU-353 / Cap'n Problems

Guess I'll just chuck the laptop and go back to trusty, glitch-free paper charts. :-)
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Old 04-08-2011, 10:24   #6
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Re: BU-353 / Cap'n Problems

Try this utility. I use it with Open CPN.

XPort

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Old 05-08-2011, 04:12   #7
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Re: BU-353 / Cap'n Problems

Thanks, Jack, but that doesn't seem to have solved the problem.
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Old 05-08-2011, 05:29   #8
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Re: BU-353 / Cap'n Problems

have you gone through the steps on the web site?
I had a problem with a machine that was setup with vista but was reconfiged to run xp pro. never got it to work but didn't try to hard stuck it in another laptop and no problem. BU303A GPS FAQ's
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Old 05-08-2011, 06:09   #9
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Re: BU-353 / Cap'n Problems

Quote:
Originally Posted by sneuman View Post
My computer doesn't want to recognize the BU-353 GPS, so the Cap'N software can't find it. The laptop recognizes anything else put in the same USB port. The GPS itself is lit, so assume it's working.

I have uninstalled, reinstalled driver and tried manually setting up the port. Neither worked.

Any thoughts?
Not sure if this will help, but the last time I played with Capn' I used the GPS receiver from my DeLorme street navigation program. It's a USB device and to get it to work with the Capn' I had to install a DeLorme serial emulator on my laptop. It worked fine with my very old 6.2.2 version of Capn'.

This solution might be DeLorme specific, but it still might be worth a try. I think the emulator was downloadable from the DeLorme website.
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Old 05-08-2011, 06:35   #10
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Re: BU-353 / Cap'n Problems

It doesn't sound like you've seen any indication that the computer even knows the puck has been plugged in. Have you tried other USB ports on the computer?

Device manager should show a "USB-to-Serial Com port under Ports (Com & Lpt) if the driver is installed or a USB to Serial Controller with a yellow ? under Other Devices if it can't find a driver.

Have you plugged the puck into another computer?

Untill you can get some computer to acknowledge that it at least knows something has been plugged in to its USB port I would consider the puck non-functional.
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Old 05-08-2011, 06:43   #11
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Re: BU-353 / Cap'n Problems

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Originally Posted by sneuman View Post
Thanks, Jack, but that doesn't seem to have solved the problem.
Did it identify the port to which the GPS is attached? Did that coincide with the toolbox setting?
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Old 05-08-2011, 08:08   #12
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Re: BU-353 / Cap'n Problems

It's an old Panasonic Toughbook that I'm trying to set up to be dedicated to the chartplotting software -- there's only one USB and it seems to recognize other things, such as flashdrives, just fine. The GPS doesn't show up under ports in the device manager, but there is an "unknown device" displayed as a yellow ?! under "other". When I hook the puck up to my Windows 7 desktop, it's also not recognized, but then I haven't installed the driver on that machine.
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Old 05-08-2011, 08:39   #13
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Re: BU-353 / Cap'n Problems

may need to install the driver again
from web see C

A. First, connect the GPS receiver to your USB port.
B. Second, from your START button, open CONTROL PANEL > SYSTEM > HARDWARE > DEVICE MANAGER.
C. Third, if a question mark or yellow error icon is displayed in the "PORTS (COM&LPT)" or "DEVICES/USB<->Serial" headings, this is an indication that no drivers are currently installed for the GPS receiver.
For installation instructions refer to your product CD-ROM.If the driver was shown already loaded, you would see "Prolific USB-to-Serial Comm Port (COM X)" under the "PORTS (COM&LPT)" section. This is your USB GPS assigned COM Port number to use when configuring any utility or map program to access the GPS data. Be sure your GPS map or utility program has been configured to read the assigned COM port. You may download USB drivers from the product page
ONLY IF A COM PORT WAS ASSIGNED TO THE PROLIFIC DRIVER AND YOUR GPS PROGRAM WAS CONFIGURED TO READ THE CORRECT COM PORT, AND YOU STILL CANNOT GET GPS DATA, continue with these steps:.
1. From the START button select CONTROL PANEL > ADD or REMOVE PROGRAMS.
2. Select "PL-2303 USB-to-Serial" from the program list.
3. Click on the REMOVE BUTTON
4. RE-BOOT your computer
5. Now re-install the Prolific driver for your USB GPS wither from the CD-ROM or the downloaded file from our web-site.
6. Re-Boot your computer and follow the steps "A" through "C" in the GPS Driver Verification section above.
GPS Test Utility
In the next stage, a GPS test application will be downloaded and used to view the receiver's activity or can be compare with your current loaded mapping application. This GPS Info program utility will provide you with viewable GPS data information needed for full receiver functionality validation. You may visit our support webpage and download this utility here.
- First, launch the GPS Info program this will display the Setup page.
- Then from the drop down menu list, select the COM port and enter your computers ASSIGNED COM PORT NUMBER as found in the DEVICE MANAGER.
- The Baud Rate should be set to 4800bps.
Almost instantaneously, NMEA raw data strings will be display at a rate of one second intervals below the configuration settings indicate your GPS driver has been successfully installed and configured. This GPS Info utility also can provide the user with satellite visibility and blue graphical signal strength representation from real-time satellites synchronization. Note: Three satellites are required for two dimension positioning (Latitude and Longitude). Four satellites are required for three-dimension positioning (Latitude, Longitude and Altitude).
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Old 05-08-2011, 09:03   #14
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Re: BU-353 / Cap'n Problems

Quote:
Originally Posted by Adamante View Post
. . . It's a USB device and to get it to work with the Capn' I had to install a DeLorme serial emulator on my laptop. It worked fine with my very old 6.2.2 version of Capn'. . .
That is probably the solution. You can get free "USB to Serial" drivers that then will enable the GPS to be "visible" to older enav programs like the old versions of The Cap'n. Without the conversion driver the old programs cannot find the GPS since they search only the old serial "comm ports."
- - You can also get a utility like "Visual GPS" - VisualGPS, LLC - that will run on your computer and display GPS actual output sentences. If you cannot get any GPS output displayed in the utility then your computer is not "seeing" the GPS.
- - With some operating systems, how you start each component makes a difference. With WinXP I had to start the computer and let WinXP completely load then plug in the GPS. Since the output of a GPS looks to Windows very much like a mouse starting up with the GPS physically plugged in resulted in the cursor arrow dancing all over the screen. Then after a GPS warms up time I activated enav (The Cap'n) and everything worked just fine.
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Old 05-08-2011, 12:10   #15
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Re: BU-353 / Cap'n Problems

I just dug out the old gear and played with it a bit - here is what I found.

I was using a DeLorme Earthmate GPS receiver, but it's a fairly generic USB mouse so this should apply to other generic GPS receivers.

When I plugged the mouse into a couple of computers running XP and no serial emulation software, the USB receiver failed to show up in the Device Manager in either computer and the Cap'n failed to detect the presence of a GPS.

When I plugged the mouse into the USB port of my laptop, which also runs XP but has the serial emulator installed, the device once again did not show up in the Device Manager, but it did show up in the serial emulator software and was detected by the Cap'n.

The serial emulator has a monitor function that shows the GPS receiver gradually acquiring satellites and eventually getting a fix. It's a pretty neat free little utility that can be used independently of any navigation software. It shows just about all the data a navigation program shows except for the chart overlay. I got it from the DeLorme website DeLorme Technical Support :: DeLorme Serial Emulation Driver for Earthmate GPS Receivers
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