AIS display issue in opencpn

[doublebubble]

I have had my Vesper 850 displaying ais targets in opencpn for a few years now, two weeks ago still working fine, as of yesterday it doesn't work, this is with V5.2.6, all of a sudden the Vesper cannot find a com port to use and apart from that most of my com ports don't show up anymore, strange thing is if I plug in a different devise to the same usb port that the vesper was plugged into that component works but now the vesper doesn't, tried updating drivers etc. Our dedicated GPS still works fine, does anyone have any idea as my brain is now exhausted, worked fine next day nothing.

[Hakan]

If you're on Windows open the "Device manager" and study Ports (COM and LPT) while you connect and disconnect the Vesper USB. If the Vesper USB works it should appear with a COMx number.

[doublebubble]

When I connect the Vesper usb cable no other com port shows up in usb com ports but something shows up in serial bus controllers as an unknown devise and can't be connected, it won't assign a com port when the usb cable is connected like it did when first installed, the gps is connected fine to com port 3, the debug window shows this, if I try to make a new connection for the Vesper and assign a com port 4 which is available manually and run the debug window it shows that it's using the same com port as the GPS and doesn't transmit data, forgive me if I sound confused but I now don't know if the problem is with the laptop, Vesper usb cable or the Vesper watchmate itself

[wholybee]

If the Vesper shows up as an unknown device, then the driver is either missing or damaged. If I recall, the Vesper used drivers built into Windows, so it might be a trick to get them fixed.

I would start by checking with Garmin and downloading and reinstalling whatever software the AIS is supposed to have.

What version of Windows do you have?

[doublebubble]

Originally Posted by wholybee

If the Vesper shows up as an unknown device, then the driver is either missing or damaged. If I recall, the Vesper used drivers built into Windows, so it might be a trick to get them fixed.

I would start by checking with Garmin and downloading and reinstalling whatever software the AIS is supposed to have.

What version of Windows do you have?

Running Windows 10, as I mentioned it's been running great for many years up until two weeks ago, shut the boat down and restarted and left our stay and it doesn't transmit any more, Garmin has emailed me drivers which have been reinstalled but it still cannot recognise any com port, mystery.

[wholybee]

First thing I would check is Windows Update. Check the history to see if any updates were installed at the same time it stopped working. I doubt that is it, but something to check.

You should make sure you are updated to Windows 10 22H2.

You should check if there are any BIOS updates available.

If it is caused by a corrupted Windows file, you can try this. Note that sometimes files become corrupted for no apparent reason, and this is the fix:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/...3-966e85d4094e

In device manager, right click on the unknown device. Click the driver tab. Click Uninstall Driver. Click OK. Then, on the Device Manager Action Menu, click "Scan For Hardware Changes"

if none of that helps..

In device manager, right click on the unknown device. Go to the details tab. Change the Property to "Hardware IDs" The values shown below that are strings that you can google looking for drivers or troubleshooting. This will probably lead down a rabbit hole of dead ends, but sometimes yields results when nothing else will.

It is also possible the Vesper AIS itself died. Do you have another Laptop to plug it into and test?

[doublebubble]

Originally Posted by wholybee

First thing I would check is Windows Update. Check the history to see if any updates were installed at the same time it stopped working. I doubt that is it, but something to check.

You should make sure you are updated to Windows 10 22H2.

You should check if there are any BIOS updates available.

If it is caused by a corrupted Windows file, you can try this. Note that sometimes files become corrupted for no apparent reason, and this is the fix:
https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/...3-966e85d4094e

In device manager, right click on the unknown device. Click the driver tab. Click Uninstall Driver. Click OK. Then, on the Device Manager Action Menu, click "Scan For Hardware Changes"

if none of that helps..

In device manager, right click on the unknown device. Go to the details tab. Change the Property to "Hardware IDs" The values shown below that are strings that you can google looking for drivers or troubleshooting. This will probably lead down a rabbit hole of dead ends, but sometimes yields results when nothing else will.

It is also possible the Vesper AIS itself died. Do you have another Laptop to plug it into and test?

Ok thanks for the feedback, I'll go through all your suggestions I have none left, the Vesper itself is working just fine we've just lost the output to our laptop chart plotter, I have tried it on another laptop and same issue exists.

[Hakan]

Try:
1 Another USB cable.
2 If the Vesper inbound serial to USB is damaged you can try the serial output if you happens to have a serial-to-USB converter. According to the 850 manual the "NMEA Data output" should be the gray and yellow wires.

[champ8242]

You could have a look at the Ports @ Device Manager->View->Show Hidden devices if you can see a device there and uninstall it.

But also solutions like this migh be of help on (virtual) com ports in Windows
https://soldered.com/learn/how-to-cl...eset-com-ports

[SoggyPaws]

I would suspect the cable or the Serial to USB converter. Easy to replace. You could even borrow a neighbors vs buying new. If that doesn't fix it. Seems like your Vesper has a problem. (We have same 850, it's our main GPS and AIS into OpenCPN). Works with W10 and W11 current versions, with a high quality USB converter.