GPS & USB connections

Submitted: Wednesday, Apr 20, 2005 at 22:28
ThreadID: 22248 Views:2962 Replies:7 FollowUps:12
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G'Day All,
The problem I have is with my new laptop (Sony Vaio), Meridian Gold GPS and the USB data/power cable (not a serial to USB, it's a USB power/data cable from GPS to laptop)
I can get a connection between the two items (NMEA data etc) and can get a stationary position indicated on the GPS and on the laptop (haven't tried moving with it yet)
The GPS & laptop can't / won't talk to each other when trying to download or upload waypoints or tracks to / from each other.
I think, it is software problem to do with the USB cable drivers (but I'm no Bill Gates). The laptop recognises the GPS as a serial mouse when NMEA is turned off on the GPS, when trying to send waypoints etc. I have installed the drivers for the cable, inserted "NoSerialMouse" in the start up sequence etc but hasn't done improved anything.
I have looked in the archives and Eric had a similar problem last year but by the records it didn't get resolved. Also looked on Yahoo/Meridian/... but no luck there either.
Does anyone have any knowledge of how to overcome the problem of the GPS not talking to the laptop thru the USB cable, (only when NMEA is turned off on the GPS).
Hope someone can help, two of us have been searching for the answer for the last three days.
Cheers
Shawn
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Reply By: The Explorer - Wednesday, Apr 20, 2005 at 22:33

Wednesday, Apr 20, 2005 at 22:33
Hello - no idea really - recall people saying that you must only connect GPS AFTER Laptop/PC is turned on though. Have you tried this?
Cheers
Greg
I sent one final shout after him to stick to the track, to which he replied “All right,” That was the last ever seen of Gibson - E Giles 23 April 1874

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Follow Up By: Shawn - Wednesday, Apr 20, 2005 at 22:49

Wednesday, Apr 20, 2005 at 22:49
Yep, Tried all the different boot up/turn on/plug in sequences suggested by the 1,000,000 websites I have looked at over the last 2 days.
thanks
Shawn
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Follow Up By: The Explorer - Thursday, Apr 21, 2005 at 00:03

Thursday, Apr 21, 2005 at 00:03
Well...still no idea ...but just to help others (who may know) what program are you using to interface with GPS? Also have you contacted seller of cable?
Arent GPS's and computers fun!!
Cheers
Greg
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Follow Up By: Member - Michael- Thursday, Apr 21, 2005 at 00:03

Thursday, Apr 21, 2005 at 00:03
Shawn
What Greg said is correct, you must turn on the computer before turning on GPS. If you don't the computer will recognise your GPS as a serial mouse and start looking for it
Mike
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Follow Up By: The Explorer - Thursday, Apr 21, 2005 at 00:08

Thursday, Apr 21, 2005 at 00:08
Also I notice in OziExplorer that upload and download baud rates (for waypoints/tracks) are set independant of NMEA baud rate (for satelite data..moving map)...so another possible issue....but mabe you're not using OziE?
Cheers
Greg
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Follow Up By: Shawn - Thursday, Apr 21, 2005 at 07:06

Thursday, Apr 21, 2005 at 07:06
Thanks guys, I am trying to get the GPS to talk with Oziexplorer.
Yep, tried the different baud rates for upload/download and NMEA etc.
I have actually got them to communicate a bit more (can now download waypoints to GPS) by setting the GPS make to "NMEA only". this allows me to download waypoints to the GPS, but it can't upload them from GPS.
Still trying
Thanks
Shawn
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Reply By: Member - Brian (Gold Coast) - Thursday, Apr 21, 2005 at 07:02

Thursday, Apr 21, 2005 at 07:02
Shawn,

At least you can plug yours in! LOL..... I bought a new Toshiba laptop. The socket on the laptop and my Meridian Gold data cable are both female... (No snide remarks here guys!! LOL) I was wondering if your Sony was the same? If so, mwhere did you get an adaptor cable? I guess there will be one somewhere, but haven't had time to look for one.
AnswerID: 107629

Follow Up By: Shawn - Thursday, Apr 21, 2005 at 07:14

Thursday, Apr 21, 2005 at 07:14
G'Day Brian,
I got it from GPSOZ, took one day to arrive
Cheers
Shawn
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Follow Up By: Member - Brian (Gold Coast) - Thursday, Apr 21, 2005 at 07:20

Thursday, Apr 21, 2005 at 07:20
Thanks Shawn, I'll check it out!
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Follow Up By: Member - Craig M (NSW) - Thursday, Apr 21, 2005 at 09:04

Thursday, Apr 21, 2005 at 09:04
Hi Brian,
I think the connection you are refering to on your laptop is for something else. I had the same problem with mine, I thought it was a female conection, but it was actually a different type.
You have to use a serial to usb adapter. Available from GPSOZ or I got mine from Ebay.
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Follow Up By: BenSpoon - Thursday, Apr 21, 2005 at 10:51

Thursday, Apr 21, 2005 at 10:51
You will need a gender bender to get it working.. possibly.
As craig has said though, I dont think you are putting it in the right spot.

Count the pins on the laptop.. if theres 9 in that plug, you have the right plug- go and get a DB9 Gender bender from a computer store. It is unlikely that this will be the solution. More likely is:
If theres 15 pins, then you are looking at the video port, and you will need a USB to serial adapter, install that first then plug in the GPS to it
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Reply By: isanders - Thursday, Apr 21, 2005 at 07:09

Thursday, Apr 21, 2005 at 07:09
Shawn - check that the baud rate on the GPS and on your software match

Cheers

Ivan
Cheers,

Ivan
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Reply By: Pilbara Wayne - Thursday, Apr 21, 2005 at 07:28

Thursday, Apr 21, 2005 at 07:28
G'day Shawn

This info is from the Oziexplorer site:

Mouse Cursor Jumps around the Screen when the GPS is Connected

For more information, we suggest you go to "www.deja.com" and do a search on something like "gps detecting mouse device".

Microsoft has a "Symptoms, Cause and Resolution", check out this Microsoft Document.
"Serial Device May Be Detected as a Serial Mouse in Windows 2000" (XP is also discussed in the document)

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;283063

A method which should stop it happening is included below. We got this from a newsgroup and have had reports that it does work.
1. Boot the computer with the GPS receiver attached. The cursor will be jumping around and all sorts of unwanted stuff will be happening.
2. Disconnect the GPS. The computer will settle down.
3. Select Control Panel - System - Hardware - Device Manager.
4. Click on the "+" next to Mice and other pointing devices.
5. Click on "Microsoft Serial Ball Point" - This is what Windows 2000/XP thinks that your GPS receiver is.
6. Select "Actions" and then "disable".
7. Click "OK" to close each window
8. Reboot the computer with the GPS attached. All should be well.

The next time you boot the computer, it will tell itself to disable the "Serial Ball Point". If you boot the machine without the GPS attached, it will not even show the disabled device.

This works for me.

Also when I want to download/upload waypoints etc from my Garmin I have to change the settings on the GPS from NMEA to GARMIN. The software will then let me upload/download but it will not let me use moving map. I have to change back to NMEA to get the moving map information. I'd check that you dont have to do the same. Bit of a pain, but I only move the waypoints from the GPS to the laptop at the end of a trip or when I'm staying in one spot for a day or two.

Hope this has helped.
Cheers

Wayne

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AnswerID: 107632

Follow Up By: Shawn - Thursday, Apr 21, 2005 at 08:25

Thursday, Apr 21, 2005 at 08:25
Thanks for that Wayne,
Found that site late last night and cured the GPS/mouse recognition problem. Can also down load waypoints from laptop to GPS.
Now the only thing I can't do now is upload waypoints from the GPS to laptop, everything else now works great. Just got to get the last bit worked out
Cheers
Shawn
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Follow Up By: Miro - Tuesday, May 10, 2005 at 07:34

Tuesday, May 10, 2005 at 07:34
Just to explain our cases: we have few installations which are still in test
phase. The system always consists of Dell notebook running Windows XP, NaviCharT application from DigiSoft and USB peripherals GPS-Mouse, Weather-Mouses and Baro-Mouse from Navtronic. Very important moment is that notebook computer is always taken out when leaving the boat, as same computer is used for business and home computing. To simplify handling while on boat all USB peripherals are connected to USB hub, therefore only one wire should be connected to computer.

As we all know there is an unpleasant problem in Windows XP that GPS
receiver is wrongly recognized during boot as Microsoft Serial Ball Pointer. There are several documents on web suggesting disabling of a device as a solution of the problem. It is certainly help, but it was not sufficient in our case, because computer is also used without nautical peripherals. Each time after returning to boat the user should pass again-and-again unpleasant procedure trying to kill crazy mouse on the screen. Certainly they were complaining. We had to do something more to solve the problem.

We have made several steps trying to improve the system. Finally seems that Serial Ball Pointer problem is the source of all problems. Since yesterday evening it seems that we succeeded to control it. We did following:

1. We deinstalled all unnecessary software and drivers collected in computer to reduce the possibility of collision.

2. Ref. http://www.chartworx.com/files/faqxpmj.doc
There is suggested that line with "NoSerialMouse" is inserted to system
start-up settings. After doing it the behaviour of system was better but for unknown reason sometimes mouse again went crazy.

3. Disabling of Ball Pointer as suggested in several documents on web solves the problem for that time. But if computer is switched on without nautical peripherals meanwhile, new start with nautical peripherals shows same problem again.

4. Ref. http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/system/CEC/serddvr.mspx
Finally serial device enumeration in Windows as described in mentioned
Microsoft document could solve the problem by entering the required code FFFFFFFF to register
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Enum\%Enumerator%\%Device_ID%
\%Instance_ID%\Device Parameters\SkipEnumerations

After mentioned code was written to all registers related to Ball Pointer
seems that problem is fixed.

We have made many, many start-ups in past 24 hours and crazy ball pointer did not appear again. The system looks stable. Once adjusted NaviChart starts immediately correct operation after connecting USB peripherals.

I have to say that for the moment it was tested on one system only in our
lab. In next few days we shall try on real boat application. I do hope that
fix would prove to be good. If you have option to test our suggestion I
would be happy to hear your experience as well. Our experience at least
could save some time.
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FollowupID: 367050

Reply By: Member- Rox (WA) - Thursday, Apr 21, 2005 at 18:43

Thursday, Apr 21, 2005 at 18:43
Shawn just read that you bougt cable from Gpsoz then ring them they are briliant (well they helped me) Mine just bounced all over the place cause i was using the wrong start up.
AnswerID: 107707

Follow Up By: Shawn - Friday, Apr 22, 2005 at 08:15

Friday, Apr 22, 2005 at 08:15
Thanks Rox,
May have to do that as the last resort.
Cheers
Shawn
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FollowupID: 364652

Reply By: Keith_A (Qld) - Friday, Apr 22, 2005 at 09:07

Friday, Apr 22, 2005 at 09:07
Hi Shawn - on my unit (Garmin 72), NMEA protocol is only used for 'real time' or 'moving map' display - eg plots your position with a pointer on the map (on the laptop). I use it and it works well.
It can also communicate with other devices which use this protocol (eg depth finders).

To download or upload data (Waypoints, routes etc) this must be changed to a different protocol (or Interface) - eg a Garmin one. For my unit, the Laptop CANNOT upload or download waypoints etc, if the GPS is set on NMEA.
Took me a while to find it out also.

Perhaps your unit functions in a similar way.
regards....................
AnswerID: 107780

Reply By: Shawn - Wednesday, May 11, 2005 at 14:39

Wednesday, May 11, 2005 at 14:39
Well its all up and running great now.
GPSOZ sent out a disk with an updated driver and all is well.
Thanks guy for all the above help.
Cheers
Shawn
AnswerID: 110830

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