Magellan/Acer Netbook connection draws a blank post 66493
Submitted: Thursday, Mar 05, 2009 at 21:36
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Willem
Well the Acer Netbook definitlely does not have a/or multiple COM PORTs
So after numerous ideas from you good contributors and much scouring of the internet I have decided to give it a miss. It was only a whim anyway as I do not need it.
I managed to Copy and Paste my Waypoints to Oziexplorer on my PDA and that will do for the trek through the desert
Thanks to everyone for offering advice
Cheers
Reply By: Ozhumvee - Thursday, Mar 05, 2009 at 21:53
Thursday, Mar 05, 2009 at 21:53
Willem
does it have bluetooth or USB? If it does just get either a bluetooth or USB GPS receiver like this one, local to you in SA too.
Ebay no:160318233837
Peter
AnswerID:
352416
Follow Up By: Willem - Thursday, Mar 05, 2009 at 22:04
Thursday, Mar 05, 2009 at 22:04
Peter
No, but it does have Wireless LAN. Would that help?
FollowupID:
620636
Follow Up By: Ozhumvee - Friday, Mar 06, 2009 at 06:10
Friday, Mar 06, 2009 at 06:10
Willem, no that is purely to connect to a network or the net.
I'm very surprised that it doesn't have USB, must have some way of connecting peripherals without a serial port, which laptops haven't had for a while now.
FollowupID:
620656
Follow Up By: Willem - Friday, Mar 06, 2009 at 07:11
Friday, Mar 06, 2009 at 07:11
Peter
It has 3 USB ports but no COM PORT which is an internal thingy.
So a lot of stuffing around is required to go down the road of making the GPS talk to the Laptop.
FollowupID:
620658
Follow Up By: Member - Phil G (SA) - Friday, Mar 06, 2009 at 10:36
Friday, Mar 06, 2009 at 10:36
Willem,
I had a tabletPC with the same setup - 3 USBs and no COM port. But the computer woud assign a COM port number when I connected a USB-serial converter. It was COM7 or COM8 from memory, and that was the number that I entered into Oziexplorer to make it work. Might be worth trying a higher com port number to see if it works. I guess it might also be a Vista issue (I assume you're running Vista) where there is no Vista criver available for teh convereter you're using.
FollowupID:
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Follow Up By: Willem - Friday, Mar 06, 2009 at 18:59
Friday, Mar 06, 2009 at 18:59
Phil
Running XP SP3
I have given up the idea of this venture. Other things to do over the next few days.
Are going away for the long weekend?
FollowupID:
620802
Reply By: Cruiser .- Thursday, Mar 05, 2009 at 22:38
Thursday, Mar 05, 2009 at 22:38
Willem,
I must admit I have not looked at the previous post so I have no idea what was suggested, but it is possible to get a USB to RS239 (Com Port) adaptor.
Have you looked into that ?
Cheers,
Cruiser
AnswerID:
352433
Follow Up By: Cruiser .- Thursday, Mar 05, 2009 at 22:45
Thursday, Mar 05, 2009 at 22:45
I just took the time to read the original post and the replies and see that the adapter thing has been suggested.
I will go back to sleep now.
Cheers,
Cruiser
FollowupID:
620644
Reply By: Richard W (NSW) - Friday, Mar 06, 2009 at 06:29
Friday, Mar 06, 2009 at 06:29
Willem,
I didn't see your original post.
I had a similar problem once before and two solutions I found were:
1. USB/Serial Port adaptor. Worked in my case but you said you have tried this.
2. A USB bluetooth dongle and a Globalsat BT338 GPS reciever. It was a bugger to configure the port.
AnswerID:
352466
Follow Up By: Willem - Friday, Mar 06, 2009 at 07:17
Friday, Mar 06, 2009 at 07:17
G'day Richard
I have the Adaptor from way back.
Yes, the Blue-tooth thingy is available at a price which I am not prepared to spend at the moment. Then there is the configuration and no guarantee of it working properly.
As I have mentioned, I have a PDA as well, with Ozi and waypoints installed, so stuffing about with moving map on a laptop is not essential.
Cheers
FollowupID:
620659
Reply By: Member - Warfer (VIC) - Friday, Mar 06, 2009 at 09:39
Friday, Mar 06, 2009 at 09:39
Hiya Will
If you can find GOLD you can find a bloody USB port lol,What model is it ?????...Had the same issue with my Magellan,Use the GPS Port looker upperer on previous thread and change the com port details,i noticed it said to put in NMEA mode but looked mine up in file sharing...
Cheers
AnswerID:
352477
Follow Up By: Willem - Friday, Mar 06, 2009 at 09:48
Friday, Mar 06, 2009 at 09:48
Read both threads carefully first,
young fella, before blabbering on....yer probably still asleep......LOL
Still have to find Gold tho' :-(
Cheers
FollowupID:
620682
Follow Up By: Member - Warfer (VIC) - Friday, Mar 06, 2009 at 10:00
Friday, Mar 06, 2009 at 10:00
Will tried calling your
home number,when will you be
home,hav a few ideas ????
Cheers
FollowupID:
620685
Reply By: Member - bungarra (WA) - Friday, Mar 06, 2009 at 10:10
Friday, Mar 06, 2009 at 10:10
Giday Willem
I have the identical problem to you...one of those aspire one baby notebooks and Magellan Gold GPS that has the serial port 9 pin...two rows 5 and 4.....that is a female on the GPS..there is no male match on the aspire
I have just purchased a USB Serial Adapter that will convert any device to USB
So I now have a USB Serial Adapter that will join the GPS to the Aspire
I will connect the two together today and see what happens...I cant see any reason why it wont work...but there have been more knowledegble minds working on this than mine with your post ...........and so I will let you know as soon as i fiddle with it......fingers crossed
Graeme
AnswerID:
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Follow Up By: Member - bungarra (WA) - Friday, Mar 06, 2009 at 10:13
Friday, Mar 06, 2009 at 10:13
Should have mentioned that I have noted the previous posts on these adaptors...........but the computer guru I spoke with is adamant that it will work...so I purchased it.....
I am about to find out the facts at the coal face as they say!
FollowupID:
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Reply By: Member - bungarra (WA) - Friday, Mar 06, 2009 at 12:25
Friday, Mar 06, 2009 at 12:25
Hi Willem
Not sure if what I have done will help you..but as per my previous post I purchased a Belkin USB Serial Adapter {Pro series} part # F5U109 that has the matching sex plug to my Magellan Gold GPS
I have just loaded the software for this adapter (these adapters are not plug and play..they require software loaded first)....I had previously purchased an external hard drive for the aspire
It is working perfectly and have just down loaded all my old way points ect from years gone into the little baby
Not sure if your GPS is a similar connection re serial plug..........but if thats any help to you..Ill be pleased.
cheers
AnswerID:
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Follow Up By: Willem - Friday, Mar 06, 2009 at 18:47
Friday, Mar 06, 2009 at 18:47
Thanks for your
feedback Bungarra,
My Magellan is a 2001 model and my serial port/usb adapter is of the same vintage
But they should work OK as the old Magellan still fires up OK.
When I plug the gear into the USB port on the Acer there is no sound of the computer recognising external devices. Methinks something is dead somewhere...LOL
Cheers
FollowupID:
620798
Follow Up By: Gone Bush (WA) - Friday, Mar 06, 2009 at 18:57
Friday, Mar 06, 2009 at 18:57
Willem,
as I mentioned previously the early USB/Serial adapters were hit and miss.
USB was brand new then and Serial ports were wired according to what the PC manufacturers wanted to put in them.
Third party manufacturers were faced with trying to match serial port wiring that varied between the PC manufacturers.
It may mean spending a couple of bob to get a "modern" one or a USB GPS "Mouse" type antenna.
cheers, I'm sure you'll find a solution.
FollowupID:
620801
Reply By: Member - Graham H (QLD) - Friday, Mar 06, 2009 at 14:56
Friday, Mar 06, 2009 at 14:56
Willem
Have you reinstalled the software for the adapter as it may not be plug and play (That means plug it in and the puter knows what it is)
If you havent try that.
I have a Haicom one in the car so will haul it out and try it as it also has a serial/USB adapter.
Just as an aside SP3 is not recommended Most seem to think it causes more probs than it fixes.
I prefer to use SP2 and do all the necessary updates from the Microsoft update site. Takes a while I know but I have never managed to get SP3 to actually download properly.
Cheers
AnswerID:
352556
Follow Up By: Member - Graham H (QLD) - Friday, Mar 06, 2009 at 15:28
Friday, Mar 06, 2009 at 15:28
Got it out and it wont go unless driver is installed then it shows up in device manager as Other devices
One other thing to try is when booting up go into setup, F2 ???? and along top to advanced and make sure legacy USB is ENABLED
then hit F10 and save and exit
Worth a look as my net book is a Medion but still on XP so commands will be similar
FollowupID:
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Follow Up By: Willem - Friday, Mar 06, 2009 at 18:53
Friday, Mar 06, 2009 at 18:53
Graham
Ummmmm.....software circa 2001 can not be found. Have gone into Google but there was just too much there to find the right thing. AND the problem is then I have to transfer any dowload to a SD Card for copying to Netbook as it is not Internet enabled.
Anyway its not serious. Have PDA running in truck with all I need on it.
Cheers
FollowupID:
620799
Reply By: Bob of KAOS - Saturday, Mar 07, 2009 at 08:52
Saturday, Mar 07, 2009 at 08:52
Willem
try downloading this driver and seeing if it all works
Bob
Prolific usb-serial driver
AnswerID:
352681
Follow Up By: Willem - Saturday, Mar 07, 2009 at 15:37
Saturday, Mar 07, 2009 at 15:37
Thanks for your effort, Bob.
I did however download a similar driver from the same site and then transferred that and installed it to the Netbook but when I wanted to use it, it's requirement was connectivity to the internet and I do not have Netbook Internet enabled.
Cheers
FollowupID:
620892