Jim, Given that you are using a laptop with no serial ports, a USB-to-serial adapter is probably your simplest option. There are such things as PCMCIA serial cards, but there is no guarantee that one of them wouldn't give you just as many problems. You might have better luck with a different USB-to-serial adapter, but that seems to be pretty much random.
For example, I have two USB-to-serial adapters, both using the same chipset (although possibly different revision dates, as they were bought at different times), and both running off the same driver. One of them causes software crashes with some of the things I try to do with it, but the other one works fine on the same tasks. Likewise, some people have no problems with the KUSB adapter from Elecraft, but others report problems similar to yours. One thing you might try is taking the powered USB hub out of the picture. During those relatively infrequent times when you are downloading firmware to the K3, try plugging your Keyspan adapter directly into the laptop's USB port without going through the hub, to see if that makes a difference. It might even make a difference which USB jack you use on the laptop. This may seem like black magic, but changing USB jacks can sometimes make a difference with USB ports. A warning if you try this: If you plug the adapter into a different USB jack (with or without the hub), there is a good chance that Windows will assign a different COM port number to it. Fortunately there is a Properties dialog box you can go into in Device Manager that will let you change the number back to the one you want to use. USB may be plug 'n play, but that doesn't always mean it's simple to use! 73, Rich VE3KI ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:[email protected] This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html
