Test and Measurement Forum

I consistently get a "ADC 200 unit not found on LPT1" message under XP.
I can reboot into Windows ME on the same PC and Picoscope runs just fine.

I have just installed the newest version of Picoscope for XP - R5.9.4. ADC200.sys is present and correct in windows\system32\drivers according to system information. The power is on and the red light is on. I have manually set the port address to 378 and irq to 7 in cmos and also in Device Manager.

Depite downloading again just to make sure, removing the old version, reinstalling and innumerable re-boots , the About screen in Picoscope says R5.10.7 (the beta which I tried at one stage a while back) It also says ADC200 Driver V3.03 Error 13 (H191 S0) pico.sys V85.170.
I am wondering if there is the remotest chance of getting the ADC to work under WinXPlat?

Hi,

I am sorry to hear that you are experiencing this problem with your XP operating System and ADC-200.

The XP handles ports in a different way than ME, it virtualises them and has more layers of abstraction between the software application and the port. I would recommend that you try LPT2 and LPT3, even though they are not listed in your device manager.

Best regards,

I have tried different port numbers. I have also checked to see whether the port is in use by some mythical device concocted by XP. I have also tried the "latest" Pico software R 5.11.0 on the remote off-chance that someone in Pico has fixed the important bugs instead of just piddling about with bells and whistles.

I note that many, many users experience difficulty running a parallel-interface Picoscope under WinXP. I seriously wonder whether *anyone* has had any success. I suggest that whether you choose to blame XP's hardware abstraction or not, you are failing to deal with its foibles.

I myself have experienced innumerable problems with "legacy" kit using DOS ports under Win2000, another NT-derived OS. I know from bitter experience that trying to hit a port in software, even using bought-in virtual devices, is non-trivial. If you understand the words that you use, viz, "virtualize" and "layers of abstraction" and were not just trying to intimidate a complaining punter by parrotting obscure jargon, you should be in a good position to write a proper driver that will work. There again, perhaps you don't really understand Windows. I am postponing purchase of a top-end Picoscope until I can be confident it will survive the next change to the OS. On the showing so far it could be money down the drain.

Hi,

The first post was the solution to the most common problem experiencied with XP and Picoscope software. However, there are other steps that can be followed to try and get your unit working on XP.

In the BIOS check that you have the mode set to one of the following:

SPP, Unidirectional, Normal or Output only. Although other modes such as ECP, EPP and Bidirectional will work they can be temperamental.

If you have other software that is using the Parallel port, such as a Zip drive then disable this software. If you have a printer added remove this and in the device manager check that the port is using a parallel port systems driver and no conflicts are present.

As you know XP is based on NT technology and Pico agrees legacy communication ports is not the best method for handling coms on these more modern operating systems. For this reason Pico have chosen USB as the preferred method of communication, with the PS3000 series units and USB to Parallel port adapter. USB is obviously the preferred choice since it is plug and play installation and removes confilcts you are experiencing.

Best regards,

Eventually I bit the bullet and forked out for a USB converter. A pico USB converter for Picoscopes, mark you. This was not a resounding success. Although it solved the problem, The dam' thing is not mechanically compatible with the ADC-200 and keeps falling out, there being no way of screwing it in. I have "solved" this problem by wrapping several meters of ugly black insulating tape around the two to hold them together. It looks a mess and it is.

Perhaps the idea is to have another cable between the two, but after a while with all the fiddling about one gets fed up with the whole thing.

Picoscope still runs erratically, often grinding to a halt with the timebase not running after a while - necessitating "stopping" the stopped timebase and re-starting it. Triggering is as bad as it always was and it remains all but impossible to alter settings on the fly, despite the fact that settings are handled by PC software (now 16 times faster than my old PC) and data collection is handled by the Picoscope hardware so it should be possible to do whatever you like. And of coursew, no matter what you do, the slow timebase refuses to run in normal timebase mode but insists on drawing little bits of trace up to the trigger point whether you want them or not.

Hi Derek

I am sorry to hear that you are still experiencing problems.

The reason that the adaptor does not screw firmly to the unit is that it is designed to have a parallel lead going between the unit and the adaptor. Used like this it will fix firmly to the lead.

With regards your software issues, you might like to download the latest version of Picoscope which is R5.11.03 from:

http://www.picotech.com/software.html

This version contains a number of new bug fixes and will hopefully solve your problems.

Hope this helps

Best Regards