Garmin Etrex Usb Serial Driver
I'm wanting to get my Garmin eTrex Legend connected to my laptop. No Serial Port, but three USB Ports. Bought a Dynex Modell DX-UBDB9 USB PDA/Serial Adapter Cable at Best Buy tonight. It indicates compatibility with GPSr's on the packaging. First I had to go to to get the DX-UBDB9Drivers.zip file, since WXP did not recognize the device when plugged in. Driver up and adapter recognized.
Plugged the GPS into the USB/Serial Adapter and did not get any recognition from the PC. Running EasyGPS, choosing Garmin eTrex Legend in the setup; options for choosing Port/Speed or USB interface are grayed out. Unable to send or receive. Looks like the GPS is not being seen by the PC through the adapter. Does anyone have exprience with the Dynex adapter and/or have any suggestions? Is there a better adapter to use?
I use a Garmin etrex GPS with a RS 232 serial socket and after installing the Prolific USB to serial driver with Windows 7, my e-map application, Memory Map connected.
Would I be better off getting a USB cable for my connection? John, I'm almost certain the problem isn't with the adapter; if your GPSr has been recognized by Windows XP, it's probably working fine. More likely, something's 'wrong' (which could mean 'not set correctly' or 'disabled' or something like that) with the way the computer is set up, specifically with regards to the USB port or possibly even the driver. In other words, if EasyGPS is 'seeing' the Legend, then the adapter is functioning.
I don't know if you've read the.PDF manual that came with the Dynex driver, but I highly recommend that you do if you haven't yet. For instance, the manual shows several components that need to be properly displayed in Device Manager; without those components, I'm guessing you'd run into problems such as the one you describe.
Double-check what your Device Manager is showing you against the illustration in the manual and make sure they match; if not, you may have to uninstall and reinstall the driver. Hope that helps, Dave. First I had to go to to get the DX-UBDB9Drivers.zip file, since WXP did not recognize the device when plugged in. Driver up and adapter recognized.
Plugged the GPS into the USB/Serial Adapter and did not get any recognition from the PC. Running EasyGPS, choosing Garmin eTrex Legend in the setup; options for choosing Port/Speed or USB interface are grayed out. Unable to send or receive. Looks like the GPS is not being seen by the PC through the adapter.
Garmin Serial To Usb Adapter
Don't have any experience with this specific adapter, but keep in mind that once installed correctly, these adapters look to your PC like a Serial port, not a USB connection. When I installed mine, after the drivers were installed, I had to go into Device Manager and modify the COM port settings to get it to work. I haven't used EasyGPS so can't help with that, but presumably if it works with one package it'll work with all of them.
Just make sure you know which COM port it's set to. Couple things to check: First in Control Panel/System/Hardware/Device Manager check out your ports and see what port the USB adapter is appearing as.
If it's 1,2,3, or 4 you should be fine, having it set higher than 4 may sometimes (but not always) cause problems with certain apps. To change the port, right-click the adapter in the device manager, go to properties, then the Port Settings tab and click the advanced button. Choose one that's not being used by something else. Ok, now you know what COMM port it's on, so next thing, make sure your software (EasyGPS) is set up to use that port. (Not USB as someone else mentioned earlier) I'm not familiar with EasyGPS (I use GSAK) so you're on your own here. Make sure EasyGPS is set up for the GARMIN protocol too, if that's an option. Next thing, make sure your GPSr interface is set to GARMIN.
Don't have mine in front of me but it's main menu, then setup (or system?) then interface I think. You won't be able to choose BAUD or anything, that's fine, as you don't need to.
Once all this stuff is set up correctly you should be pretty much ready to go. See if it works. If you still have problems, and you've double-checked your settings, it could be the driver you're using for your USB to Serial adapter. Search the net and see if there's an updated driver (or even a completely different, but compatible one) and try it. Remember to NEVER plug a new USB device in before you install drivers for it. That's a great way to mess things up royally.
You mentioned you did that, so you might need to get into device manager and delete the USB to serial adapter driver and start over. Hopefully not though, I imagine there's just a setting set wrong somewhere. Thanks for all the replies.
Garmin Etrex Usb Adapter
USB Adapter is being recognized and and after just looking at Com Ports, my Garmin etrex Legend is now being recognized by EasyGPS. I'm working on going to GSAK and CacheMate. I can UL/DL with GSAK without problem. Look like two programs to get registered. On the other hand, I have an old MS Streets 98 Program that is capable of interfacing with a GPSr. It does not recognize that I have a GPSr connected and nothing shows up in the Control Panel. Is there a driver needed for WXP and installed programs to use the GPSr?
An ExpertGPS user asks: I have an older GPS that uses a serial cable, but my new laptop only has USB ports. How can I connect my GPS to my computer? How do I Use a USB to Serial Adapter with ExpertGPS? If you have an older GPS receiver with a serial cable interface, and a newer Windows desktop or laptop computer that only has USB ports, you will need to use a USB to Serial Adapter to connect your GPS to ExpertGPS.
A USB to Serial Adapter is a small piece of hardware, usually just an inline cable, with a USB plug on one end, and a 9-pin serial plug on the other. The USB to Serial Adapter that I use, the U209-000-R from TrippLite, is shown below. Many companies sell identical products - I have a feeling they all come from the same overseas source and differ only in the model name sticker and the name on the little CD driver that comes with the package. The first thing you need to do is to install the driver software that comes with the USB to Serial Adapter.
If you don't have the driver, you can go to the manufacturer's Web site to download and install it. Without the driver software, the cable won't do anything.
Here's a picture of a successful driver install. Very Important: Notice that the driver has assigned COM4 to the USB to Serial Adapter!!! Once the driver is installed successfully, you can plug the USB to Serial Adapter into your USB port, and Windows should display a pop-up message saying that a new Plug and Play device was found and recognized. If this doesn't happen, you need to address this problem before proceeding.
Contact tech support at the USB to Serial Adapter's manufacturer ( not me) for assistance. Now connect your GPS receiver to the adapter and turn on the GPS. Don't launch ExpertGPS until the GPS is connected to the adapter, and the adapter is connected to your computer. Waypoint, route, and track transfer If you have a Garmin, Magellan, Lowrance, or Eagle GPS and want to transfer waypoints, routes, or tracks, run ExpertGPS, and click Preferences on the Edit menu.
Click My GPS Receivers, click Add, and select your GPS from the list. When asked for the COM port, select the same COM number that Windows assigned to your USB to Serial Adapter when you installed the driver. Real-time tracking on a laptop To track your location in real-time while outdoors with a laptop, run ExpertGPS, and click Preferences on the Edit menu.
Click Tracking, and select NMEA as the Protocol. When asked for the COM port, select the same COM number that Windows assigned to your USB to Serial Adapter when you installed the driver. Click Enable Tracking on the Tracking menu, and ExpertGPS will begin listening to the NMEA data being sent from your GPS receiver, and updating your position on the map every second or two.