Another test you can try is to short pins 2 and 3 on the RS-232 side of the converter (loop back) and then use a terminal program to see if characters that you type are echoed back.
Some notes: 1. make sure handshaking is off/none 2. make sure local echo is off 3. data rate does not matter 4. there are several (free) terminal emulation programs out there. HyperTerminal used to be bundled with XP but is no longer free. However you can download a trial version here http://www.hilgraeve.com/hyperterminal-trial/ 73, Cliff K3LL/6 -----Original Message----- From: Elecraft [mailto:elecraft-boun...@mailman.qth.net] On Behalf Of Don Wilhelm Sent: Monday, July 18, 2016 4:05 PM To: Jan Ditzian; Elecraft@mailman.qth.net Subject: Re: [Elecraft] Test serial-to-USB converter Jan, The best way to test a USB to serial converter is by substitution with a known good one, or by substitution of a known good working serial device connected to the questionable converter cable. Yes, a power surge or a lightning event can damage serial interfaces as well as USB interfaces. Since your USB ports on the computer seem to work, borrow a known good USB to serial converter and try it out - preferably one with an FTDI chipset. If you have any other devices that use a serial COM port interface, see if they work with your USB to serial adapter - if so, the adapter is probably OK, but remember that in the event of a power surge, multiple failures are possible even though in normal troubleshooting we assume only a single failure. You can test the USB to serial converter with a 'scope and an RS-232 breakout box, but you have to know the proper RS-232 levels to understand what is happening. A null modem loopback cable can be helpful if you have to proper driving software application for that testing. I did that during my years of PC modem testing, but that was more than 30 years ago and the software ran under DOS - not helpful now. 73, Don W3FPR On 7/18/2016 6:36 PM, Jan Ditzian wrote: > I have a K3 that lost communication with my computer. It uses an > Elecraft serial-to-USB converter and cable. This probably happened > during a known power surge. I also lost communication to my MDS > rotor, which uses a built-in USB cable, which I believe may also be a > serial-to-USB arrangement. I checked things out a bit, and I can tell > that my USB ports all seem to work. I also tried the K3 with another > computer and was unable to communicate with it. However, I also tried > a direct serial-to-serial cable from the K3 to the first computer, > which has a serial port, and was also unable to communicate. I am now > unsure of the location of the problem. I am willing to go with > whatever works. > ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html Message delivered to c...@cfcorp.com ______________________________________________________________ Elecraft mailing list Home: http://mailman.qth.net/mailman/listinfo/elecraft Help: http://mailman.qth.net/mmfaq.htm Post: mailto:Elecraft@mailman.qth.net This list hosted by: http://www.qsl.net Please help support this email list: http://www.qsl.net/donate.html Message delivered to arch...@mail-archive.com
