JohnD Posted August 15, 2018 Share Posted August 15, 2018 Earlier this year, I was given enormous support from the Assembly of Sideways, when I was trying to get my old laptop to talk to the Megajolt unit. Problem never got it sorted, and eventually I gave up. Not like me, but the racing season was starting and I needed an ignition system! My other project that you-all have supported me in is the Crank Pulley Damper. The next stage of that is to compare signals from the front and back of the crank, to see what oscillations occur. To do that, I've bought a Picoscope, that allows a laptop (or any PC) to act as an oscilloscope. Software downloaded, installed on the laptop, and I run the programme. It asks me to connect the Picoscope, which I do, I get the usual XP "new hardware detected" and it lights a red LED on the unit. But the laptop cannot see the Picoscope unit, even when I move the USB plug to any of the three sockets on the laptop. So I had a Megajolt that the laptop detected, but would not talk to. I now have a Picoscope that the laptop detects, but will not talk to. That two quite different devices, that should communicate with a laptop by USB cable, have failed to do so, points to the Laptop as the faulty unit! Is there a fault in the laptop that means it can't communicate via USB? It's an old one, a Dell (Inspiron 1300) that I bought maybe ten years ago, for teaching at work. Haven't used it for that since before I retired, and I've hung onto it with these projects on mind. Maybe a drastic solution like wiping the hard disc and reinstalling Windows - But it may be that I need to splash out on a new one! John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Jones Posted August 15, 2018 Share Posted August 15, 2018 Did you say XP? .......that is quite old now. You may well have a driver problem. Presumably the USB ports do work for some things -memory sticks and so on? The MJ presumably was connected via USB- RS232 adapter? Picoscope perhaps not? Reinstalling Windows isn't huge fun. Nick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sprint95m Posted August 16, 2018 Share Posted August 16, 2018 Windows software is not fun, full stop. I am rather hoping that when the time comes, a friend will have a suitable laptop for tuning my car. If not I guess I'll have to buy a laptop just for this purpose? Ian. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PaulAA Posted August 16, 2018 Share Posted August 16, 2018 John It might indeed be a driver problem. Have you tried uninstalling the usb driver? Equally, the equipment may simply be incompatible with XP - the packaging should give you some indication of which OSs it is suitable for. The Inspiron 1300 is an old machine and a quick check on the potential to upgrade the OS to something newer suggests that even W7 is unlikely to work, so it may simply be a question of biting the bullet and getting a new(er) laptop. I used to buy refurbished equipment for the office and a decently specced year-old Dell laptop can be had for very little. As Ian and Nick have observed, reinstalling any Windows OS involves a lot of brain damage. Dell outlet is offering an Inspiron 15 with W10 for £245 here. Paul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nick Jones Posted August 16, 2018 Share Posted August 16, 2018 I wouldn't rule out an old machine or Windows XP purely on age grounds. XP is one of the better MS efforts and in fact Megajolt (and Megasquirt for that matter) date from similar times and also use aged tech. My "car" laptop is a very elderly, though not much used Acer, running XP without even built-in wifi. Does the job fine.... The issue is that more recent interconnecting cables and the like might not come with drivers that will talk to XP. There are usually ways around this though they can take a while to unravel....... Of course, some of the USB - RS232 adapters simply don't work. I have that T shirt as well. Nick Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldtuckunder Posted August 16, 2018 Share Posted August 16, 2018 My megajolt will talk to a laptop with XP Pro via the TriggerWheels supplied serial port adapter. Havent tried via a USA port. Its possible that the Insperon may only spport USB 1 not USB 2 or 3 , which may be the problem. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RedRooster Posted August 16, 2018 Share Posted August 16, 2018 Had the same problem with the AH Sprite, in the end loaded a map from one of the mini forums via a PC that did the job and then went & did something else as only so much patience. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnD Posted August 18, 2018 Author Share Posted August 18, 2018 Yes, the USB ports work fine for memory stick - that's how I installed the Picoscope software! And there's no serial port to USB jiggerypokery that my Megajolt unit required for its serial socket - the Picoscope unit comes with a USB cable. Flat one end (USB 2?3?) And squarish the other. I need to try plugging it into another Picoscope enabled PC. If it then connects, I'll know that my old laptop is the problem. Thank you, Paul. For your suggestion! I was looking at machines at my local PCWorld, and there's a big price jump from £250 "for daily use" and £600 and upwards for new machines. John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
oldtuckunder Posted August 18, 2018 Share Posted August 18, 2018 when you put a memory stick in a usb port, do you get a message like "this device would run faster if........" Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnD Posted August 19, 2018 Author Share Posted August 19, 2018 No, no message like that. Only that small window, asking you what you want to do with the device you have just plugged in. John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnD Posted August 21, 2018 Author Share Posted August 21, 2018 TRied the Picoscope on my desktop - works fine! At least, it detects and connects to the device. So there must be some hard/software problem with the old laptop's USB ports, which could explain why it wouldn't talk to Megajolt, OR Picoscope! Time to get out the UACT( universal error correction tool - aka credit card) and get me a new laptop. Thanks for the steer to refurbished Dells, Paul. John PS, I disposed of an even older desk top the other day, and had great fun removing the old hard disk, and destroying that. I didn't go the sledge hammer route, but drilled out the various fasteners to get inside. I was amazed when I got the drive apart - a "hard" disk really is hard! It's a thin steel (at least metal) disk, so strong that I couldn't bend it in my fingers, had to use a vice! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rogerguzzi Posted August 21, 2018 Share Posted August 21, 2018 24 minutes ago, JohnD said: TRied the Picoscope on my desktop - works fine! At least, it detects and connects to the device. So there must be some hard/software problem with the old laptop's USB ports, which could explain why it wouldn't talk to Megajolt, OR Picoscope! Time to get out the UACT( universal error correction tool - aka credit card) and get me a new laptop. Thanks for the steer to refurbished Dells, Paul. John PS, I disposed of an even older desk top the other day, and had great fun removing the old hard disk, and destroying that. I didn't go the sledge hammer route, but drilled out the various fasteners to get inside. I was amazed when I got the drive apart - a "hard" disk really is hard! It's a thin steel (at least metal) disk, so strong that I couldn't bend it in my fingers, had to use a vice! Hello John Fully trained PC engineer now then? Roger Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yorkshire_spam Posted August 21, 2018 Share Posted August 21, 2018 28 minutes ago, JohnD said: PS, I disposed of an even older desk top the other day, and had great fun removing the old hard disk, and destroying that. I didn't go the sledge hammer route, but drilled out the various fasteners to get inside. I was amazed when I got the drive apart - a "hard" disk really is hard! It's a thin steel (at least metal) disk, so strong that I couldn't bend it in my fingers, had to use a vice! Did you get the platter to bend? Must have been an aluminium one, quite often they shatter as they are typically a ceramic/glass substrate. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnD Posted August 21, 2018 Author Share Posted August 21, 2018 Aluminium? Do they have a coating to take the magnetic fields that encode data? I think that answers your Q, Roger! I'm a PC engineer like a car breaker is a race engineer! John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rogerguzzi Posted August 21, 2018 Share Posted August 21, 2018 8 minutes ago, JohnD said: Aluminium? Do they have a coating to take the magnetic fields that encode data? I think that answers your Q, Roger! I'm a PC engineer like a car breaker is a race engineer! John Job at PC world next then? Roger Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
yorkshire_spam Posted August 21, 2018 Share Posted August 21, 2018 47 minutes ago, JohnD said: Aluminium? Do they have a coating to take the magnetic fields that encode data? Exactly that! The substrate needs to be a material that's non magnetic... the particles in the coating are the bits that get magnetised. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnD Posted August 21, 2018 Author Share Posted August 21, 2018 PC World? Nah! They're holding a race engineer's position for me at Ferrari! John Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rogerguzzi Posted August 21, 2018 Share Posted August 21, 2018 2 hours ago, JohnD said: PC World? Nah! They're holding a race engineer's position for me at Ferrari! John Hello John When do you start I bet all the engineers there are trembling in their boots(Italian hand stiched by a dusky maidens from rare unicorn skins) Roger ps still dreaming is free at the moment(its getting political now?) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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