Complied from faults and cures on the Softrock Yahoo group over several years. This is not only relevant to first-time users, things can go wrong at any time. By far the most usual problem is a bad joint or wrong component. Many have looked and looked and looked and THEN seen the fault. But confusion easily arises because of errors made when attempting to install a faulty controller and the "HID" trouble. USB control of the Si570 in the Softrock can be an introduction to Windows problem solving. (And one Linux user has said this is not unknown problem.) My understanding of the problem is that the Softrock USB controller is classified by Windows as a "Human Interface Device" (HID). I believe the reason is that this is to avoid paying a large registration fee for a unique USB identifier. Many other things are also classified as HIDs, including mice, keyboards, weather stations. Sometimes there is a conflict between HIDs and one is not recognised. So the best thing is first to remove ALL USB devices Windows XP, see lower down for my Windows 7 experience. When the Softrock USB is first inserted you hope to get these two messages and then continue to install the driver.   Most times this will happen. Plug in your other USB devices and continue. Install the software as described on the download page. Do NOT allow Windows to try to do this automatically. BUT This message can be the start of your frustration!  DO NOTHING! JUST REMOVE THE USB CONNECTION. Do this quickly, if Windows then lells you it has been installed, this will be as an "Unknown Device" The message just means that something has been plugged into the computer. It does not tell you if the USB controller has correctly sent data to the computer. It does not tell you if the computer has failed to read this data. If you have been confused, ticked a few boxes then you may have confused Windows. It is usually easy to "uninstall" "Unknown Devices" and "Hidden Unknown Devices" as described further down this page but sometimes Windows can make this very frustrating, seemingly impossible. Remove ALL other USB devices, insert the Softrock and hope to see it recognised. If it is then replace your other devices and bear in mind that this can happen again, and again... Seriously, there is no alternative, you may have to find a startup procedure that suits your system. And, in time, it may alter. If this happens after a successful driver install the first thing to try is restarting the computer. I have several USB Softrocks, usually I can plug them into any USB socket and they work BUT occasionally one is not recognised. Some recommend using just one particular USB socket NOT a hub. I seem to have solved most of my problems by putting my other HIDs on a hub. If you still get "Device Unrecognised" and you are not absolutely sure that the USB controller is operating correctly then try it on another computer. Make sure there are no no other USB devices plugged in. If you just plug it in, see what message is displayed, pull it out, it will not affect that computer. Just do no more than click "Cancel" or "X". If the Softrock ATTiny is still not recognised then there is a fault, most often a bad joint or wrong component. Check particularly the soldered connections to ground, they need a hot iron. In a few instances the ATTiny85 has been found to be faulty. NOTE. The Si570 DOES NOT AFFECT THIS. The ATTiny will be recognised and drivers installed even if the Si570 is not fitted. Windows 7 32 bit I plugged in the USB on Windows 7, it very rapidly went through the first steps and before I realised it had installed the "Unknown Device" I had to go to Device Manager as described below. 64 bit, note the need for a signed driver, see bottom of page. Below, some things you may need. Windows "Device Manager" The ATTiny has been recognised but something went wrong installing the driver. (As happened on my Windows 7) Right Click - Properties.   This is when you have allowed Windows to install an "Unknown Device" You are expected to ask a computer expert why your device is not working, but unless he is a Softrock user he will have no idea!  Any "Hidden Unknown Devices" should also be removed. Device Manager - View - Show Hidden Devices. http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;EN-US;Q315539 A more comprehensive tool is "Show Hidden Devices . exe" It is here http://www.xeroxscanners.com/en/en/support/toolsvista.asp and a search will probably find it elsewhere. http://www.nirsoft.net/utils/usb_devices_view.html is a similar utility. Fundamentally these utilities just open Windows Device Manager in a different way. See http://www.tech-recipes.com/rx/811/xp_vista_remove_hidden_devices/ The best was here, near the bottom http://members.cox.net/k9ivb/files/SCCC-TechSig-9-21-07.htm Opening Device Manager with Hidden Devices already showing but this was dead when I tried Jan 2012 ONLY REMOVE UNKNOWN DEVICES if you remove something else you may be asked for drivers when you insert another device, like a camera. Sometimes "Scan for hardware changes" may work if the Softrock is still connected. This is available from the drop-down after uninstalling. Highlight your computer. Action.   Another of Robby's pages, all models, USB driver installation and testing. September 2010 http://www.wb5rvz.com/sdr/ensemble_rx_ii_vhf/09_sw.htm Installing the driver.http://www.pe0fko.nl/SR-V9-Si570/#install http://www.pe0fko.nl/SR-V9-Si570/ Load drivers:-Unpack the drivers into a folder on your computer. Insert USB plug and direct the "Wizard" to the SI570_firmware folder. Then the drivers are installed. If you miss this and the driver does not get installed go to "Device Manager", find the "Unknown USB Device" and "Update the Driver", directing it to the folder. Occasionally it may be necessary to find and delete the drivers. In XP they are at C:\Windows\System32\libus0.sys and libus0.dll, one of these in the "Drivers" folder. Windows-7 64bits July 2010 "The open-source group LibUSB-Win32 released the new and SIGNED version of the libusb0.sys library. Because it is signed it will also install on Windows-7 64bits. I did build a new driver install package and tested it on Windows-XP and Windows-7 64bits. Also changed the web-page to describe the installation process on Windows-7. http://www.pe0fko.nl/SR-V9-Si570/index.shtml#install With thanks to the LibUSB-Win32 group and Pete Batard (who is the developer of libusb-1.0) for contributing the certificate!-- 73, Fred PE0FKO" June 2011 The latest driver does not seem to work with Windows 2000:- I installed PE0FKO-USB-Driver-0.1.12.2 version from http://code.google.com/p/usbavrsi570/source/browse/trunk/firmware/PE0FKO-USB-Driver-0.1.12.2.zip?spec=svn21&r=21 [View Raw File downloads] and it installed in a flash. Larry, W2HHV. Dave's explanation of USB connection problems http://groups.yahoo.com/group/softrock40/message/56146 This seems to me to be the best explanation I have seen. Some have said the ATTiny is not a true USB device but others say "Yes, but there is no reason that it should not work. " G4ZFQ August 2011 alan4alan at googlemail com More of my pages related to SDR http://sites.google.com/site/g4zfqradio/sdronasus Initial USB driver installation on a Windows 7 Asus netbook. Notes about using it with SDR. All aspects of the Softrock SDR http://homepages.wightcable.net/~g4zfq/Si570.htm |