COM ports not visible to ASCOM

[rogerg (Roger)]

I wonder if anyone has had the experience where COM ports show up normally in Device Manager but ASCOM simply doesn’t see them at all?

When I say “doesn’t see them at all” what I mean is the dropdown of COM port selection in ASCOM settings is empty. Simply nothing there to select, while at the same time Device Manager shows ports for two distinct devices.

I have uninstalled and reinstalled ASCOM and it’s delivers several times, installing as both Administrator and as not.

Details:
- Windows 10
- USB COM ports
- TheSkyX can see the COM ports
- Serial debugging software can see the COM ports
- ASCOM cannot see the COM ports

Next step is format and start from scratch again.

Thanks,
Roger.

[Pepper (Steve)]

Are you using an eqdir cable to connect?
If so download the drivers from ftdi.com?? You’ll have to search
It essentially makes the USB device appear as a com port.

[rogerg (Roger)]

Originally Posted by Pepper

Are you using an eqdir cable to connect?
If so download the drivers from ftdi.com?? You’ll have to search
It essentially makes the USB device appear as a com port.

Hi Steve,

For the EQ8 mount I have tried both eqdir with various drivers including fadi.com and the SkyWatcher USB adapter device also. Both result in the same scenario of a COM port visible in device manager but not visible in ASCOM.

The other device I am trying is the Celestron focus motor which has a direct USB cable from focus motor to PC. That shows up in Device Manager as COM 4, the Focus utility from Celestron can connect to it (it does not provide any COM port selection, just ‘auto detects’). But again COM4 is not visible in ASCOM at all.

Thanks,
Roger.

[rogerg (Roger)]

A picture speaks a thousand words so here's a screenshot illustrating the situation.

[Pepper (Steve)]

Sorry mate IT is my Achilles heel.
I reached my ceiling on that one!

[rogerg (Roger)]

Haha, al good

Much discussion has ensued on the ASCOM support groups.io forum and it seems not ASCOM but either the ASCOM device drivers or some other drivers on the PC are the issue. At least it's narrowed the problem down slightly.

It turns out the ASCOM diagnostics tool can see the COM ports but the specific drivers are refusing to use them.

Roger.

[redbeard (Damien)]

When you install the specific accom driver for your device, was there a message about driver signing? If so, was the message indicating that the driver installation was all good or was there a message stating that there might be an issue but go ahead and install anyhow? If the latter, there might be an issue with the drivers digital signature. A later device accom driver may help as Win10 always needs correctly signed drivers to work. That may explain why the direct drivers work for the device but not the accom.

Good luck.

Cheers,
Damien

[Sitt (Simon)]

I recon you may have a conflict, try removing the USB Dongle - could be they are both trying to use COM1. If so, you will have to allocate one device another COM Port