USB/Serial Converter "This device cannot start.(Code 10)"

[OnHEL]

Used this driver for my Windows 7 64 Bit, only one that worked for me, all others just gave me Code 10. Happily telnetting right now )

http://www.megaupload.com/?d=IXEYXPJ6

[richms]

The problem with the old drivers that will work with the not quite genuine prolific chips, is that they will bluescreen on unplugging sometimes. About 1 in 20 I found. FTDI is just all round better IMO.

[opossum]

Yep, if you need a "special" driver for a PL2303 chip, it isn't a genuine Prolific chip. Most of the translucent blue USB to serial converters and Nokia phone cables seem to have fake chips that are not reliable. It is very rare for a genuine chip to be in COB packaging.

[Rick11]

The Code 10 error is mostly caused by the adapters with a Prolific chipset. There are several companies that makes these adapters, the most commonly used chipsets are FTDI, Prolific, WCH and Silicon Labs. Prolific is the cheapest but also the worst, the drivers/chipset are simply incompatible with many devices and operating systems, including 64-bit systems, (even Prolific themselves actually does provide a 64-bit driver, .. unfortunately a very unstable on), they are simply too cheap and unstable.
The best chipset/drivers are the FTDI. These are very solid and compatible with most devices and almost all operating systems both 32 and 64-bit. The FTDI usb to serial adapters are a bit more expensive but well worth the money.

[ajet]

Love you guys ! The vista version worked great ! Thanks a lot @ chazwark

[mojo]

Any chance of a repost of some working drivers? The Megaupload link was illegally destroyed by the US government...

[brightsigns]

We have a lot of customers that use Prolific USB to Serial Adapters ( for our LED Signs). The issue appears to be that Prolific inserted new code in their latest driver that rejects non-Prolific made clone chips (usually with error code 10 or 31).

So we took the time to create an installer that:

1. Removes existing serial ports with Prolific Drivers

2. Removes existing Prolific drivers.

3. Installs the latest Prolific drivers.

4. Replaces either the ser2pl.sys (32 bit) or ser2pl64.sys (64 bit) file with a replacement from an older Prolific install

5. Resets a registry key so that newly inserted devices are numbered starting from COM3.

It should work for Windows XP, Vista, 7, and 8. We tested mostly on Windows 7...worked great. We would appreciate any feedback, and confirmed reports that it fixes the problem...if you do report back, please note what OS, and whether it was 32 or 64 bit.

Here's the download:

http://www.brightledsigns.com/downloads/plclean.exe

Be sure the read what it does first....it's displayed in the license. For example, if you have other USB to Serial devices, like FTDI chip driven ones...they will get re-numbered after running this.

The benefit of this approach is that while the Vista driver does work on Windows 7, windows will auto-update it to the non-working driver via Windows Update. You can, of course, disable Windows Update for all drivers, then install the older Vista driver on Windows 7, but this solution seems cleaner, and allows Windows Update to do it's thing for other drivers.

[daanfire]

Hi,
i wanted to use the plclean program, all went wel until the installation then i got a
"internal error: cannot install files to 64bit locations on this version of windows.."
i work with win 7 ultimate 32 bit system..
any solution to the problem?

[brightsigns]

Hi,
i wanted to use the plclean program, all went wel until the installation then i got a
"internal error: cannot install files to 64bit locations on this version of windows.."
i work with win 7 ultimate 32 bit system..
any solution to the problem?

We updated it so that it won't try to copy the 64 bit ser2pl64.sys file on a 32 bit system. Same download location:

http://www.brightledsigns.com/downloads/plclean.exe

[labomat]

I did all the above but still got a code 10 error

[Update] I see the driver is be replaced by a new one by windows every time I overwrite it...

Any suggestions..?

[adafruit_support_bill]

@labomat - Which USB/Serial converter do you have? This thread is about cables based on the Prolific chip. We currently stock an FTDI-based cable.

[waltr]

I just had this issue which Windows 8.1
By following these instructions:
http://leftbraintinkering.blogspot.com/ ... evice.html

The Prolific USB to Serial adapter now works with Win 8.1
Hope this helps someone.

[moustic999]

It seems there is a new version of the driver available
since 25/10

It didn't get a chance to test it but maybe it fixes the issue

http://www.prolific.com.tw/US/ShowProdu ... 25&pcid=41

[waltr]

Well Windows 8.1 did an update yesterday and put the newer bad driver back.
So more searching and I found you also need to disable 'auto driver install' like this:
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/2500967

Hoping this is now fixed for good.

[adafruit_support_mike]

Thanks for posting the fix, and yeah.. I hope that solves the problem permanently for you.

This has been a turbulent update cycle for both Windows and OS X.