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Weather Software => Virtual Weather Station => Topic started by: marklyn on February 27, 2022, 04:49:39 PM

Title: "could not open communication port" after moving vws install
Post by: marklyn on February 27, 2022, 04:49:39 PM
I had to rebuild my Windows 10 computer with VWS on it.  I first copied the entire Virtual Weather folder to my D: drive and put a new clean Windows 10 install on my C: drive.  I followed the instructions for moving VWS to another folder/computer and made the appropriate changes to the various file/folder settings.
When I launch VWS (was told I didn't have to actually re-install) from the new location it launches but comes up with "Could not open communication port" and it shows com port 3 with 19200 baud, which is what it was before the move.
My Vantage Pro II has the serial/usb datalogger dongle which is connected to my USB port.
I've tried other serial ports, no luck. I verified the baud rate on the VPII is indeed 19200.
If I choose to change the weather station to davis vantage pro/usb (or back to serial), there is a message indicating I need to install weatherlink to configure the station.
I don't ever remember doing that before, don't remember if I ever had weather link software even.  The weatherlink site has subscription services only, so no go there.
Anyone has any clue why I can't communicate now?  Am I missing weatherlink software I didn't know I had?
Ambient SW doesn't support this anymore so I'm at a loss as to what to do.
Title: Re: "could not open communication port" after moving vws install
Post by: marklyn on February 27, 2022, 05:25:29 PM
I am noticing in my hardware device manager there are some "other device" drivers missing: USB-Serial Controller D, SM Bus Controller & PCI Data Acquisition and signal processing controller

Could this be my issue? Where can I find these?
Title: Re: "could not open communication port" after moving vws install
Post by: Garth Bock on February 27, 2022, 05:53:02 PM
 What model/ manufacturer of computer ? You need to go to the manufacturer website and download and install drivers and make sure nothing is in conflict in Device Manager. I have had the prompt about needing WL in the past and just dismissed it. I am running VWS with a serial logger and last time I moved it to a new computer I missed a couple of drivers and had the same problem you had. Let me know if I can help.

Oh I have a project I am working on so I called support and asked if they would sell me an additional license and they gave me one for free.
Title: Re: "could not open communication port" after moving vws install
Post by: marklyn on February 27, 2022, 06:40:45 PM
It is an Acer Aspire XC605 desktop.  No luck finding the driver there.  I feel pretty certain it's the USB-Serial Controller D listed in the "other devices" for which I need a driver.
Title: Re: "could not open communication port" after moving vws install
Post by: cirrus on February 27, 2022, 09:10:19 PM
It is an Acer Aspire XC605 desktop.  No luck finding the driver there.  I feel pretty certain it's the USB-Serial Controller D listed in the "other devices" for which I need a driver.

This might be what you need? https://www.silabs.com/developers/usb-to-uart-bridge-vcp-drivers (https://www.silabs.com/developers/usb-to-uart-bridge-vcp-drivers) Click the Downloads tab.
Title: Re: "could not open communication port" after moving vws install
Post by: Garth Bock on February 27, 2022, 10:17:55 PM
One thing that will help clear up some missing drivers is to run Windows Updates. I have had missing drivers installed on an old HP after running updates. If you are still having problems I would be happy to remote in.
Title: Re: "could not open communication port" after moving vws install
Post by: marklyn on February 27, 2022, 10:50:02 PM
One thing that will help clear up some missing drivers is to run Windows Updates. I have had missing drivers installed on an old HP after running updates. If you are still having problems I would be happy to remote in.
I had tried those drivers earlier, no luck.
Title: Re: "could not open communication port" after moving vws install
Post by: marklyn on February 27, 2022, 10:50:30 PM
One thing that will help clear up some missing drivers is to run Windows Updates. I have had missing drivers installed on an old HP after running updates. If you are still having problems I would be happy to remote in.
I had tried those drivers earlier, no luck.  I also checked and was up to date on Windows updates.
Title: Re: "could not open communication port" after moving vws install
Post by: cirrus on February 27, 2022, 11:22:15 PM
One thing that will help clear up some missing drivers is to run Windows Updates. I have had missing drivers installed on an old HP after running updates. If you are still having problems I would be happy to remote in.
I had tried those drivers earlier, no luck.

Did the Si Labs uart driver add a comport (usually Com 3) as would be seen in device manager? It should have done that. What happens when you right click on "other device" and then click on "update driver"?
Title: Re: "could not open communication port" after moving vws install
Post by: marklyn on February 27, 2022, 11:24:20 PM
One thing that will help clear up some missing drivers is to run Windows Updates. I have had missing drivers installed on an old HP after running updates. If you are still having problems I would be happy to remote in.
I had tried those drivers earlier, no luck.

Did the Si Labs driver add a comport as would be seen in device manager?
No, I checked and didn't see any.
Title: Re: "could not open communication port" after moving vws install
Post by: cirrus on February 27, 2022, 11:37:07 PM
What happens when you right click on "other device" and then click on "update driver"?
Title: Re: "could not open communication port" after moving vws install
Post by: marklyn on February 27, 2022, 11:40:01 PM
What happens when you right click on "other device" and then click on "update driver"?
It never finds anything.  Even if I click on check for new drivers in windows update.
I've even pointed it to the directory where the si labs folder with those drivers were, no luck.
Title: Re: "could not open communication port" after moving vws install
Post by: cirrus on February 27, 2022, 11:43:23 PM
What happens when you right click on "other device" and then click on "update driver"?
It never finds anything.  Even if I click on check for new drivers in windows update.
I've even pointed it to the directory where the si labs folder with those drivers were, no luck.

is there a .inf file in that folder? Maybe try pointing to that?
Title: Re: "could not open communication port" after moving vws install
Post by: marklyn on February 27, 2022, 11:45:01 PM
What happens when you right click on "other device" and then click on "update driver"?
It never finds anything.  Even if I click on check for new drivers in windows update.
I've even pointed it to the directory where the si labs folder with those drivers were, no luck.

is there a .inf file in that folder? Maybe try pointing to that?
there are no .inf files there.
Title: Re: "could not open communication port" after moving vws install
Post by: cirrus on February 27, 2022, 11:52:37 PM
Did you download the zip file from the link I gave earlier? The inf. file is in that. Otherwise...I can't do much more :-(
Title: Re: "could not open communication port" after moving vws install
Post by: marklyn on February 27, 2022, 11:58:05 PM
Did you download the zip file from the link I gave earlier? The inf. file is in that. Otherwise...I can't do much more :-(
I had my extensions view off, turned on and saw one .inf file there, which I pointed to the driver install from and no go.
Title: Re: "could not open communication port" after moving vws install
Post by: cirrus on February 28, 2022, 12:04:05 AM
Did you download the zip file from the link I gave earlier? The inf. file is in that. Otherwise...I can't do much more :-(
I had my extensions view off, turned on and saw one .inf file there, which I pointed to the driver install from and no go.

Hmmm....yeah I believe the actual driver is silabser.sys in the x64 folder....don't know if you can point to that? Otherwise maybe someone has something with an installer they will share. I take it you lost your wlink CD? Bummer!
Title: Re: "could not open communication port" after moving vws install
Post by: cirrus on February 28, 2022, 12:16:29 AM
This one has an installer... https://www.silabs.com/documents/public/software/CP210x_Windows_Drivers_with_Serial_Enumeration.zip (https://www.silabs.com/documents/public/software/CP210x_Windows_Drivers_with_Serial_Enumeration.zip)
Title: Re: "could not open communication port" after moving vws install
Post by: marklyn on February 28, 2022, 08:52:46 AM
This one has an installer... https://www.silabs.com/documents/public/software/CP210x_Windows_Drivers_with_Serial_Enumeration.zip (https://www.silabs.com/documents/public/software/CP210x_Windows_Drivers_with_Serial_Enumeration.zip)
Yes, my bad, I assumed everyone would know I ran the installer first, it installed but no change/difference.  I couldn't really tell what it did as part of the install but assumed that it placed driver files in the system32 area or something like that.  I will call Davis Instruments today to see if they can help.
Title: Re: "could not open communication port" after moving vws install
Post by: Garth Bock on February 28, 2022, 09:34:14 AM
One extra little thing... don't forget to right click on the VWS icon and select "Run As Administrator" . You probably have done that already.

One thing you didn't mention was if there were any conflicts still in Device Manager. If you unplug the usb-serial cable does the conflict disappear ? If you still have conflicts showing then it would be best to get those driver issues resolved. I have had unresolved driver issues cause other problems.
Title: Re: "could not open communication port" after moving vws install
Post by: marklyn on February 28, 2022, 09:37:42 AM
Yes, I did run as admin and yes, when I unplugged the usb cable the "missing" driver disappeared and reappeared when plugged back in so I feel it is that one driver I need.  Maybe Davis instruments will have the driver when I call them today, since it is 'their' serial > USB cable.
Title: Re: "could not open communication port" after moving vws install
Post by: marklyn on February 28, 2022, 01:57:03 PM
Well after a LOT of research, trial and errors, testing, I finally figured out my issue and it's working now.
Posting this in hopes this will help someone else.
I also notice in my original post I put that I built a new Windows 10 box, but I mistyped and should be Windows 11 but I'm guessing this works on a new Windows 10 install too.
I appreciate the responses here.

This fix is for a Vantage pro 2, wireless console with a serial-usb data logger.

After upgrading to Windows 11:
1. click on the "USB-Serial Controller D" driver listed that shows yellow warning and then click update driver
2. click browse my computer for drivers
3. click let me pick from a list of available drivers on my computer
4. Scroll down to ports
5. Scroll down to microsoft, then choose "USB-Serial modem device) 
Title: Re: "could not open communication port" after moving vws install
Post by: Garth Bock on February 28, 2022, 04:45:22 PM
I wasn't specific enough. You can do the same thing by going to Windows Updates. ( I am assuming this is the same or similar in Win11 ) Run updates even if you already have. Look for the link below the Check For Updates that says View Optional Updates and click on it. You should see on the next page Driver Updates. Click on the words even though it is not highlighted. You should see any Microsoft Driver updates there. Check the box (es) an and click download and install. If the driver for the device is not listed there then you have to go to the manufacturer website.

Glad you got it working. VWS is a great program. I like that you can configure your own display.
Title: Re: "could not open communication port" after moving vws install
Post by: marklyn on February 28, 2022, 06:25:40 PM
I never saw the optional updates that you mentioned and since this is a new build I've done about 5 updates to get all of Windows updated.  Maybe it's different for Windows 11.
I have a side problem now about auto starting VWS.
I've ticked the box that says start with windows but it never does.  I checked the task manager to be sure it wasn't running in the background, it wasn't.
I've tried adding it to the task scheduler but, it never shows up on screen but MWS does show as a running process.  Nor sure why it doesn't come up on screen.
Any thoughts on this to get it to properly auto run on windows startup?


I should say that I've had VWS running for several years on my Windows7, and later, Windows 10 box... now Windows 11 so I do have all of the html screens build and local data collection over the years.
Title: Re: "could not open communication port" after moving vws install
Post by: 92merc on March 01, 2022, 11:02:21 AM
You could probably install StartWatch.  The developer made it free when he retired.  That's what I use to monitor my started programs.
Title: Re: "could not open communication port" after moving vws install
Post by: marklyn on March 01, 2022, 11:06:40 AM
You could probably install StartWatch.  The developer made it free when he retired.  That's what I use to monitor my started programs.
I may have to resort to using SmartWatch if I can't get Task Scheduler to work. It's crazy.  It.should.just.work, right?  I'm still futzing with the settings in TS to see if I can get it to work upon booting of the machine.  Anyone have this working for loading VWS, I'd appreciate some advice.
Title: Re: "could not open communication port" after moving vws install
Post by: Garth Bock on March 01, 2022, 11:28:55 AM
Before I suggested anything since I use VWS I thought I would run it on my test computer. It's a Win10 Pro with a local account (no M$ login crap). I tried to set up VWS with its own startup setting which didn't work as you found. So I made sure all the permissions were at the highest level and that had no effect. I had it in the Win Start folder with no affect. I then downloaded and setup StartWatch. It managed to start VWS after a reboot only one time. Now it says that VWS cannot be started and to check its filename and path. I had also added WeatherLink along with it and StartWatch starts it just fine. I checked Task Manager but there were no incidences of VWS running. So I put together a batch file and put that in the Win Start folder and got it to work but the CMD window won't close and I get a UAC prompt each time. The /NOUAC switch in the batch file has no effect. There is a way to modify the reg file listing for VWS to not prompt for UAC but this is extreme. I reached out to a programmer friend of mine and he said to just turn off UAC......yeahhhh...no that's not going to happen. Finally I went in and tested for compatibility and tried setting it to first Win7 and then WinXP but that didn't help. Today I will revisit StartWatch to see why it won't run VWS but will start WL just fine. Also I will see what typos my late night typing did in my batch file. I will keep working on this. I like VWS because you can configure your own desktop display. You can do the same with Weatherview32 (the author told me that V9 is in beta). On my weather computer I manually restart programs because the datalogger stores everything and I don't upload to a website because of the flaky DSL I have (Thanks CenturyLink...now when you gonna hook up the fiber you buried out front of my house 2 years ago? ) I will keep working on this.   
Title: Re: "could not open communication port" after moving vws install
Post by: marklyn on March 01, 2022, 11:35:32 AM
Before I suggested anything since I use VWS I thought I would run it on my test computer. It's a Win10 Pro with a local account (no M$ login crap). I tried to set up VWS with its own startup setting which didn't work as you found. So I made sure all the permissions were at the highest level and that had no effect. I had it in the Win Start folder with no affect. I then downloaded and setup StartWatch. It managed to start VWS after a reboot only one time. Now it says that VWS cannot be started and to check its filename and path. I had also added WeatherLink along with it and StartWatch starts it just fine. I checked Task Manager but there were no incidences of VWS running. So I put together a batch file and put that in the Win Start folder and got it to work but the CMD window won't close and I get a UAC prompt each time. The /NOUAC switch in the batch file has no effect. There is a way to modify the reg file listing for VWS to not prompt for UAC but this is extreme. I reached out to a programmer friend of mine and he said to just turn off UAC......yeahhhh...no that's not going to happen. Finally I went in and tested for compatibility and tried setting it to first Win7 and then WinXP but that didn't help. Today I will revisit StartWatch to see why it won't run VWS but will start WL just fine. Also I will see what typos my late night typing did in my batch file. I will keep working on this. I like VWS because you can configure your own desktop display. You can do the same with Weatherview32 (the author told me that V9 is in beta). On my weather computer I manually restart programs because the datalogger stores everything and I don't upload to a website because of the flaky DSL I have (Thanks CenturyLink...now when you gonna hook up the fiber you buried out front of my house 2 years ago? ) I will keep working on this.
I 100% agree with your assessment and I will also keep trying to work on an autostart VWS.  I also tried all of the things you mentioned above with no real luck so I'm focusing on Task Scheduler for right now.
Title: Re: "could not open communication port" after moving vws install
Post by: marklyn on March 01, 2022, 12:11:59 PM
I finally got it to work with Task Scheduler. Honestly, it might have worked before with mostly default settings, because after the system reboots and windows comes up, it takes about 2 minutes for VWS to be actually launched. I've tested it several times and it seems to consistently launch VWS, while taking it's sweet time.  The main thing I did was tick the box for any user login. I've included the exported xml file here in case anyone needs to look at the parameters.  Before I was using the trigger for windows restart.
(I had to zip the xml file in order to upload)