I have an X-Controller with updated firmware purchased 2 weeks ago. My Dell Latitude E6410 nor my E6510 do not detect the X-Controller when I plug it in. I have downloaded and installed the Arduino drivers. My Asus laptop works fine with the same drivers. When I plug the USB cable into both Dells, the green light goes out and the stepper motors release. There is not device even showing up in the device manager. I used the Asus laptop to upgrade the firmware on the X-Controller. I do not want to use the Asus to run the machine since it is my non-shop and non-sawdust machine.
I have searched all kinds of forums including this one and have tried everything I have found to no avail. Anyone else have a similar problem and possibly found a solution?
Search the forum for FTDI drivers for the X-Controller.
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Thanks, I did miss that warning. Did not change anything. Downloaded the driver and installed without error. Behavior has not changed. I’m starting to think maybe there is something about the chipset in these Dells that just isn’t going to work. On the Asus I immediately get a tone that a new usb device has been connected and a COM3 device shows up. On the Dells I get nothing. I really didn’t want to spend big bucks on a newer laptop just to run this thing.
Interesting new twist. I updated windows 10 and rebooted. No change. Uninstalled arduino drivers and rebooted. I then reinstalled arduino drivers and it was working. Another reboot and back where i started…
Xcontroller doesn’t need Arduino drivers. It needs the FTDI drivers for communication.
Have you tried a different USB port on the laptop? Different cable?
I know it is a stupid question but is the Xcontroller powered on? Estop not engaged? Do the LEDs work?
Works fine on my Asus laptop, same cable. This is why I am baffled.
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I found the problem. The laptops have two devices using COM3 AND COM4 leaving no open ports to assign to the X-Controller. I disabled one of them reporting that it was an LPT port, which obviously I won’t use. I disabled it and now the X-Controller connects fine on COM4. I wonder if Windows 10 is not correctly recognizing all the hardware on the refurbished laptop.
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And of course as soon as I rebooted, back to the same problem. Again plugged into two newer Asus laptops, and it works with no problems. I have an extra old copy of Windows 7. I think I’m going to downgrade one of the Dells just to see what happens.
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Sounds like a potential resource issue. If you go into the Dell BIOS, you might be able to disable those serial ports and free up the resource. You could also try disabling the ports (don’t remove, just disable) in Device Manager.
That is a good idea. I didn’t think about disabling it in the Bios. Thanx!
Thanks for the offer. I have a few laying around.
I had originally decided to use my trusty old Dell Studio 17 laptop to run my X-Carve, but one day it locked up right after a carve and is now living as a paperweight. Since I didn’t want to drag a desktop PC out there (Too much stuff with the tower, monitor, cables, etc.), I went to Wal-Mart and bought an Acer All-In-One for just under $300. It’s no CAD station, but it’s more than powerful enough to run the X-Carve while watching Netflix or Hulu. Kind of wish I’d opted for the slightly more expensive one with a touchscreen, because jogging the X-Carve by touching the screen would have been cool…
So far so good. I disabled the lpt and com ports in the bios, uninstalled them in device manager. Several reboots and looking good so far. I notice that every time I add or remove a USB device (usb drive, mouse, etc.) from the laptop that the the x-controller disconnects and reconnects so I definitely won’t do that during a cut. Thanks for the tip, saved me from a bunch more work : )
Final update on this. After a couple more days I’m back to where I started. It worked for a couple days and then the same issue. The laptop doesn’t detect anything now, doesn’t even register anything has connected to the USB port. I’m starting to think this is a lost cause. I’m going to find a refurb Asus similar to what I know works.
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Did not intend to disparage Dell. I have two brands here, Dell and Asus, The Dell’s are all similar vintage so I’m guessing there is something unique about the this particular combination of chipset and Windows 10. 2 Dell laptops will not detect the controller, 2 Asus laptops will. Odds are in my favor to go with a refurb Asus.
