Topic: DIY USB cable for 596c HD to update firmware

[User-888]

Hello everyone!

I am trying to figure out what I am doing wrong or not doing on this little project.

I have a 596C HD and I am tyring to make an USB cable so I can update the unit firmware. Paying $50 to buy the AS PC3 just to update the firmware seems to me a big waste of money. I guess I'm just used to be able to update firmware easily with a supplied USB cable or port on all my other electronic gadgets.

I got this diagram from a very helpful member on this forum but so far it is not working for me.

This is what I have done:

1) I made a USB cable connecting to the com connector of my unit.
     The pinout I am using is:

2) Connected to 12V power supply to power up the unit.

3) Installed humminbirdPC on my Windows 7 (64bit) PC.

After making the connections to my PC the Humminbird PC has so far been unable to detect my 596c.

One observation that is quite strange, my PC while not detecting the 596C connecting to it's USB port, it makes the usb connect tone immediately followed by the USB disconnect tone and on the desktop an error msg will popup saying that there was an error installing driver or usb malfunction.

I have tried different sequences but so far nothing has worked.

Anyone here knows what I am doing wrong or what I am missing?

Thanks in advance for any help!

[sfw1960]

My guess would be 64 bit compatibility issues.
I would suggest you download & install the XP Virtual Machine - provided you have W7Pro.
Else try a 32 bit version of XP, Vista of W7 and see if it flies.
I have a Sony DSC-P73 4 MP digiCAM that won't work on W7Prox64, but once I installed the driver in the XP VM it does now work, and I don't even have to bring the VM out of hibernation!
I also have an old Lexmark X83 that will work on the XP VM, but no drivers for W7x64.

G'Luck!

[User-888]

My guess would be 64 bit compatibility issues.
I would suggest you download & install the XP Virtual Machine - provided you have W7Pro.
Else try a 32 bit version of XP, Vista of W7 and see if it flies.
I have a Sony DSC-P73 4 MP digiCAM that won't work on W7Prox64, but once I installed the driver in the XP VM it does now work, and I don't even have to bring the VM out of hibernation!
I also have an old Lexmark X83 that will work on the XP VM, but no drivers for W7x64.

G'Luck!

Good idea!

I will give that a shot with my old laptop and report back,

Thanks!

[User-888]

No go.

Same non-response on my old XP USB 2.0 machine.

[sfw1960]

Next thing... on the XP box, with the Sonar powered down, boot the PC - plug the cable - then power up the FF & see if that does any good??

I am guessing you HAVE tried other ports??

BTW ~ AMD or Intel CPU/Chipset??

[User-888]

Next thing... on the XP box, with the Sonar powered down, boot the PC - plug the cable - then power up the FF & see if that does any good??

I am guessing you HAVE tried other ports??

BTW ~ AMD or Intel CPU/Chipset??

That's one of the first sequences/combination that I tried and it's the same behavior on all two of the port (small laptop).

This is so frustrating.

I just ordered an USB to serial adaptor and I'm gonna make a serial cable to see if that works. If that does not work then there must be something wrong with my unit.

Thanks

[User-888]

Well I finally got it done.

The USB cable never worked for me.

I ended up making a serial cable by following AS-PC2 pin-out that I found on this forum and an USB-serial adaptor.

It got a bit interesting there for a moment when my new USB-Serial adaptor decided to quit mid-update resulted in a bricked unit.

For a moment I thought I had to send the unit back for repair but after some thought I decided to get another USb-Serial adaptor from Bestbuy and it worked immediately after the second try.

Not an ideal way to spend my Saturday afternoon but sure was fun!

[sfw1960]

Nice!

[DiddledTimmy]

How exactly did you make the cable? Steps or pictures would be greatly appreciated. I’ve been trying multiple cables and still can’t get it right. Thanks in advance

[rnvinc]

How exactly did you make the cable? Steps or pictures would be greatly appreciated. I’ve been trying multiple cables and still can’t get it right. Thanks in advance

Notice that the thread is from 2014 and those users may not frequent the forum anymore  ...

It’s still a good question as others here may have info and pop in to help  ...

HB might also be able to help  ... 1-800-633-1468

Rickie