USB-Console not detected on Windows

[blueSpirit]

Hello,
when I connect my RedPitaya to Windows, no COM port is detected. It seems that it is not working at all - since the "Device Manager" tree does not refresh, after plugging in the USB cable. I got the board from a collegue which said, that the Console over USB was working at the beginning - but it broke some time ago "without changing anything".

According to the device-tree, the console output is forwarded the "xilinx_uartps.c" driver - which seems to be a part of the FPGA?

How can I check whether the hardware is broken - or there is something wrong with the configuration?

Best regards, Karl

[Nils Roos]

Hi Karl,

the UART for the external console connection is an on-chip peripheral of the ZYNQ but not part of the FPGA fabric.

Either way, the USB-side of the console is realized with an FTDI USB-to-serial chip which is powered over its USB socket, so you should have the COM device listed in the Device Manager even if the Red Pitaya is unpowered. It works independent of the rest of the board, and there is nothing to misconfigure with that IC.

If you don't even get the USB bus-enumeration signs when you connect it to the PC (the sound, searching for driver, etc), it's likely a hardware problem.

[drey]

After following directions for a Windows 7 serial connectivity with RP, I get a yellow exclamation mark near the newly recognized serial port in the Device Manager and also this PuTTY Error:

Unable to open connection to
COM9
Unable to open serial port

I've tried reinstalling the FTDI driver but it's no use. Any suggestions?

[Nils Roos]

When you open the properties of the COM9 device in the device manager, what's the status / warning message ?

[drey]

The status seem innocuous:

Windows cannot verify the digital signature for the drivers required for this device. A recent hardware or software change might have installed a file that is signed incorrectly or damaged, or that might be malicious software from an unknown source. (Code 52)

Perhaps the exclamation mark is unrelated to the PuTTY error, but I'm not sure what else to check.