+Tim_n_Daisy Posted April 20, 2011 Share Posted April 20, 2011 I have the above unit, commonly referred to as the little yellow one. I have bought a data cable from eBay (with no instructions or driver files) and I have downloaded Mapys Quo v2. I know how to physically connect the unit to my laptop, but, I have no idea how to actually load coordinates to it! I have searched youtube, geocaching.com and this forum but cannot find the required idiots guide. I know the same question must have come up repeatedly, so I can only assume I am not using the correct search terms/lingo. Would anyone be kind enough to point me in the right direction or provide a link to something useful for technophobes like me? Help will always be gratefully received... Quote Link to comment
+StarBrand Posted April 20, 2011 Share Posted April 20, 2011 Use a program called EasyGPS - its free and makes the process easy. The real r=trick is making sure the software is configured to use the correct com port and that the unit is setup to communicate with the com port. Do you have a serial port on your PC?? or are you using a USB to serial adapter?? I ask because sometimes the adapters are a bit weird and work on one PC but not another. Quote Link to comment
+releasethedogs Posted April 20, 2011 Share Posted April 20, 2011 I have the same unit but never bothered to get the data cable. Back when I got it people told me you can load them on if you have garmin comunicater on your computer and use the "send to gps" function of this website. Quote Link to comment
+Tim_n_Daisy Posted April 20, 2011 Author Share Posted April 20, 2011 Use a program called EasyGPS - its free and makes the process easy. The real r=trick is making sure the software is configured to use the correct com port and that the unit is setup to communicate with the com port. Do you have a serial port on your PC?? or are you using a USB to serial adapter?? I ask because sometimes the adapters are a bit weird and work on one PC but not another. I do have a serial port and the cable came with a usb adapter attached. Should I just use the serial port? I will download EasyGPS... Thanks Quote Link to comment
jholly Posted April 20, 2011 Share Posted April 20, 2011 Use a program called EasyGPS - its free and makes the process easy. The real r=trick is making sure the software is configured to use the correct com port and that the unit is setup to communicate with the com port. Do you have a serial port on your PC?? or are you using a USB to serial adapter?? I ask because sometimes the adapters are a bit weird and work on one PC but not another. I do have a serial port and the cable came with a usb adapter attached. Should I just use the serial port? I will download EasyGPS... Thanks By all means if your laptop has a serial port use that port and put the usb adapter in a desk drawer. The adapters can problematic and the com ports can change at will. The real serial port on your laptop will work all the time and the port number will not change. Quote Link to comment
+Tim_n_Daisy Posted April 20, 2011 Author Share Posted April 20, 2011 Whoops! Just tried to connect the cable to the laptop and they are the same sex. Doh. It will have to be via the USB adapter after all. Easy GPS is asking me to 'connect via:' and then the only option is 'COM3 virtual port'. Would this be correct? Quote Link to comment
+dfx Posted April 20, 2011 Share Posted April 20, 2011 (edited) Whoops! Just tried to connect the cable to the laptop and they are the same sex. Doh. That's not a serial port then, that's something else. It will have to be via the USB adapter after all. Easy GPS is asking me to 'connect via:' and then the only option is 'COM3 virtual port'. Would this be correct? That may or may not be it. Easiest way to figure it out is to just try it. Or, unplug the dongle and restart the application and see if it gives you the same list or not (it shouldn't). If that's not the right one, you're likely missing the drivers for the dongle. Edited April 20, 2011 by dfx Quote Link to comment
+StarBrand Posted April 20, 2011 Share Posted April 20, 2011 Whoops! Just tried to connect the cable to the laptop and they are the same sex. Doh. It will have to be via the USB adapter after all. Easy GPS is asking me to 'connect via:' and then the only option is 'COM3 virtual port'. Would this be correct? Sounds like a video port.... Make sue you loaded drivers for USB Adapter - check to see if you can choose to configure the port number. Quote Link to comment
+Tim_n_Daisy Posted April 20, 2011 Author Share Posted April 20, 2011 Whoops! Just tried to connect the cable to the laptop and they are the same sex. Doh. It will have to be via the USB adapter after all. Easy GPS is asking me to 'connect via:' and then the only option is 'COM3 virtual port'. Would this be correct? Sounds like a video port.... Make sue you loaded drivers for USB Adapter - check to see if you can choose to configure the port number. The cable didn't come with a driver disk and I haven't found anything suitable online so far. I will try again tomorrow. Thanks for all the good advice. I will post again if I get stuck... Quote Link to comment
+StarBrand Posted April 20, 2011 Share Posted April 20, 2011 Whoops! Just tried to connect the cable to the laptop and they are the same sex. Doh. It will have to be via the USB adapter after all. Easy GPS is asking me to 'connect via:' and then the only option is 'COM3 virtual port'. Would this be correct? Sounds like a video port.... Make sue you loaded drivers for USB Adapter - check to see if you can choose to configure the port number. The cable didn't come with a driver disk and I haven't found anything suitable online so far. I will try again tomorrow. Thanks for all the good advice. I will post again if I get stuck... Is there a brand name on the thing?? Quote Link to comment
+Tim_n_Daisy Posted April 21, 2011 Author Share Posted April 21, 2011 Whoops! Just tried to connect the cable to the laptop and they are the same sex. Doh. It will have to be via the USB adapter after all. Easy GPS is asking me to 'connect via:' and then the only option is 'COM3 virtual port'. Would this be correct? Sounds like a video port.... Make sue you loaded drivers for USB Adapter - check to see if you can choose to configure the port number. The cable didn't come with a driver disk and I haven't found anything suitable online so far. I will try again tomorrow. Thanks for all the good advice. I will post again if I get stuck... Is there a brand name on the thing?? No brand name, just a serial type number on the usb end: 501667 - 0001 HC SD Quote Link to comment
+DonB Posted April 21, 2011 Share Posted April 21, 2011 Whoops! Just tried to connect the cable to the laptop and they are the same sex. Doh. It will have to be via the USB adapter after all. Easy GPS is asking me to 'connect via:' and then the only option is 'COM3 virtual port'. Would this be correct? I have an old Fortrex 101 with a Belkin usb to serial adapter, and with EasyGPS it uses com 4 at 9600 baud. It's been so long since I used the 101 that I don't remember if it defaulted to that com port or if I set it up that way, but with XP I don't remember loading drivers, I think XP took care of it. You do have to get the port and the baud settings right or it won't work, one can be right and if the other is wrong it won't work. I think most of the older GPSr that ran serial used either com 3 or 4 and the baud rate was either 4800 or 9600. What I would suggest is to plug the GPS into the computer and see if your operating system finds it. If it does you're home free with that part. If it doesn't you're going to have to find some drivers. Once you get that part taken care of, install EasyGPS, load some coordinates, click edit, preferences, click the My GPS receivers tab, click add GPS button and the rest is pretty much self explanatory. When you get that done go back to the coordinates screen and click the send to GPS button. Hopefully it will work. Quote Link to comment
+briansnat Posted April 21, 2011 Share Posted April 21, 2011 As this is a more technical discussion, I'm moving it to the GPS forum where many of the experts lurk and can chime in. Quote Link to comment
+Tim_n_Daisy Posted April 21, 2011 Author Share Posted April 21, 2011 As this is a more technical discussion, I'm moving it to the GPS forum where many of the experts lurk and can chime in. Sorry!! I have got a little further. I managed to get a driver and communication software from Garmin. The rate defaulted to 9600 so I assume that is correct based on what was described on the website. However, the laptop cannot detect the gps so I think it is either something wrong with the cable(s) or, it is the com port issue. I just need to work out how to change the setting of that and I may be getting somewhere. Windows XP help has not been my friend, so I will do some surfing to find out how... Quote Link to comment
+CacheFreakTim Posted April 22, 2011 Share Posted April 22, 2011 This is a common issue with those cables. If it is a serial or serial with a usb coverter version I am not surprised. If you can't figure it out pick up the USB one on EBay. I have it and it works perfect right out of the box. Quote Link to comment
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