Prolific USB to serial not working on Windows 10 for me…
If any one had tried then please tell me how to make it work. I have to use Windows 7 virtual machine for that.
Almost for all chips. There is an utility to check your chip version as well..
http://www.prolific.com.tw/US/ShowProdu … 25&pcid=41

Converter works smoothly on Win 7 and Ubuntu but not with windows 10.
This device cannot start. (Code 10)
A device which does not exist was specified.
After messing with several drivers in past it works now (I think the latest driver has been installed automatically, but not sure). Not with all three, one disconnects after some time (~hour).
People say the Win7 and 10 recognize a fake PL2303 and do not allow to install it, or, it switch them off after a while.
There is only one or two chips supported with Win10, afaik.
Btw, this is the driver in my Win7 which works nice.
- Prolific USB.JPG (16.7 KiB) Viewed 9748 times

[Pito – Sat Sep 16, 2017 8:43 am] –
People say the Win7 and 10 recognize a fake PL2303 and do not allow to install it, or, it switch them off after a while.
It is not the OS but the Prolific driver. There was a time when the original drivers bricked the fake chips. Today drivers simply refuses to work with fake chips.
If you install then it work for 1-2 days and after that again it won’t.
I womder how cheap a product has to be, so that its not worth cloning.
On a vaguely related note… There are STM32f103 boards that emulate the CH340g USB to Serial adaptors.
( and also do USB to SPI and USB to I2C) and the firmware binary was posted to another thread…
But the cost of those is about 5 x as much as a CH340g adaptor…
The main problem is of course Windows, which does not provide a easy way to load the built in USB to Serial device driver which has been part of Windows for many years.
[RogerClark – Tue Sep 19, 2017 9:09 pm] –
LOL, fake PL2303 chips as well now …
A few years ago I purchased 10 x USB-RS232 Prolific IC serial cables to supply with a product I was selling. All these had problems under Linux (Windows?) where they just stop working and the you have to reset them. On further investigation they don’t even use RS232 level signals and only TTL but with the correct logic. I managed to have eBay refund me for all 10 pieces. Still have them, might be useful for the cables one-day.
A couple of year back I purchased two USB PL2303HX to TTL converters. These work well. I wanted to get an extra couple but these had similar issue like above. Looking at the IC it has no markings on it. Again refunded in full by the seller after I complained.
So I tried another eBay seller. I made sure the listing image showed the Prolific logo and type on the IC and went ahead and ordered another two. You guessed it, no marking on the IC and not working reliably. Seller mucking me about (only wanted to refund half!) so I lodged a claim. Seller has now agreed to refund in full and I will then close the case.
I’ve now ordered 3 x of the CH340 variety so will see how I go with those. I don’t have issues with them on the UNO copies.
It’s a pity about the Prolific parts, years ago they were less likely to be fake but now I won’t bother with them any more.
I’ve got 3 blue PL2303TA – they all work under Win7. When opened they show TA chip markings. Sometimes one of them disconnects after few hours, not sure it is because it is a fake.
The FT232 based dongles work well – de facto standard, but expensive.
The other types (Silabs 2102, CH340 based) – they work at lower speeds well, I saw issues at speeds >115k2 (especially those crystal-less).
Also mind the types vary on the baud speed steps they offer.