Apparenty Vista went and found drivers for Smarty...I didn't know how to get it to point to my Smarty folder instead of automatic location. (I do now)

So I've got the wrong drivers installed. I presume I use Device Mgr to reload drivers, and it gives me a list of hardware, but nothing's labeled Smarty. Sigh

So how do I reload the drivers...I have the correct Mads drivers in my folder but I don't know how to install them now that the computer no longer calls the Smarty 'new hardware'.

 

I had this same problem. Have you had the bullydog update agent software downloaded before, this was my problem. Bob said the software is similar and may no need to be installed sure enough i skipped all that stuff and it worked like a charm once I got the files open and extracted with 7 zip.

 

Nope, no Bullydog. When I plugged in the Smarty first time I was looking for the manual driver install but there wasn't one. Now I've read I should have said "no, try again later", but the damage is done. Vista went out and found (wrong) drivers. I have proper drivers in my folder, unzipped. Just don't know how to get them attached to Smarty. -- Bill

 

Try right clicking on my computer and going to the properties icon then the hardware tab, then the device manager option then scroll down to find either the serial to serial option or serial to usb option like i have you may have to click on the + tab then when you see it right click the wording and uninstall this will allow it to say found new hardware and start over all again.

 

Go to device manager, select the SMARTY (make sure it's plugged in) and select drivers, the go to update driver. Use the browse feature to point to the correct folder that you created with the correct SMARTY driver.

MikeyB

 

Sounds perfect Mikey...but there is no SMARTY in the hardware list on Device Mgr. Maybe Vista is different. But plot thickens...even though Vista went out and found its own SMARTY drivers, and doesn't list the SMARTY as hardware, the software upgrade seemed to work. It must have found the downloaded Mads drivers on my harddisk. So I don't understand why, but I seem to be in business. We'll see when I upload to the truck shortly.

 

it should be listed as a serial convertor

 

vista is a joke to work with. XP kicks it butt

 

is there ever going to be a way to download easier?

 

Would be easier if Microsoft added the inf and dll files to the service pack updates. But once you load the correct drivers this shouldn't be an issue anymore, unless you had to reload the OS.

MikeyB

 

My Vista Home Premium system did locate and install the current FTD Serial to USB drivers on its own when I plugged it in initially. I just wanted to see if it could and it did. It works fine on my Smarty.

 

Haven't road tested it, but the upgraded Smarty uploaded 4.10C with no problems and it drove fine around the block. Seems all's good.

I suspect Vista is fine...people just aren't as familiar with it as XP. That will change with time (by necessity). So what we need one of these days is a cheatsheet for upgrading Smarty with Vista. It will be very similar to XP -- just a few changes here and there. Thanx for the help guys.

-- Bill

 

FYI there are updated drivers availble at http://www.ftdichip.com/ for vista D2XX ver 2.02.04