Windows 7 - USB-to-serial converter

Hi all, I have a Suunto dive computer that's designed to download data to a PC software program called Suunto Dive Manager. The dive computer attaches to the PC via a hardware adapter designed to plug into a serial port. Under Windows XP, I used a USB-to-serial converter to be able to attach this adapter to a newer laptop via one of its USB ports. The Suunto software and the USB-to-serial converter are both a few years old.

Today I installed the Suunto Dive Manager software on my Windows 7 laptop. The software seems to basically run okay under Windows 7; however, when the USB-to-serial converter is attached to the laptop, the Suunto Dive Manager software reports that it finds no serial ports on the PC.

Are there known issues and fixes for using USB-to-serial converters under Windows 7? Thanks for any ideas.

Have a look at these links, and see if it applies. It's a bit archane for my experience

Suunto Dive Manager and Windows 7 [Archive] - ScubaBoard

USB/serial adapter for Suunto dive manager

I think this is more specific to the Suunto Dive Manage. Lots of possible help if you Google

Suunto Dive Manager USB-to-serial converters under Windows 7

A Guy

Thanks. I see from those links that others have gone down the same road I'm on now.

My problem doesn't appear to be related to the Suunto Dive Manager software and hardware; rather, Windows 7 is not recognizing my USB-to-serial converter, a U232-P9. I downloaded an updated driver installer here:

Welcome to Prolific

and ran it. However, when I plug in the USB-to-serial converter, Windows 7's Device Manager shows it as an "Unknown Device" with no driver installed.

Is there a place under Windows 7 where I can direct it to look for the updated driver I just installed? I pointed it to the unzipped driver installer folder, but Windows 7 doesn't find a driver there.

Actually, I looked around more and found a driver file from a different manufacturer for what seems to be the same device (u232-P9 usb-to-serial converter). I installed this, and it recognized the hardware device -- so all's good. Thanks for weighing in on it.

Good going Frank O, you fixed it yourself That's why I linked to those sites, they mentioned drivers from various sources. Glad you got it sorted. Safe diving!

A Guy