PMDX-424-USB not recognized

[Jawno]

I tried hooking up my 424 board the other day. At first I didn't have a good connection on the AC lines. I could wiggle the wires and the Power On LED would light intermittently, but I redid the connections and its been steady on ever since whenever I plug the board in.  I don't remember for sure but it seems like when I first plugged in the 424 board the red LED came on and the green was flashing every 2 seconds. I have a Win 7 computer with an I-5 processor and 8 GB of ram and a 64 bit system. Once I got the power on steady, I tried plugging the USB cable into the computer. The computer noted that a new device was plugged in and started to work on installing the drivers. After a few seconds I got the following message:
Device driver software was not successfully installed. In the box below it said:
 STMicroelectronics Com Port (Com3)    ready to use.
 Unidentified Device    Device unplugged.
 STMicroelectronics Virtual ComPort (Com4)    Failed.
Checking the troubleshooting page I copied VCP_V1.3.1_Setup_X64.exe onto a thumb drive and put it on the Mach 4 computer (it not longer has internet access, as its in the shop). I ran the program and as instructed, chose "remove" then once it had finished I re-ran it and it said it had installed the drivers successfully and prompted me to click finish. It never ran the second installer as the instructions indicated it should. Also when I went into Device Manager and checked Ports and Com it didn't show any new ports, just (COM1). But it said the drivers had been successfully installed so I tried starting MACH 4. It prompted me to choose a profile. When I chose one, it came back with the following message:
PMDX-SmartBOB-USB Plugin Init
    ERROR: Port auto scan did not find a valid PMDX-SmartBOB-USB device
So then I went through the whole process again, unplugging everything, removing the drivers and reinstalling. One thing I noticed is now it seems like when I plug in the AC, only the power on LED is lit. Its not until I plug in the USB cable to the computer that the red LED comes on and the green LED starts flashing. Anyway I tried removing and reinstalling the drivers. Again it never tried to install a second set of drivers as the FAQ said it should. It came back with the following message:
Drivers were successfully installed on your computer
  STMicroelectronics(usbser) Ports (04/25/ZOID 1.3.1)
  Status     ready to use
And the wizard prompted me to click finish. Looking in Device Manager/Ports it only showed the (Com Port 1) again. I tried starting MACH 4 and was prompted to choose a profile. I chose the one named myprofile and got the following message:
Select motion control device
    WARNING
  changing the motion control device will destroy any axis to motor mapping
It didn't list any motion control devices in the box to select.
So I redid everything and this time when prompted to choose a profile I chose pmdx424Sample and got the following message:
PMDX-SmartBOB-USB Plug in
    ERROR: Port auto scan did not find a valid PMDX-SmartBOB-USB Device
The FAQ indicated that if I couldn't get the drivers installed after trying the VCP setup program that I should contact PMDX for support. I could use some help with this problem. Not sure what else to try at this point. I noticed some other programs listed with the VCP setup program but didn't want to mess with them without knowing what they were. My apologies for the long message. Also I'll have to check on MACH 4 version numbers and PMDX-424 board numbers.

[Jawno]

I checked the computer and it says it has MACH 4 build number 4162. Under SmartBOB-USB serial number it says: Unavailable, no device found. Under PMDX-SmartBOB-USB plug in it has version 0.53.263. Hope this helps.

[12strings]

First things first - starting with nothing plugged into the PMDX-424 (no USB, no AC power), apply AC power.  On my 424 all the yellow-ish LEDs and the red and green LEDs turn on for about a second or so, with maybe a brief flicker.  Then the yellow "power" LED remains on, the red LED remains on and the green LED turns on briefly once every 2 seconds.  If you don't see that, I suspect the board has been damaged.  Give PMDX a call or email their support email address.

Curiosity - did you install the PMDX plug-in, and thus at least attempted to install the VCP drivers, before you first plugged the PMDX-424 into your PC's USB port?  It has been a looooong time since I mucked with the drivers and I don't remember the exact sequence when the board is first plugged in.  I do recall some people having an issue with the second driver not installing, but usually the first time through the "uninstall/re-install" fixed that.  Kudos to you for trying several times.  Though until he 424's LEDs behave as they should, driver install is a moot point.

[Jawno]

I did not install the VCP drivers before first plugging in the board. I did not know I had a driver problem until plugging the USB cable into the computer. I'm pretty sure the red and green lights came on the first time I plugged the 424 board in. I was a bit concerned that it hasn't been doing it since. I will try to contact Tech Support as you suggested. Thank you for your reply.

[Jawno]

Just as an update, I wanted to mention that I contacted PMDX tech support and at this point everything seems to be working normally. It is normal for the red and green lights to not come on until the USB cable is plugged in to the computer, the yellow power on light comes on steady. It seems like once Mach 4 is started and the plug in ran then the machine does recognize the 424 board. I'm continuing on with wiring up the drives etc. Haven't had a lot of time to work on the machine but am slowly making progress. Thank you 12 strings for your suggestion to contact tech support.