NiTek Q Support

I've heard a lot of good things about Dive Rite, and chose to buy their products because I was told they are of high quality and the company stands by them. I have not found either of these things to be true when it comes to the NiTek Q.

I received my Q (7-Gas Trimix) a week ago and took it out on a couple of shallow dives to try it out, and found that it worked great. When attempting to get the Workbench software, things started being not so great but were still manageable. Connecting the computer to my PC has so far been impossible, and I can't say I've been very impressed in my experiences trying to get this resolved with Dive Rite Support so far.

When I try connecting the Q to my PC (and yes, I'm running Windows 7 with full admin privileges, working COM Ports, a good USB cable, a good internet connection, and have tried following all the tips in Workbench's Help Menu), I get the following error message on my PC:



On the dive computer, this screen appears:



After a while, the dive computer simply shuts down. I've tried connecting it using different COM Ports, tried connecting it to different computers, and done everything else to ensure that the issue is not on the PC's end. I get the same result every time.

In the last e-mail I received from Dive Rite, they said the problem was with too many people trying to access the server, that they were going to restart it, and that it was fully functional. This is the same thing they told another guy on who wrote about his experience back in September when he had the same issue. Besides that, this is not even a network problem - it's a compatibility issue between the dive computer and the PC that stems from something being wrong with the dive computer. Further evidence of this is the fact that every time I connect the dive computer to a PC, it goes into DESAT mode and the DESAT time randomly fluctuates up and down. The first time this happened Dive Rite told me I must have pushed both buttons and reset it, which I'm pretty sure I didn't do. Nevertheless, I gave them the benefit of the doubt. Then it happened again, and this time it was definitely not as a result of me resetting it.

Anyone else encounter this issue and/or get the runaround from Dive Rite when it comes to handling computer issues?

"When I try connecting the Q to my PC (and yes, I'm running Windows 7 with full admin privileges"
I believe you still have to set up another "Administrator" using the directions I linked in the other thread about this issue.
Also, if you do have the Workbench program loaded but just see "USB communicating" you may have to open Workbench and in the drop down menu select "USB settings"

Al

Yeah, I saw that thread and tried everything on there and followed the links provided. They we definitely good suggestions and helped address part of the issue, but unfortunately they are only partial solutions (at best).

ScubaAl:

I believe you still have to set up another "Administrator" using the directions I linked in the other thread about this issue.
Also, if you do have the Workbench program loaded but just see "USB communicating" you may have to open Workbench and in the drop down menu select "USB settings"

Al

Click to expand...

In my previous attempts to get things working, I logged in with full admin privileges, followed the directions carefully and repeated them several times without results, sought answers from Dive Rite, tried workarounds, verified my computer was working properly, tried different computers, and spent many hours troubleshooting every which way I could imagine. As I'm in grad school studying ed tech, I came into the situation with many ideas about what could possibly work - and exhausted them all. I looked all over the web and tried every suggestion I could find on ScubaBoard and other sites. I then called upon others who I know to be more tech savvy than I am, and they arrived at the same conclusion that I hypothesized: the software on dive computer itself is faulty.

The computer successfully connects via USB and that the PC acknowledges the computer for what it is (displays the name of the device), however it cannot locate the necessary driver. When I go to scan the ports for the computer, no port appears.

After several e-mails to different people in a variety of locations, one of my messages was forwarded to Travis Lowke at Dive Rite. His response has been the most legit of those I have received so far.

This is the exact wording:
"Thank you for the screen shots, that definitely helps in resolving these software issues. Java has recently released an update that has interfered with the compatibility and functioning of the Workbench software and drivers. We are working on a solution. As soon as we have a working solution I will let you know how to proceed. We apologize for any inconvenience, and appreciate your patience regarding this matter. In the meantime your Nitek Q will still function as a dive computer, and will log up to 10 dives in its internal memory."

How legit this response really is seems to be questionable given what many others have said about Dive Rite always promising a fix but seldom delivering on those promises. I'll give Dive Rite the benefit of the doubt just to be fair, but at the same time I'm holding onto my receipt should I need to demand a refund.

My rebreather was not seeing/recognizing the comm port when I plugged it into the usb port. I found this site: How to change the COM port for a USB Serial adapter on Windows 7 | Plugable and once I change the port number to "2" (in my case) my computer recognized it and was able to download my dives. This was on a AP Vision rebreather.
I also had a lot of trouble getting the Workbench logbook to load on my computer, then problems when downloading dives. Does seem to be working now, or at least the last time I download dives. This was a month and a half ago.
I don't really need the Workbench logbook as my rebreather has an excellent program that I use. But wanted Workbench to work just because it should.
The computer its self works fine, a few little things I would like to see changed but nothing I can't live with. I use the Nitek Q as a back up.

Al

I finally had it with the NiTek Q and sent it in for a refund. In addition to the driver and connectivity issues, it continued to randomly display the DESAT timer (which fluctuated up and down for no apparent reason) and kept resetting. In my weeks-long dialogue with a rep from Dive Rite (the second one I worked with), it finally came out that this was likely a hardware problem and not a software issue related to the separate Java/driver disaster. Maybe I just received the bad apple of the barrel, or maybe this problem is bigger than DR wants to admit - hard to say for sure. What I do know for sure is that I got the runaround for a very long time, tried everything under the sun to get the computer to work on my own, and was given a bunch of excuses from the first rep I worked with that were complete BS - and more often than not simply blatant lies.

This whole "soon" stuff about how a fix is on its way isn't happening soon enough, and I've come across several posts from several years ago that state the same concerns that we're still having with the Q. Before that, it was similar problems with the other DR computers. IMHO, the pretty obvious conclusion to all of this is that Dive Rite makes great equipment except for when it comes to dive computers - in that area they completely suck. I love my DR BC, regs, etc., but will never consider a DR computer again.

Thankfully, the business that I purchased the computer from accepted full responsibility for the faulty equipment and paid for the shipping back to them so that I can get a different (non-DR) computer.

For those using the new Macintosh Maverick OS...

If you have Mavericks you will need to delete the Workbench Software, and reinstall both Workbench and Java (albeit a previous version).

Java for OS X 2013-005

Also, because of new security features in Mavericks you cannot simply “double-click” to open workbench installer, you will need to “right-click” and select “open” and then confirm.

How to open apps from an unidentified developer in OS X Mountain Lion | iMore

I hope this helps!

A new Java update was released a couple of days ago. Has anyone noticed if this took care of the issue that the NiTeq Q was having which made it unable to communicate with a PC/Mac effectively?