The great Suunto data cable thread (incl DIY)

[dmdoug]

I had the exact same thing happen to me. My com1 was in good working order. I was running a palm pilot with a hot sync into com1 and was not sure why the interface would not get recognized.

I sent the interface back to Suunto and had them test it to make sure it was not the cable. They returned the cable stating that all was fine and in good working order.

I later ended up getting a version of windows XP. Upon installing the program I decided to download the software again. I loaded it off the disk that was provided when the computer was purchased and it did not work. I uninstalled the software and went searching on their webpage for a newer version.

I down loaded the software from the website, plugged in the cable into com1 and did the test. It was recognized. I would say that the software may be corrupt or just not compatable with the XP platform of Windows.

It worked for me. Let me know if you have tried that or if not let me know if it works......

Safe diving,

[Ushuaia]

Have a read of this thread, esp the posts from RichLockyer and myself on 29 Oct. Looks like Palm Hot Sync software will definitely cause problems, and in turning it off the problems go away. Maybe IPAQ sync software has a similar effect?

Vyper Interface Problem

[metaldector]

I had trouble getting a download tonight with my Vyper, and found that you must sequence properly. 1. Connect serial cable, then turn on computer. 2. Tab transfer button on menu, and go to setup, selecting Vyper. 3. Test serial cable (without connection for Vyper for COM port. Select com port. 4. Connect interface cable to Vyper. Start transfer. If you don't do 1 or 3 nothing works. Hope this helps.

[Hallmac]

brizzolatti once bubbled...
It has transferred some data but I got messages saying some dives were missing. It seems not to have downloaded a couple of dives.

It is a common message if : you told the software to ignore certain dives or you have more dives in the history than currently held in logbook and not all ready added to the new log book.


You can either add the earlier dives manually or ignore the message just remember to calculate so the tissue groups will match the information it has.

Hallmac

[Warren_L]

metaldector once bubbled...
I had trouble getting a download tonight with my Vyper, and found that you must sequence properly. 1. Connect serial cable, then turn on computer. 2. Tab transfer button on menu, and go to setup, selecting Vyper. 3. Test serial cable (without connection for Vyper for COM port. Select com port. 4. Connect interface cable to Vyper. Start transfer. If you don't do 1 or 3 nothing works. Hope this helps.

Seems odd. I've never had to go through all that in sequence. As long as I select TR - PC and hook up the interface, run Dive Manager and start transfer, it works fine for me.

[medic13]

make sure you have latest version 1.4 also no sync or palm pilot pragrams on laptops even trid on desktop all gave promblems with dive manager
also laptops check make sure active in bios set up area .
so far it has worked great in windows 98 and windows xp both home and profesional versions and should work in the new longhorn version

[RPanick]

I've used both Dive Manager and ActiveSync on my laptop without any problem, but the catch is my PocketPC uses USB not serial.

By the way the current version of ActiveSync is 3.7.1 and it works better than the older versions.

Reason you may not have to go through all the steps is that the COM port was picked up right at first, it gets lucky every so often.

One trick with laptops without serial ports (which is pretty much standard now) is that you need to use a USB to Serial converter. The COM port on these can be fairly high number, make sure you check the settings, it did seem to work just fine even on COM5 though.

[PolsVoice]

My laptop (a Toshiba Satellite Pro) does not have a serial port so I went to SUUNTO's website to check my options and lo and behold, all I needed was a Serial/USB adapter. After trying this, my machine still could not find the Cobra dive computer saying that it does not detect the computer on any of the ten com ports. I've tried the test mode with the computer attached, detached, rechecked all the connections on the cables, etc.

I'm thinking the problem is either, A.) the USBs aren't assigned a com port or more likely B.) the USB's are assigned com ports with numbers higher than 10. So, what do I do? Is there anyway to check to which com port(s) my USBs are assigned? If necessary, is there any way to reassign the com port numbers? I'm at a loss here.

Any help would be most welcome..

Thanx in advance,

PolsVoice

[pasley]

My laptop (a Toshiba Satellite Pro) does not have a serial port so I went to SUUNTO's website to check my options and lo and behold, all I needed was a Serial/USB adapter. After trying this, my machine still could not find the Cobra dive computer saying that it does not detect the computer on any of the ten com ports. ...

Interesting question. My first response was: Your computer should recognize the USB port automatically (Windows XP or 98 with the update).

Then I got to thinking, did the USB/Serial Converter come with software? You may need to run that. If that is not the issue then lets double check the basics.

I don't think you computer will "see" the SUUNTO in the terms you are thinking. Let's start with the obvious and walk through the process to ensure it is not a procedural error.
1. In the dive manager program select download, and then the SUUNTO product you are downloading from.
2. Set your SUUNTO dive computer set to TR-PC mode.
3. Then press the start download button on your divemanager program.

The computer should make the communication. If it dosent, then try going into divemanager Transfer list. At the bottom of the SUUNTO computer list is PCINTERFACE Setup. Here you can change the COM port and test the settings.

But I don't expect your computer to "see" the dive computer as it is not an additional drive, but rather you are temporarily connecting two computers (when in TR-PC interface mode)to talk to each other and transferr data.

Hopefully this will solve the problem. In the meantime I have sent your question to a person at SUUNTO I have been communicating with. I expect he will have an answer for me Tuesday or Wednesday latest.

[Scott M]

My laptop (a Toshiba Satellite Pro) does not have a serial port so I went to SUUNTO's website to check my options and lo and behold, all I needed was a Serial/USB adapter. After trying this, my machine still could not find the Cobra dive computer saying that it does not detect the computer on any of the ten com ports. I've tried the test mode with the computer attached, detached, rechecked all the connections on the cables, etc.

I'm thinking the problem is either, A.) the USBs aren't assigned a com port or more likely B.) the USB's are assigned com ports with numbers higher than 10. So, what do I do? Is there anyway to check to which com port(s) my USBs are assigned? If necessary, is there any way to reassign the com port numbers? I'm at a loss here.

Any help would be most welcome..

Thanx in advance,

PolsVoice

Send an e-mail to Suunto explaining the problem and they will send you a patch and the instructions that will fix you right up. If you want you can send me your e-mail address and I will send you what they sent me I think I still have it). Mine is for the Vytec but I think the patch will work on any of them. The problem is that your computer is recoginizing the adapter but nothing hooked to the adapter shows up, the patch fixes that problem.

Good Luck