If you are living in Bangladesh, or a "Third World" country like me, you will probably get cheap electronics that are opt to be counterfeit. Recently for some work purposes, I had to buy some USB to TTL Serial Converter. I got the cheapest one from the market, it had no marking on the chip, I was confused at first but anyway, I bought it.
If you don't know what a USB to TTL Converter is, It's like a communication bridge between a USB Serial bus and a UART Serial. UART Serial is a communication protocol used in the most commonly used microcontroller and hardware devices for hobbyists and engineers.
Once I tried to connect the Converter to the computer, but the computer said "PL2303HXA Phased Out Since 2012"
Bro, It's just a USB to TTL Converter, what's so complicated?
Bro, It's just a USB to TTL Converter, what's so complicated?
Then I found out, PL2303HXA was a reliable chipset to have. It was affordable. But in 2012, Prolific (the company behind the chip, chip is named with the prefix PL) decided to retire the PL2303HXA and move on to newer models.
But that's not the case, I did not find an older TTL Converter, it was new, but in a counterfeit knockoff chipset.
Now there is no way to use this TTL Converter with newer computers and drivers, but I found a way to use this TTL Converter with newer windows with rollback drivers. I found some drivers that are old (like from 2011) to operate this hardware with my computer.
But that's not the case, I did not find an older TTL Converter, it was new, but in a counterfeit knockoff chipset.
Now there is no way to use this TTL Converter with newer computers and drivers, but I found a way to use this TTL Converter with newer windows with rollback drivers. I found some drivers that are old (like from 2011) to operate this hardware with my computer.
How to Save Your USB TTL Converter (and Your Sanity)
I found a solution in a YouTube video of user Yellow Purple, Here is the YouTube video. PL2303HXA Phased out since 2012. Please contact your supplier (SOLVED)Here he did roll back the drivers to operate the USB to TTL Converter in his computer.
Firstly, in the device manager section of Windows, I can see that the message, PL2303HXA Phased Out Since 2012. Please contact your supplier. Bro, I don't know actually who my supplier is.
From this zip file, you will get an installer of DriverInstaller v1.0.2.5 - Prolific PL2303 driver v3.3.3.114 which is called the Driverinstaller_1025 blah!
Install this driver immediately using the EXE file. It will install the older driver into the system.
Now come to the technical part.
After installing the driver package, you might see the driver installed in your system for this specific device. Here in the device manager, you can see the installed driver. You should have 2 drivers installed. You might wonder why I have 3 drivers, beacuse I accidentally installed the pack twice in different locations and now I have two driver instances in different locations. It doesn't differ that much.
Now come to the technical part.
After installing the driver package, you might see the driver installed in your system for this specific device. Here in the device manager, you can see the installed driver. You should have 2 drivers installed. You might wonder why I have 3 drivers, beacuse I accidentally installed the pack twice in different locations and now I have two driver instances in different locations. It doesn't differ that much.
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| List of installed drivers. |
Now we have to go through some simple steps to enable the driver.
- Right Click on the Device and Click Properties
- Go to the Driver tab
- Click the Update Driver button.
- In the Update Driver box, Select Browse My Computer For Drivers
- Here in the box, You have to choose "Let me pick from a list of available drivers"
- From the list, select the driver from 2009
- Then click Next, which will proceed to install the driver. After installing the driver, the Device Manager window will refresh and you will see now the TTL Converter is showing working.
Not so hard, but I really suggest buying some latest USB to TTL Converters. But for now, let's test it out.
Seems like it is working. Now lets try to test the TTL Converter by looping some chararacter in the data line. To do this test, just short the TX and RX line with a Jumper. In this setup, The TTL Converter will receive whatever it spits out.
And here it is working perfectly in the Arduino IDE. Sorry for lower framerate and slow shutter speed of my camera, it didn't clearly pickup the Blue LED Flashing while data is passing.
The conclusion is, for peace in life, try to buy original and not outdated hardwares. And obviously not counterfeits. That's all. See you later brotha (I know sistahs rarely visit my blog)