On 8/16/07, William Couture <bcouture@gmail.com> wrote:
> I keep running into the same problem whenever I use someone's
> USB to serial converter:
>
> All chips, even "identical" chips from same manufactuer / lot,
> have a unique *SERIAL NUMBER*.
>
> All the drivers check for *SERIAL NUMBER* as well as USB CID.
>
> If it sees a different *SERIAL NUMBER*, it insists on installing yet
> another driver for the "new hardware".
>
> So, if you ever need to use a different "identical" piece of hardware,
> drivers must be installed.
>
> If the driver installation messes up, that particular piece of "identical"
> hardware can *NEVER* be used on that system, because of the bad
> driver (the "driver remove" option never seems to work...)
>
> And, if you need to test, say 100 (or 1000...) pieces before they leave
> the factory, *YOU NEED TO INSTALL THE DRIVER FOR EVERY UNIT
> YOU TEST*
>
> Does anyone know who makes USB to serial chips without this
> stupidity?
>

This is not stupid. This is a feature. To have a serial number is
a good thing. If you have a USB device, if it does not have a
serial number and you need to install the driver every time you
install it to a different port, Windows will ask you for a driver.
If it has a serial number, Windows will recognize it as a unique
device and use the existing driver. This is the typical usage
pattern of a USB device.

Your case is not a typical usage of a USB device.

Anyway, there might be a solution for your situation. Read this
thread for Silabs CP210x.
http://www.cygnal.org/ubb/Forum9/HTML/001323.html

Regards,
Xiaofan
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