BIOS changing parallel port settings?

Alright, so I went to a friends room to try it on his 32 bit XP desktop.
Moved all the files to a folder
Installed Netframework 2.0
retarted it
installed PL2303
restarted it
checked device manager and it had Comport (1) and LPT(I think) (1)
but still no PL2303
So, I uninstalled PL2303, restarted the computer and reinstalled PL2303 and restarted it again
No luck, still no PL2303 port.
So I installed the interface software anyways.
Plugged in the LPM and watched the device manager for anything, it refreshed (but it did this on my 64bit Vista aswell) but did not show any PL2303 port.
HOWEVER
His application of the Interface software did have a dropdown for Comm port.
It had comport 1 and comport 3, even though in his device manager he only had 1 comport.
So I plugged it into every USB port, trying both Comport 1 and 3 in the application with no results, every time I plugged it in, on the bottom it always said ---no signal--- and would not read the 100mw 405 laser I had brought with me.
I had tried all 6 USB ports on his computer and tried both Comport 1 and 3. However, on neither computer could I get it to recognize the USB as a PL2303. On my Vista 64bit, I can get the port tree there, but it still will not recognize the PL2303, nor do I have anything that would need to be under the port tree, that's why it is not there.

Jerry, when you don't have your LPM plugged into a USB, does your port tree still have PL2303 under it?

Does either computer react at all when you plug in the LaserBee regardless if the drivers are installed? It should at the very least ATTEMPT to recognize any usb device that is plugged in.

After dinner I will plug mine into a machine with no drivers and see what happens. I do not want to imply in any way that the LaserBee is faulty but we should see if there is some reaction from the computer when it gets plugged in.

Edit : ok, so when plugged into a computer with no drivers it sees the device as a "USB to Serial Controller" but cannot automatically install it. Once you install the PL driver the computer recognizes the device simply as "Prolific". So the question is : under device manager under what name does windows list this device? And are there any error icons?

(To answer the question you asked Jerry about if he sees the PL2303 under the "Ports" tree when the laserbee is not plugged in, the answer should be no. As the laserbee itself houses it's own USB to Serial port and would not be visible unless connected.)

Yes, A small icon will open in the bottom right and say that an unrecognized USB device has been plugged in. And another icon will open saying that the corresponding drivers were properly installed.

As we see here, on the left side is the window I get after clicking on the icon that has the message bubble telling me that the corresponding drivers were installed. To the right of that is my device manage, what opens when I click on the icon with the message bubble that says that an unrecognized USB device is present. When the Device manager opens, the "unknown device" under "Universal serial device controllers" is highlighted.

I have Vista 32-bit and mine installed ok. After reading through this thread, I think the only thing I did differently was I installed both the PL-2303 and the HL-340.

EDIT: I just noticed in your pic, it looks like your two drivers under the port tree have yellow exclamation point warnings next to them. Have you check that error message and see if they are working properly?

The two drivers under the port tree are only there because I installed them manually through the "Add Legacy Hardware" feature. It says it should be installed with a dick, which I don't have and didn't come with. I've tried to update driver software and scan for changes for both of them with no luck.

And I could not download the HL-340, I'll add a picture of the error report in a second.
here's what I get when I try to install HE-340

and here's what I get when I try to install NET framework 2.0, although I installed 4.0 and it's working just fine to my knowledge.

Do you have an older computer were Vista wasn't the original OS? I'm wondering if it's an OS vs older harware because those ports should already be there. I don't understand why you had to install them manually through the "Add Legacy Hardware" feature.

Sorry, I wish I had better answers for ya.

I have a 95 that started smoking when I turned it on, but I tested it on a friends XP, check up a couple of posts.

I saw that post but I wanted just wanted to offer a couple of things from my perspective since I have a Vista OS and the same LPM working.

Well, any opinions help, and I might have missed some minor detail for all I know. I'd love for v33 to get back to me with his findings though, he seems to be very knowledgeable on the situation.

Alright, well the 95 started smoking then sparked and now won't turn on. So that's out of question, but I borrowed my professors alienware laptop (also 64 bit vista), instillation of Netframework 2.0 didn't work as expected, so I downloaded 4.0 for him, instaleld PL-2303, restarted, checked the Device manager for ports and... it wasn't there. So I installed the interface software and checked if comm port had a dropdown and it didn't.

EDIT: I also plugged in the LPM, it said it was unknown device.

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It did not work on another computer with 64-bit Vista.
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Alright, so I went to a friends room to try it on his 32 bit XP desktop.
Moved all the files to a folder
Installed Netframework 2.0
retarted it
installed PL2303
restarted it
checked device manager and it had Comport (1) and LPT(I think) (1)
but still no PL2303
So, I uninstalled PL2303, restarted the computer and reinstalled PL2303 and restarted it again
No luck, still no PL2303 port.
So I installed the interface software anyways.
Plugged in the LPM and watched the device manager for anything, it refreshed (but it did this on my 64bit Vista aswell) but did not show any PL2303 port.
HOWEVER
His application of the Interface software did have a dropdown for Comm port.
It had comport 1 and comport 3, even though in his device manager he only had 1 comport.
So I plugged it into every USB port, trying both Comport 1 and 3 in the application with no results, every time I plugged it in, on the bottom it always said ---no signal--- and would not read the 100mw 405 laser I had brought with me.
I had tried all 6 USB ports on his computer and tried both Comport 1 and 3. However, on neither computer could I get it to recognize the USB as a PL2303. On my Vista 64bit, I can get the port tree there, but it still will not recognize the PL2303, nor do I have anything that would need to be under the port tree, that's why it is not there.

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It also did not work under a 32-bit XP computer.
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Does either computer react at all when you plug in the LaserBee regardless if the drivers are installed? It should at the very least ATTEMPT to recognize any usb device that is plugged in.

After dinner I will plug mine into a machine with no drivers and see what happens. I do not want to imply in any way that the LaserBee is faulty but we should see if there is some reaction from the computer when it gets plugged in.

Edit : ok, so when plugged into a computer with no drivers it sees the device as a "USB to Serial Controller" but cannot automatically install it. Once you install the PL driver the computer recognizes the device simply as "Prolific". So the question is : under device manager under what name does windows list this device? And are there any error icons?

(To answer the question you asked Jerry about if he sees the PL2303 under the "Ports" tree when the laserbee is not plugged in, the answer should be no. As the laserbee itself houses it's own USB to Serial port and would not be visible unless connected.)

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This is true, it should automatically recognize the device. From here you could select the unknown device and install the drivers from the CD manually.
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Yes, A small icon will open in the bottom right and say that an unrecognized USB device has been plugged in. And another icon will open saying that the corresponding drivers were properly installed.

As we see here, on the left side is the window I get after clicking on the icon that has the message bubble telling me that the corresponding drivers were installed. To the right of that is my device manage, what opens when I click on the icon with the message bubble that says that an unrecognized USB device is present. When the Device manager opens, the "unknown device" under "Universal serial device controllers" is highlighted.

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If this unknown recognition is from the "Install Legacy Hardware" changes you made then you may need to undo those changes.
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Alright, I got my ports visible, had to "Install Legacy Hardware"
However, I only have com3 and com4 ports, where as in Jerrys pictures he has PL2303 and com5. Mine doesn't show com5.

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This is VERY rarely used anymore. I am certain you will need to remove these changes.

I hope I am wrong but it would seem that the LaserBee is faulty or the failed installation could mean the copy of the installation program for the drivers is damaged/corrupted. Did everything install correctly on the Win XP 32-bit computer?

Either way, it seems that out of 3 computers you should have been able to get it working on one. Manually installing the drivers from the device manager is about all that I can suggest based on the information I have read. I do not think that has much chance though.

Blue text is very hard to read!

I see that now. I will try to choose brighter colors in the future. I am still learning, I do not know how to do many of the things I see done here, I welcome any help. :undecided:

How would I go about updating drivers directly?
click on "Update driver software", it brings me to this screen

I click browse manually.
it brings me to this screen

The 3 options are:

E:\Win2000 to Win7\LaserBee 2.5W USB\HL-340-W7
C:\USERS\ERIC\DESKTOP\LPM\WIN2000 TO WIN7\LASERBEE 2.5W USB\HL-340-W7
C:\USERS\ERIC\DESKTOP\LPM\WIN2000 TO WIN7\LASERBEE 2.5W USB

Background info: My name is Eric, I saved the files onto a folder called "LPM" on my desktop.

When I click "Browse..." This window opens up, I opened the 2 places that made the most sense for me to screencap, if you need others I can supply those aswell, but I opened all the folders possible.

Yes. You are right on target. Did you say there were 2 CDs? If not, then you can try each and every folder or just the "E:" drive itself. It looks as though the driver is contained in an executable file though (.exe) by the way the folders are laid out. If not an executable then I would guess the "HL-340-W7" folder. If none work though, I suspect something may be wrong with the LaserBee.

Alright, I tried all of

E:\Win2000 to Win7\LaserBee 2.5W USB\HL-340-W7
C:\USERS\ERIC\DESKTOP\LPM\WIN2000 TO WIN7\LASERBEE 2.5W USB\HL-340-W7
C:\USERS\ERIC\DESKTOP\LPM\WIN2000 TO WIN7\LASERBEE 2.5W USB
.

But between me and v33, who has the same LPM, the only difference seems that he has installed HL-340-W7 and I have not. However, I cannot download it because I run a 64-bit system. Is there an alternative to this?
Here's what I get

Actually I did not install HL-340. I was mistaken, it would not install on my system. At this point I think we have done all the computer troubleshooting we can. I don't know what else to suggest except trying another LaserBee on the same computer.