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Hi Pro Communication Problem

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I am needing help with a communication problem between my laptop and the Hi Pro programming box.

The laptop is a newer Toshiba with Windows Vista. The Hi Pro is the serial type so I am using a serial to USB adapter. This USB/serial adapter includes Prolific drivers that are installed on the laptop. According to my PC the USB/serial adapter is working properly, it does see the adapter but not the Hi Pro.

I have loaded and tried the Phonak iPFG 2.5, iPFG 2.4a and the PFG 8.6b programs. None of them see the Hi Pro. The Hi Pro power light comes on and stays on while powered up. The left, right and PCtx/rx lights will only flicker when the Hi Pro is powered up, no more after the initial power up.

The Phonak Savia hearing aids are connected to the Hi Pro with Phonak CS44a cables. They appear to be right and feel solid at connections to Hi Pro and the aids.

I suspect I am missing Hi Pro drivers but am not sure. Could anyone help me with this communication problem?

Thanks for anyones help.
Rick

13 people in this conversation11 min readJump to latest

It is the usb to serial adapter, some or most do not work.
The Keyspan adapter, a few years ago, was the only one that worked.
Even with a serial port there is a specific cable , full handshaking, Communication going both ways.

In reply to @roberthamden

I used to use a similar type of setup. (The COM port number kept changing after the computer was turned off, so I stopped). I used an IOGear adapter, as it was recommended as one that was compatible with the serial Hi-Pro.

There is a software setting that sets the COM port that the USB to Serial is set at and this needs to match the software com port setting for the Hi-Pro.

WOW, thanks for the very quick help. It sounds like the cable adapter is most likely the problem. I had been told a Belkin was the right one but now have more choices.

I am aware of the COM port number. I understand it has to be between 1 and 4, not anything higher numerically. Have made sure that is right.

As far as the Phonak software, I have not seen the choice for XP compatibility mode. Where is it found? I plan to use the Phonak iPFG 2.4a or the iPFG 2.5 program to program the Savia aids. The older version PFG 8.6b does not include the Savia aids.

Thanks again for everyone’s help.
Rick

In reply to @shan

Robert’s response about the XP mode could be right also. I’m trying to skip vista.
You have a desktop shortcut but if you go to programs you should have a Phonak program group. If you put your curser there you will see IPFG and tools. select tools and choose HI-PRO configuration. It is a little program provided to check communication and it will also offer to update the firmware.

Thanks again for more info.

I checked everything mentioned except the XP mode. I can not find that.

I had found the other stuff in other places but your spot at programs was very handy. Thanks

I am looking for the named adapters with no luck locally. I have found them on eBay so I guess I should get that going.

My family is very excited about me getting aids so I will quit saying “WHAT” or “HUH”

Rick

Thanks for everyones help.

Thinking the serial/USB adapter was the problem I did find and buy the IOGear GUC232A. It came with a drivers disk and that was loaded. Same problem, no go. The booklet that came with this adapter showed how to manually set the adapter up, so I gave that a try, no go. This taught me something about setting up the port for this adapter and whatever device it will be operating with. That is where I am off I believe.

When hardware wizard is ran it asks for a CD or manually enter the device that will be operated. I do not have a CD for the Hi pro and Windows does not know Hi Pro. That I believe is my hold up.

Can anyone help me with the port setting for the serial port Hi Pro. They are found in Control Panel / Device Manager / Ports (Com & LPT). Yours may say Hi Pro, not sure. Double click the port for the Hi pro and see what the port setting are.

Thanks for any help with this.

Rick

Due to the bad luck on my laptop I decided to try the Phonak program on my wife’s desk top computer. It has a serial port so no adapter will be needed for the Hi Pro. When everything was hooked up the Hi Pro came to life for about a minute. It showed the serial numbers of the Savia aids and when I stepped it toward programming everything stopped again.

Now I am wondering if the Phonak program iPFG 2.5 is designed for USB only. Not sure what to do now.

Rick

Edited

Rick,

Sorry you are still have issues with your setup.

I have used the iPFG 2.5 version on my Lenovo laptop with serial port located in the docking station successfully, along with upgrading the Naida firmware.

-H

Is it starting to sound like there is a problem with the Hi Pro?

@kretsh said:

Rick,

Sorry you are still have issues with your setup.

I have used the iPFG 2.5 version on my Lenovo laptop with serial port located in the docking station successfully, along with upgrading the Naida firmware.

-H

Just wanted to say thanks to everyone.

The 9 pin serial cable was bad, verified with a volt/ohm meter. Bought a new one and found the Hi Pro needed updating. After that off to the races with programming the Phonak Savia aids.

I plan to leave them alone for one week before making any changes. Is that long enough or should I wait longer? I still have all the tinnitus that I had before while wearing the aids. Is there something I could do with the aids to minimize tinnitus?

Now that the Hi Pro is updated, I wonder if I can get it to work on my laptop using the USB connection?

Thanks again to everyone.
Rick

Wanted to pass on an update concerning the serial port Hi Pro usage on Windows Vista using a Belkin serial/USB adapter.

Over the past month I have been unable to get this serial Hi Pro to work on my laptop with the Vista operating system. I have been able to do all my Phonak programming on my wife’s PC that uses the Windows XP operating system.

Over the last couple weeks I have been getting a bunch of Windows Vista updates. So, for the heck of it today I tried again to run the Hi Pro on my laptop tied to my Phonak Savia aids. It worked like a jewel.

Passing on a little info for the people.

@Raudrive said:

Wanted to pass on an update concerning the serial port Hi Pro usage on Windows Vista using a Belkin serial/USB adapter.

Over the past month I have been unable to get this serial Hi Pro to work on my laptop with the Vista operating system. I have been able to do all my Phonak programming on my wife’s PC that uses the Windows XP operating system.

Over the last couple weeks I have been getting a bunch of Windows Vista updates. So, for the heck of it today I tried again to run the Hi Pro on my laptop tied to my Phonak Savia aids. It worked like a jewel.

Passing on a little info for the DIY people.

please send a link of the belkin adapter, i need to upgrade my pc

@xbulder said:

please send a link of the belkin adapter, i need to upgrade my pc

The funny thing about this adapter working properly now is I deleted all Belkin drivers from my laptop a few weeks ago when it would not work. I just did a search on my PC for Belkin and could not find anything???

I remember one of the Vista updates was a group of drivers. I suspect Vista recognizes the port parameters of the Hi Pro now. Vista had no problems recognizing all three of USB/serial adapters I tried a few weeks ago. It was just the Hi Pro it did not recognize.

If you are up to date with all your Windows updates I have a feeling you may good to go on the serial/USB adapter with Hi Pro.

I just got a Serial HiPro. And i have the IOGEAR usb adapter on my XPsp3 notebook.
Could someone please provide me with the handshake settings of they are using successfully with the HiPro.
Bits pers second: 9600 ?
Data bits: 8 ?
Parity None : ?
Stop bits: 1
Flow Control : None

Not sure if the FIFO buffers in advanced Com settings apply here ?

I just joined and look forward to a sharing and growing with a great group here.

Not sure if i should have started a new post, but it seems like it is exactly on topic here.

Hi,
I have similar problems with a USB HiPro . I have windows vista momentarily and want to change to windows 7.
My Hipro CD has no drivers for win7 or vista?
The HiPro doesn’t flash, when I connect the cables to the hearing aids with Phonak softwares like yours. I live in Germany , my English is not so good. If you were successful in the meantime, I would be glad for any further hint to solve my problem!
Thanks
Wilfried (w.brueck@web.de)

@wifitz said:

Hi,
I have similar problems with a USB HiPro . I have windows vista momentarily and want to change to windows 7.
My Hipro CD has no drivers for win7 or vista?
The HiPro doesn’t flash, when I connect the cables to the hearing aids with Phonak softwares like yours. I live in Germany , my English is not so good. If you were successful in the meantime, I would be glad for any further hint to solve my problem!
Thanks
Wilfried (w.brueck@web.de)

I ran a USB Hi Pro on Windows Vista 32 bit operating system. The CD that came with the Hi Pro worked fine. You might try going to GN Otometrics and finding their USB Hi Pro download and giving that a try. Which iPFG program are you running? The 2.5a is the latest. Did you run the Hi Pro configuration under the Phonak tools? It can be found in the Windows “Start” under “All Programs” then “Phonak”.

Good luck

In reply to @wifitz

@wifitz said:

Hi,
I have similar problems with a USB HiPro . I have windows vista momentarily and want to change to windows 7.
My Hipro CD has no drivers for win7 or vista?
The HiPro doesn’t flash, when I connect the cables to the hearing aids with Phonak softwares like yours. I live in Germany , my English is not so good. If you were successful in the meantime, I would be glad for any further hint to solve my problem!
Thanks
Wilfried (w.brueck@web.de)

I have a USB HiPro I am using with Win7 64bit and recently it stopped working in iPFG 2.5a. This happened after I installed the fitting software from another hearing aid manufacture. The problem was that the HiPro was moved to com port 6, I moved it back to com 4 and removed the other fitting software. Now, everything works fine. Hope this helps and, by the way, your English is excellent.

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