CoolTerm 1.1.2 and USB serial ports

[jdurand]

I'm trying to use CoolTerm to connect to a product using the FTDI FT245RL USB serial emulator chip. HyperTerm and HyperExpress have no trouble talking to these chips using the standard FTDI serial port emulator driver. CoolTerm says:

A Serial Port Error Occurred
102: Invalid Options

Any idea how to fix this?

[roger]

When does this error occur exactly? When opening the port or when changing the serial port settings? What are the serial port settings? Are you using a Mac or a PC?

[jdurand]

I just found out it only gives the error if I've opened and closed the port since I last rebooted. I use HyperExpress (HyperTerm upgraded), haven't tried anything else. As long as the system's been rebooted, it's fine.

So, I'm guessing HyperExpress leaves the port in some odd state.

[roger]

I just found out it only gives the error if I've opened and closed the port since I last rebooted. I use HyperExpress (HyperTerm upgraded), haven't tried anything else. As long as the system's been rebooted, it's fine.

So, I'm guessing HyperExpress leaves the port in some odd state.

This would explain that. Error 102 can occur when one is trying to change serial port settings of an open port that can only be changed when the port is closed. CoolTerm prevents that by not letting the user access the connection options after a port has been opened. And normally, when it is attempted to open a port that is currently open in another application, it will show a message that there was an error opening the port.
I think you are correct in your assessment. Hyperterm must have left the port in an odd state. I'm glad it's been resolved.

[jdurand]

Yes, I consider this closed. You might add a note in your documentation about it.

As for HyperTerm/Express, I don't expect much. I originally upgraded to HyperExpress when designing some wireless modems (long range, private channel type). We thought we were losing data in the modems, turned out HyperTerm was dropping characters. HyperExpress was somewhat better. The best I ever used was Procomm under DOS, on an 8086 machine I could pound that all day and it would never drop a bit.

Thanks for this nice program, I put a link to your page on our Support site. I already received a thanks from a customer in Sweden with Vista, solved him having to buy HyperExpress for his systems.

[roger]

Thanks for your feedback, and for recommending CoolTerm. It's good to see that people find it useful.