Solving Prolific PL-2303 USB to Serial Comm Port installation issues

Question

Hello everybody,
More and more machines are comming without Parallel and serials ports, they are comming with USB external ports only.
Some have the RS-232 and Parallel headers in the motherboard, and that should last for about a year I think.
At any rate, the issue I was facing is the following:
(a) Installing Prolific PL-2303 USB to Serial Comm Port on Windows XP Pro SP3 works OK and system runs fine. there are some capacity issues regarding the buffer size, but that is another post.
(b) Installing on WEPOS 1.1 SP3 on some motherboards (Older ones) that have at least the Parallel headers and a serial port, the device also works as with (a)
(c) Installing on WEPOS 1.1 SP3 with a machine with only external USB's (no parallel / serial port or headers). The installation process runs OK. but when the device
is plugged I get the following error message:
"An error ocurred during the installation of the device"
"A service Installation section in this INF is invalid"
(d) Installing on POSReady 2009. I get the same as with (c)
This is how I solved, after many frustrating reboots with the same message about the INF section and multiple Prolific drivers tried.  I started digging windows:
(1) Find the setupapi.log and read it, if the OS is a fresh install it will not be too long.
(2) Read this:
#-166 Device install function: DIF_SELECTBESTCOMPATDRV.
#I063 Selected driver installs from section [ComPort] in "c:\windows\inf\oem15.inf".
#I320 Class GUID of device remains: {4D36E978-E325-11CE-BFC1-08002BE10318}.
#I060 Set selected driver.
#I058 Selected best compatible driver.
#-166 Device install function: DIF_INSTALLDEVICEFILES.
#I124 Doing copy-only install of "USB\VID_067B&PID_2303\5&B6C3FC&0&2".
#-166 Device install function: DIF_REGISTER_COINSTALLERS.
#I056 Coinstallers registered.
#-166 Device install function: DIF_INSTALLINTERFACES.
#-011 Installing section [ComPort.NT.Interfaces] from "c:\windows\inf\oem15.inf".
#I054 Interfaces installed.
#-166 Device install function: DIF_INSTALLDEVICE.
#I123 Doing full install of "USB\VID_067B&PID_2303\5&B6C3FC&0&2".
#-035 Processing service Add/Delete section [ComPort.NT.Services].
#E339 Add Service: Binary "C:\Windows\system32\DRIVERS\serenum.sys" for service "Serenum" is not present.
#E032 Error 0xe0000217: A service installation section in this INF is invalid.
#E275 Error while installing services. Error 0xe0000217: A service installation section in this INF is invalid.
#E122 Device install failed. Error 0xe0000217: A service installation section in this INF is invalid.
#E154 Class installer failed. Error 0xe0000217: A service installation section in this INF is invalid.
[2010/02/13 23:32:24 2004.2]
(3) So it was the serenum.sys file that Windows needed to find in the ..\system32\drivers folder. I got the serenum.sys from one of the temporary folders created by the installation process.
(3a) So, I think that windows installs this sys file if it recognizes the motherboard has at least one parallel or serial port.
(4) So good luck when installing your serial device to your POS solution. I will open another thread if I have problems with the buffer size of the device.
Humberto Sequeira

Answer 1

Hello Terry,
Indeed, they were not intended as POS system, the EEE Top machines are candy to the eye, but for my taste they do not work in POS environment (I give them 1 year before they pop). Regarding the other, well competition is tought, so you have to get creative in order to keep costs down, and this one can be used as a waiter stations, that do not need heavy serial comunications.
Anyways, the POSReady does not install these system files if the installation does not detect a serial or parallel port (which make sense, as why would it install drivers for a device that is not detected). I posted this for others to be aware of this when they select the hardware that will be offered to their customers, as good old "on mother-board" serial and parallel ports cannot be beaten by their USB imitations (IRQ and memory addressing processing are needed for end devices to function properly).
Have a great weekend,
Humberto