The interface does not appear to have power (old thread)

richieboy73 · Post by **richieboy73** » Fri Apr 09, 2004 2:34 pm

I get that mesage when I try to download from remote. It asks to check batteries and that the cable is pluged in correctly. I have checked this several times and the remote is working as I have manually progrmmed some devices.
Please help. I haven't got very fa with this so far. I haven't found anything in other posts or in the JP1 for beginners doc.

Mark Pierson · Post by **Mark Pierson** » Fri Apr 09, 2004 2:54 pm

What remote are you using?

What interface?

What type of PC?

richieboy73 · Post by **richieboy73** » Fri Apr 09, 2004 3:44 pm

It's a One for All, URC 8811 just purchased from SurfRemote.com with the JP1 cable included.
I'm using a new Dell Inspiron Notebook with XP Professional.

richieboy73 · Post by **richieboy73** » Fri Apr 09, 2004 3:46 pm

The interface is plugged into the printer port. I set it up as Serial, COM3 which is the only option that got me as far as I got.

Mark Pierson · Post by **Mark Pierson** » Fri Apr 09, 2004 3:56 pm

richieboy73 wrote:I set it up as Serial, COM3 which is the only option that got me as far as I got.

Set what up? The PC or IR? IR needs to be set to Parallel on the Interface menu.

richieboy73 · Post by **richieboy73** » Fri Apr 09, 2004 4:12 pm

Under 'Select Port Address' there are 3 options: 378, 278, 3BC and Other. The first three return the following error when I hit " Download from Remote":
"No response from interface. Make sure that the interface is connected to the PC, and that you've specified the correct port."

Mark Pierson · Post by **Mark Pierson** » Fri Apr 09, 2004 4:30 pm

Is the port properly configured in the laptop's BIOS and under XP?

The port addresses in IR equate to:
378 = LPT1:
278 = LPT2:
3BC = LPT3:
and must match the physical port configuration.

It's also possible that you're experiencing a voltage incompatibility problem that's very common in laptops. The latest spec for the Simple interface calls for a Schottky diode and 1k resistors to help eliminate that problem. Do you happen to know if your interface is built to the latest spec?

richieboy73 · Post by **richieboy73** » Fri Apr 09, 2004 4:46 pm

Thanks so much for your help, Mark. It's a new notebook and the port hadn't been configured - didn't need to go into the BIOS though fortunately I could do it through Control Panel.

Mark Pierson · Post by **Mark Pierson** » Fri Apr 09, 2004 5:26 pm

richieboy73 wrote:It's a new notebook and the port hadn't been configured

That'll do it! Glad to see you got it figured out.

kevpriest · Post by **kevpriest** » Wed Apr 14, 2004 6:20 pm

I seem to be having a similar problem, so I'll post here instead of a new thread. Here is my situation:

I started with a 15-1994, bought a JP1 cable from HovisDirect, and connected it to one of my computers. I installed IR, placed the decodeir.dll in the same directory, installed the rdf files, and started IR and pointed them to the rdf files. Then I tried to test the interface, but I get the message "No response from interface..."

I checked my LPT1 port, it's set to use 378 in both WindowsXP and the system bios. I tried turning the JP1 cable connector upside down. I always get the same message "No response from interface...".

I tried two other computers, one a fresh install of Windows 2000, one a Laptop with XP Home on it. In both cases, I verified that LPT1 was set to 378 in both the bios and Windows. On all computers, I get "No response from the interface..."

I bought a new remote, a 15-2116. Same response all three computers. I read the hardware docs where it talks about testing the interface, but here I started getting out of my depth. But clearly, something's not correct, because even if I completely remove the interface from the computer (nothing plugged into the parallel port at all) and choose "Check Interface", I get the same message. From reading "Simple Interface Rev 5", I expected to get a different error in that case.

Where should I be looking to troubleshoot this problem?

Thanks,

KevPriest

beverlyhoward · Post by **beverlyhoward** » Wed Jul 18, 2007 10:16 am

Related problem...

I have three printer ports and the parallel port ir.exe cable works fine on lpt1: but I have been unable to get it to function on either lpt2: or lpt3: and have tried all available port numbers

Is there a way to determine what i/o address a printer port is using?

Previously, I had dealt with this by moving the printer to one of the other ports, but my current printer is only happy on lpt1:

the motherboard lpt1: has a "resources" tab showing the correct port

...but 2 and 3 show PCI EPP/ECP Parallel Port and don't have a resources tab although they work normally with printer output assigned to them.

Thanks in advance,
Beverly Howard

Mark Pierson · Post by **Mark Pierson** » Wed Jul 18, 2007 1:40 pm

beverlyhoward wrote:Is there a way to determine what i/o address a printer port is using?

The defaults on a standard PC are:

LPT2: = 278
LPT3: = 3BC

beverlyhoward · Post by **beverlyhoward** » Wed Jul 18, 2007 5:06 pm

The defaults on a standard PC are:

LPT2: = 278
LPT3: = 3BC

Yep... but since none of those work in ir.exe was hoping there was some other place to find out what XP is using and manually enter that.

At this point, looks like the simplest solution is going to be to break out an antique printer switch box and put it on lpt1:

Thanks,
Beverly Howard

Mark Pierson · Post by **Mark Pierson** » Wed Jul 18, 2007 5:26 pm

beverlyhoward wrote:Yep... but since none of those work in ir.exe

Are you selecting the correct address in the dialog box that opens when you select Interface, Parallel... in IR?

Also, does your XP user account have admin rights?

beverlyhoward · Post by **beverlyhoward** » Thu Jul 19, 2007 12:54 pm

Are you selecting the correct address in the dialog box that opens when you select Interface, Parallel... in IR?

Also, does your XP user account have admin rights?

Yes to both.

My guess would be that the pci printer card is handling the assignments behind the scenes.

Beverly Howard

PS, sorry I've missed responses here since it's an "old thread" it doesn't flag it... will pay better attention.