<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body dir="auto"><div>Jim,</div><div id="AppleMailSignature"><br></div><div id="AppleMailSignature">I am like you, having numerous cables that have the fake chips in them. Once I learned what to do with them, through you and the Miklor site, it only takes about 2 minutes to roll back the driver, if I have to. When Windows 8 first came out, I spent 3-4 months fighting with cables not working. After learning what to do, I don't worry about it anymore. The nice thing is, is that I have cables for many different radios, but once you get the right driver installed, it works for all of them. I am not going to go out and spend money I don't have to, just to save me 2 minutes of work. I also do not have the skill set, tools, or time, to make my own cables out of earphones and some other chip.</div><div id="AppleMailSignature"><br></div><div id="AppleMailSignature">I really do appreciate your testing the theories of why the cables are 'not compatible with Windows 10', etc. and coming up with the proper solution. It is just NOT THAT HARD TO DEAL WITH, when you know what to do.</div><div id="AppleMailSignature"><br></div><div id="AppleMailSignature">Thank you. </div><div id="AppleMailSignature"><br><div>Jardy Dawson</div><div>WA7JRD Ham Radio</div><div><br></div><span style="font-family: UICTFontTextStyleBody; -webkit-text-size-adjust: auto;">Message relayed from secret Hillary Clinton server, located in the basement of her house. OOPS, you aren't supposed to know that!</span></div><div><br>On Nov 21, 2016, at 06:19, Jim Unroe <<a href="mailto:rock.unroe@gmail.com">rock.unroe@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<br><br></div><div><span>On Sun, Nov 20, 2016 at 10:37 PM, Garth Robinson</span><br><span><<a href="mailto:soundtek@vodafone.co.nz">soundtek@vodafone.co.nz</a>> wrote:</span><br><blockquote type="cite"><span>Hi Jim,</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span></span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>..... so, how can one guarantee ( without dismantling the cable ) that there</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>is a genuine chip within the cable? I'm even suspect of the Baofeng cables.</span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span></span><br></blockquote><blockquote type="cite"><span>Garth. zl1tue ..... an still shakin'</span><br></blockquote><span></span><br><span>About 4 years ago I downloaded every version of Prolific driver for</span><br><span>Windows I could find. I installed them one by one from the most recent</span><br><span>to the oldest to find out exactly which driver was the absolute latest</span><br><span>that would work with a counterfeit Prolific chip. The answer was</span><br><span>v3.3.2.105. But although this driver works great with CHIRP, it is</span><br><span>incompatible with most programming software written for Chinese</span><br><span>radios.</span><br><span></span><br><span>So my testing continued. It wasn't until I got to the Prolific</span><br><span>v3.2.0.0 driver that it would work with all of my programming</span><br><span>software. And it works with the latest Prolific chips as well.</span><br><span></span><br><span>As you can see from the attached screen capture, I have 4 Prolific</span><br><span>drivers installed in my Windows 7 64-bit computer. I can switch</span><br><span>between these driver versions at will to determine if a Prolific type</span><br><span>chip is genuine.</span><br><span></span><br><span>So if you have a programming cable with a Prolfic type chip, there is</span><br><span>no need to test if it is genuine or not. Genuine Prolific chips are</span><br><span>rare. Out of some 20+ Prolific type chip based cables that I have</span><br><span>here, I only have 2 that know are genuine.</span><br><span></span><br><span>One came from a now out of business dealer. The description stated</span><br><span>that it contained a genuine Prolfic chip. It cost $10 more than the</span><br><span>non-genuine version that they also sold. The second came with (but was</span><br><span>purchased separately) a Wouxun KG-UV6D V2 radio that I purchased from</span><br><span>a USA dealer.</span><br><span></span><br><span>So if you run Windows XP or above, the non-destructive test to</span><br><span>determine if the Prolific type chip in your programming cable is</span><br><span>genuine is pretty simple. Plug it into the USB port and wait for the</span><br><span>latest Prolific driver to install. Then try it out. then if it works</span><br><span>(not likely) it has a genuine Prolific chip. If it doesn't work (very</span><br><span>likely) it has a counterfeit chip.</span><br><span></span><br><span>But if you already have the programming cable, it is too late to worry</span><br><span>about which type of Prolific chip is in it (genuine or counterfeit).</span><br><span>Just download, install and select the older Prolific driver (it works</span><br><span>for both).</span><br><span></span><br><span>v2.0.2.1 Windows XP</span><br><span>v3.2.0.0 Windows Vista, 7, 8, 8.1 and 10</span><br><span></span><br><span>If the idea is to avoid the hassle of dealing with counterfeit</span><br><span>Prolific type chips, then note the following.</span><br><span></span><br><span>A genuine Baofeng (the radio manufacturer based in China) programming</span><br><span>cable is virtually guaranteed to have a counterfeit Prolific chip.</span><br><span></span><br><span>If the listing states that the programming cable only works with older</span><br><span>versions of Windows or states that it does not work with the latest</span><br><span>versions of Windows, it is a good bet that is will have a counterfeit</span><br><span>Prolific chip. The same goes for listings where there is no mention of</span><br><span>the chip the programming cable contains.</span><br><span></span><br><span>So the best thing to do to avoid the driver hassle is to look for a</span><br><span>cable with an FTDI type chip. Even FTDI chips can be counterfeit, but</span><br><span>even the counterfeit chips currently work with the latest available</span><br><span>device drivers.</span><br><span></span><br><span>Although I mostly use Prolific type chips here, I do have some with</span><br><span>genuine FTDI chips. My source for the last few has been Baofeng Tech</span><br><span>(the radio dealer based in the USA).</span><br><span></span><br><span>Jim KC9HI</span><br></div><div><ProlificDrivers2.jpg></div><div><span>_______________________________________________</span><br><span>chirp_users mailing list</span><br><span><a href="mailto:chirp_users@intrepid.danplanet.com">chirp_users@intrepid.danplanet.com</a></span><br><span><a href="http://intrepid.danplanet.com/mailman/listinfo/chirp_users">http://intrepid.danplanet.com/mailman/listinfo/chirp_users</a></span><br><span>This message was sent to Jardy at <a href="mailto:jardy72@yahoo.com">jardy72@yahoo.com</a></span><br><span>To unsubscribe, send an email to <a href="mailto:chirp_users-unsubscribe@intrepid.danplanet.com">chirp_users-unsubscribe@intrepid.danplanet.com</a></span></div></body></html>