Re: UPS problem

"VanguardLH" <V@xxxxxxxxx> wrote in message news:goelsi$1lj$1@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Pedro wrote:

VanguardLH wrote ...

Pedro wrote:

Hello all,
My system uses windows vista x64 on an ASUS M2N-VM DVI mobo, 4 GB DDR2
RAM, and an AMD Athlon X2 5400+ processor.
I've got on my system a Riello UPS http://www.riello-ups.co.uk/
The UPS uses a serial port so proprietary software (Riello Powershield)
can
communicate with it. The problem I've found is that this type of devices
doesn't use a software driver, but windows detects it as an UPS device on
serial port. There exists no driver from Microsoft or the manufacturer
for
this device so it appears with an exclamation mark on device manager. The
problem is I want the power icon appear on notification area so I can
change
power plan from time to time, but as the driver problem exists windows
doesn't allow me to activate that icon through Task
bar->properties->notification area, it appears greyed out. Anybody of you
has found the same problem or knows of a solution?

Thanks in advance,
Pedro

Reillo is a brand name. You never mention WHICH model of their product
that you have. From:

http://www.riello-ups.co.uk/riello/htm/pda.htm

it gives a link to another site where you get their Powershield
software.


Some UPS devices do NOT use a serial connection per se. They flip
around some the wires in their specialty cable. You must use their
special cable. The "COM" end plugs into the DB-9 serial port connector
on your computer and the "UPS" end plugs into a DB-9 connector on the
UPS. You need to use this cable and it cannot be reversed.

It seems to be a WinDialog 65 Plus model. At least, manual says on the
cover just windialog. It seems I found some other place "65 Plus" and noted
it down on manual's front cover as it was rather difficult to find the exact
model. Documentation is really poor in contents!

I have installed Powershield long ago, and it seems to communicate
correctly with the UPS and work fine using a "9-pin serial cable" (named so
on the manual) that came with the UPS. Anyways, I must say that original
software that came with the UPS did not work correctly and months passed
before a working powershield was available on Riello's website.Besides this,
the software has some locked function and asks you for 2 codes that comes in
the original CD envelope to unlock them. Original CD software and later
versions of powershield ALWAYS say that codes do not correspond to each
other, and I use the ones that the original CD provides on its cover. In
fact the software shows you a photograph of a real label to help you locate
where the codes are written in the CD envelope, so there is no possibility
of being wrong.

As Windows Vista detects it as a hardware device, there should exist a
.INF file to provide information about the UPS to windows. But I haven't
found it yet on the website nor the original software that came with it.

You're assuming there is a standard specification in how a UPS device
communicates to a host. Not true. While there is a specification that
Microsoft supports (I think it's equivalent to APC's specs), that
doesn't mean your Reillo model follows that spec.

I have a Best Power (forgot who bought them out) that did NOT follow
what UPS spec that Windows supports. If I didn't use their
software/driver then I couldn't communicate with their device. A
Fortress unit required that I use both their software and their
specialty cable (because their driver used certain pins for command
control of the UPS and it wasn't a straight serial connection so I had
to use their converter cable). The UPS that I have now (forget the
brand) is supported by included device support in Windows XP so I can
use it or install their software (which does have a couple extra
functions, like keeping a log which is handy to guage brownouts,
outages, etc.).

Sounds like their software isn't Vista compatible (or you need to run it
under a compatibility mode under Vista). If Windows doesn't recognize
the device with its included drivers or device definitions and if the
software won't work then you don't get to monitor the device or use
software to control alerts and shutdown.


latest version of powershield seems to work correctly as I said in my previous post.

Never heard of Reillo so I'm not surprised they go their own way
regarding licensing and software/driver support. Perhaps they're better
known in the UK than in my area. When you tried using their software,
was it the latest Powershield3 v5.0 available from them?

http://www.riello-ups.com/?en/downloads/1

It lists "Vista i386" but that doesn't really say 32- or 64-bit support.
I suspect for what they use i386 is what the rest of us use x86 to
denote 32-bit support. Since this is a free download for "free
software" then I don't see why they would be asking for a product key.

I think Riello's software developers have no real organization or do not make use of software engineering when developing software. Most probably they used serial number and product code checking in order to ensure nobody is using a copy of their software that didn't came with an original UPS they bought from them, and when putting on the internet their free version forgot about removing that part of the software, simply reconverted it so it could work in newer versions of windows.
Software CD that came with the UPS didn't have something like a driver only the powershield application. My real problem is, as I said in my first post, that I am not able to enable power icon in the notification area under windows Vista x64 so I can easily change power plans. I have suspected that it is due to the driver problem with the UPS, as I have thoroughly serached the internet lookin for a solution for the problem, but none of them seem to work. Most of them just advise you to modify system registry, but my icon power option in task bar properties remains greyed out, and I think it could be due to tha the UPS has an exclamation sign in the device manager as not recognized by windows.

Pedro

.

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