MH-871 USB Connection issue ; "cannot open port"

[bigtracy 4]

I have had my US Cutter Refine MH-871 for a little over 2 years now and it has worked great the entire time until yesterday. I have had it set up the same way the entire 2 years ; USB cable from XP desktop using Flexistarter 8.5 and using the Roland PNC-1100 driver in Flexistarter. Never had an issue! Yesterday I went to cut a decal and in the job status screen of the cut/plot window in Flexistarter I get "cannot open port" each time I try to send the job to the cutter. I also went through the hardware manager in my computer and the cutter is not being recognized by my computer when I plug the USB cable into the cutter with the cutter powered on. I even moved the cable to a different USB port on my desktop and get the same error every time. Can anyone tell me what this problem could be or if you have experienced this? Is it the board in the cutter that has the USB port on it? Maybe the USB Cable itself (This is the easiest thing to eliminate and I think I will pick one up today after work & see if it helps). I need this baby back up and running asap as I have a big job to do this weekend so any help is appreciated! Thanks!

[BearlyRich 167]

Sorry I can't really halp with the USB problem as I have no experience with either an MH or using a USB connection. But, if you really need to have it working... Does your MH have a serial port connector? If so, use that. If your computer doesn't have a serial port, buy a USB/Serial converter like the Keyspan. Cheap ones can be bought just about anywhere that sells computer equipment. Good ones like the Keyspan, I don't know. USC carries them. If you have the ports, it should get you running again.

The problems with connecting to the USB is that it could be an XP, driver, cable or MH problem. Takes some diagnosing...