Driver install help for LP 24 on Vista

[stuffnthingz 0]

This is my first post. I thought I would contribute my experience with setting up the LP 24" to work on my Dell XPS 1535 Laptop via USB.

First when I plugged in the cutter, Vista went merrily along installing the driver not asking my opinion, I didn't like that very well as I had the CD in my hand and wanted to use the CD I was given. I had the pen tool in and attempted a simple cut from SBE and of course nothing happened.

I should preface this story with the fact that I am highly technical having been an IT professional for, well, forever now it seems. I am new to Vista and so far I don't like how it "does" things on its own. I peeked at the device drivers and saw a Serial connection with a ? on it looking decidedly not right. It was late and I has shirts to finish up for a show I have this weekend so I stopped there.

However, for being a complete cutter n00b, I did get the cutter fired up, the blade in, did a test cut, then put the pen in for further testing. I have never seen a cutter in RL before so all this has been an adventure. I didn't even tackle the stand having already read how bad that experience is, I will deal with that after I get the cutter working.

So, Wednesday, I ran home from my day job and was diligently packing for the show, and I just coud not resist, I fired up the laptop, plugged in the USB and got an immediate blue screen. Darn! Again, I'm sposed to be busy packing and stopped there.

Finally, this morning, I emailed USCutter support asking for a way to undo the drivers since I knew they were installed wrong. Ken emailed back a solution but I wasn't too keen on the "restore" option so he suggested using the "uninstall" on the CD. I got home and did that, then, when I installed the FTDI driver I got from the US Cutter support site, the install didn't behave right (2.02.04). The install window flashed too fast to give me a warm fuzzy feeling about it, so to be sure I had the latest driver, I went to the Website that makes the driver for the USB Serial port these cutters use and I saw a new version available 2.04.06 (http://ftdichip.com/Drivers/VCP.htm). I DLed that driver and the install popped up the very familiar DOS prompt with a message, Installing driver.... It finished up and I then held my breath as I plugged in the USB to the cutter and voila, it assigned it COM5 just as nice as can be. I immediately opened SBE, set it to COM5 (note it calls it : BLAZER:COM5)  I opened my first vectorized bitmap I made and drew it with the pen...WOOHOO! I went back to packing for a bit, and then the moment of truth, I had to do it. I put in the blade, loaded my cheap starter black vinyl, tiled my image and printed it out, it came out AWESOME! I then put in some Siser gold and made a quick press on a sample dark sweatshirt, ooo I got goosebumps:D

I know now the fun begins as I really learn to cut. I also travel with this laptop so it cannot be a dedicated machine for the cutter. I do have an older XP machine that I plan to dedicate to cutting once I have time to get serious about it.

I have been reading about the folks who have troubles with the install and I would say I had some trouble, but I could tell that the install was not as it should be. For a non-technical person this could be frustrating and I hope my experience will help folks, and I think the newest driver should be tested and added to this support site:)

Thank you all for listening, I am going to head out for the weekend a smug new vinyl cutter!

[TLE 0]

Was your vista 64 bit because mine is and it won't work, I am looking for a usb to serial cable for 64 bit.wondering you had to get a cable or just needed a new driver for it

[kenimes 42]