Author Topic: FTDI FT231 FT232 drivers  (Read 16083 times)

Felix

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FTDI FT231 FT232 drivers
« on: December 15, 2014, 08:12:14 PM »
FTDI has dropped the ball big time with their ludicrous release of a driver that deletes the VID/PID of supposed fake chips. There is some indication this might happen on genuine chips as well, although I don't have definite proof.

The latest drivers released with the Arduino IDE should work with MoteinoUSBs and FTDIAdapters.
Otherwise please get the latest drivers from the FTDI site directly.
On my Win7x64 box I run FTDI drivers v2.12.0.0 and I've not had any problems with any of the MoteinoUSB or FTDIAdapter boards, nor with those that were returned by some of the LowPowerLab concerned customers.

Again, to all the folks that have gotten MoteinoUSB or FTDIAdapter boards:
The FTDI chips, as well as all other chips are genuine and sourced through Digikey/Mouser. I pledge I have NEVER had and NEVER will source chips from china or from dubious sources. That is why my products cost more than chinese $2 boards on ebay which are a gamble to be fakes or rejects.
« Last Edit: July 16, 2015, 11:26:39 AM by Felix »

HeneryH

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Re: FTDI FT231 FT232 drivers
« Reply #1 on: December 16, 2014, 04:52:15 PM »
I'll try the diagnostic steps sprinkled around the blogs to try to determine if this is the root cause of why my FTDI 231s work fine and 232s don't (or vice versa).

Mean while, here is a statement from FTDI - http://www.ftdichipblog.com/?p=1053

and a thread that started out civil then quickly went south at http://www.eevblog.com/forum/reviews/ftdi-driver-kills-fake-ftdi-ft232/

Felix

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Re: FTDI FT231 FT232 drivers
« Reply #2 on: December 16, 2014, 09:09:28 PM »
Mean while, here is a statement from FTDI - http://www.ftdichipblog.com/?p=1053
Yep, the one and only statement, designed to diffuse the guilt under the rug instead of apologizing. If they recognized they needed to pull the driver, they should have said "sorry we destroyed your property". Instead they lied that they value customers, it's plain obvious they don't and they don't care, and they will do whatever they want. What they did is basically cyber trespassing and vandalism, and they should go to cyber jail for that.
« Last Edit: December 17, 2014, 01:20:35 PM by Felix »

kobuki

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Re: FTDI FT231 FT232 drivers
« Reply #3 on: December 17, 2014, 11:49:32 AM »
I thought I just drop it here, might be a useful read: http://www.eevblog.com/forum/reviews/alternatives-to-ftdi-usb-to-uart-converter/

TomWS

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Re: FTDI FT231 FT232 drivers
« Reply #4 on: December 17, 2014, 12:13:44 PM »
I thought I just drop it here, might be a useful read: http://www.eevblog.com/forum/reviews/alternatives-to-ftdi-usb-to-uart-converter/
Kobuki (or is it Kobuki-san?), thanks for posting this (for two reasons)!

The first reason is that it avoids getting tangled into the WAY over-abused FTDI bashing - ok, they suck, let's move on.  Which brings me to the second reason, it provides a possible path to move on to!

I did a really quick scan of the thread, but didn't see any immediate reference to Arduino loading.  Did you see one or are aware of Arduino loaders that use any of these alternatives?

Tom

kobuki

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Re: FTDI FT231 FT232 drivers
« Reply #5 on: December 17, 2014, 04:05:53 PM »
Well, Arduino support is important for me too. I assume you mean support for auto-reset for programming, and all that is required is the presence of the DTR and/or CTS signal, IIRC. I remember reading that both is pulled for reset by the official IDE for compatibility reasons. I have a CP2102 adapter that works fine, for example. In many online shops the WCH one is recommended as alternative, explicitly advertising this capability, and it's probably the cheapest. Several Cypress parts are supposedly pin-compatible drop-in replacements, with their own driver, of course.

A little offtopic on TomWS' question: I have an interest in Japanese culture, but my nick actually originates from an old Hungarian cartoon, where a character from the future is called Köbüki, but by net customs I just write it as kobuki. It was kinda random to choose this nick, TBH. And it indeed has a little Japanese-sounding tone, so I left it as is :)

BTW, EEVBlog's author, Dave has a few hilarious vlogs of this incident, a recommended watch. He is quite the outspoken person...

TomWS

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Re: FTDI FT231 FT232 drivers
« Reply #6 on: December 17, 2014, 06:18:55 PM »
... but my nick actually originates from an old Hungarian cartoon, ...
Well, Egészségedre!

Again, thanks for the link.
Tom

HeneryH

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Re: FTDI FT231 FT232 drivers
« Reply #7 on: December 19, 2014, 07:23:55 PM »
Some of my recent experience... I've been in a real twilight zone of weirdness with driver situation but in the end I have it all worked out.  I can't explain it but a seemingly random combination of versions, reboots and using external powered usb hub seem to have gotten them all working.

The result of my experience is that I have them all working and using the latest .12 drivers.

Felix

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Re: FTDI FT231 FT232 drivers
« Reply #8 on: December 19, 2014, 07:39:06 PM »
Well glad to hear that sir :)

kobuki

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Re: FTDI FT231 FT232 drivers
« Reply #9 on: December 19, 2014, 08:09:58 PM »
I've also been through my share of the ordeal surrounding fake chips. Thankfully I've been able to debrick both disabled ones, using the open source Linux tool. The only reason I chose FDTI adapter boards instead of cheaper alternatives was their unique serial number exported on the USB bus. I need that to easily tell apart plugged in devices by creating symbolic names using udev rules on Linux, without juggling with USB bus/port numbers... I guess I'll need to find an easy alternative to that.

ggallant

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Re: FTDI FT231 FT232 drivers
« Reply #10 on: December 20, 2014, 11:55:39 PM »
I recently switched a Microchip PIC24 board from FTDI to use a Microchip MCP2221. Designed it prior to the driver flap as the 2221 comes in a easier to solder package. Don't have any idea how to control the GPIO lines that might be used for DTR/Reset. Still havn;t populated the boards.

ColinR

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Re: FTDI FT231 FT232 drivers
« Reply #11 on: December 21, 2014, 02:52:22 AM »
Holy crap. Thanks for the heads up.

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kobuki

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Re: FTDI FT231 FT232 drivers
« Reply #12 on: December 21, 2014, 05:05:34 AM »
I recently switched a Microchip PIC24 board from FTDI to use a Microchip MCP2221. Designed it prior to the driver flap as the 2221 comes in a easier to solder package. Don't have any idea how to control the GPIO lines that might be used for DTR/Reset. Still havn;t populated the boards.
Can its USB driver change the state of the DTR line via the standard serial API? If so then there should be no problem. The DTR line is used to perform the reset of the chip when needed.

EDIT: it seems this chip is not a complete RS232 solution, it only has RX/TX and some GPIO lines. I guess it would be more difficult to use as replacement.
« Last Edit: December 21, 2014, 06:32:51 AM by kobuki »

ggallant

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Re: FTDI FT231 FT232 drivers
« Reply #13 on: December 21, 2014, 07:22:25 PM »
I hand solder the prototypes and the FTDI is a pain. Microchip has a Windows only utility to exercise the extra features. I added a capicatively coupled GPIO to MCLR wire to attempt a remote reset similar to the Arduino.

DD9FL

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Re: FTDI FT231 FT232 drivers
« Reply #14 on: December 25, 2014, 01:01:54 PM »
Last 3 weeks I searched for my problems with Moteino-USB too. I tested a lot of drivers and had to reboot my PC (W7, 64 bit) for 100 times. But I didn't found the bug.
So I tested all my USB cabels I found here. The short cables (max. 1 ft) are working, but the longer cables (2 - 6 ft) didn't work.
So I studied the datasheet of the FT232RL and the FT231X. I found the difference: The FT231X must have 2 resistors (27R) in the USB data lines (to match the USB line impedance of 90 Ohm) and the RESET# have to be connected to 3V3OUT.
I cutted the datalines and soldered the 2 resistors in the lines (I only found some 1206 resitors).
For the RESET# connection I make a small solder bridge between pin 13 - 14 of FT231X.
Now my 2 Moteinos are working fine :-))

Merry Christmas from Germany
Wilfried