Smart-UPS 700 + Windows Vista Ultimate SP1 x64

[Anonymous user]

I recently acquired an old Smart-UPS 700, and I swapped the batteries for new ones. The unit powers up fine and keeps the computer running when the power is off, which is great. I'd like to be able to use the "graceful shutdown" feature built into the software. So far, it doesn't work, and it's driving me nuts. Here's the details:

My motherboard is a Foxconn A690GM2MA, which has one COM1 pin header on the board. I emailed Foxconn support for a copy of the pinout, which was standard (I verified the pinout with the standard serial pinout). I used a passthrough (pin 1 on header = pin 1 on DE-9 port) header-to-serial adapter, and continuity tested each one of the pins with a multimeter. I then created a "smart cable" via the instructions here: http://pinouts.ru/DevicesCables/apc_smart_cable_pinout.shtml. Afterwards, every connection was continuity tested with a multimeter.

The OS is Windows Vista Ultimate SP1 64-bit. The COM port is enabled in the BIOS, and it shows up without error in Device Manager. I installed PowerChute Business Edition 8.0.1 and updated my JRE, so the Agent Web Interface loads up fine. Unfortunately, the PC does not recognize the UPS when I plug it in. No "Searching for device drivers" from Windows or anything. When I plug it in, NOTHING happens.

I already attempted the "braindead" procedure found in the forums, and I tried lowering the serial port speed to 2400. I also tried going into Device Manager and manually attempting to detect the device. I absolutely cannot get this thing to work, and it's extremely frustrating. Any advice would be GREATLY appreciated.

[Anonymous user]

Bump for help. Both the cable and the UPS have been tested good. This seems to be a problem with PCBE.

[BillP]

Good work, Voidstar.

[Anonymous user]

I recently acquired an old Smart-UPS 700, and I swapped the batteries for new ones. The unit powers up fine and keeps the computer running when the power is off, which is great. I'd like to be able to use the "graceful shutdown" feature built into the software. So far, it doesn't work, and it's driving me nuts. Here's the details:

My motherboard is a Foxconn A690GM2MA, which has one COM1 pin header on the board. I emailed Foxconn support for a copy of the pinout, which was standard (I verified the pinout with the standard serial pinout). I used a passthrough (pin 1 on header = pin 1 on DE-9 port) header-to-serial adapter, and continuity tested each one of the pins with a multimeter. I then created a "smart cable" via the instructions here: http://pinouts.ru/DevicesCables/apc_smart_cable_pinout.shtml. Afterwards, every connection was continuity tested with a multimeter.

The OS is Windows Vista Ultimate SP1 64-bit. The COM port is enabled in the BIOS, and it shows up without error in Device Manager. I installed PowerChute Business Edition 8.0.1 and updated my JRE, so the Agent Web Interface loads up fine. Unfortunately, the PC does not recognize the UPS when I plug it in. No "Searching for device drivers" from Windows or anything. When I plug it in, NOTHING happens.

I already attempted the "braindead" procedure found in the forums, and I tried lowering the serial port speed to 2400. I also tried going into Device Manager and manually attempting to detect the device. I absolutely cannot get this thing to work, and it's extremely frustrating. Any advice would be GREATLY appreciated.

[Anonymous user]

PCBE didn't detect the UPS. I manually selected COM1, since it's the only COM port on the PC. If Windows didn't detect the UPS, I figured PCBE wouldn't either, but I tried anyway. No dice.

[Techie_apc]

The PCBE software should have been detected the UPS automatically during the installation via the serial cable attached. I suspect that the Serial Cable you made is not communicating well with the UPS. So there is something wrong in the cable pin out configuration. APC does not offer support or provide pin out configuration of the serial cable.

[BillP]

Hi Striker,

Based from you post above I see that you've made a customize smart signalling cable. By any chance, can you try using PCBE with an original APC smart signaling cable? Like the 940-0024 or 940-1524 and we'll see if your UPS would talk with the computer where it is attached to.

[Anonymous user]

Well, I know the cable I have is good (95% certainty). I followed the directions on the website to the letter, which were tested OK for the exact UPS model I have (in the comments). I also continuity checked the cable, to make sure all of the connections are good. If I was able to borrow an original Smart-UPS cable from someone I know, that would be ideal. Unfortunately, I can't, and I'd rather not spend $20-$30 on a cable if I'm not sure it will solve the problem.

I guess another logical choice would be for me to test the serial port on my PC with another serial device, but I don't have any of those. Right now, my plan is to drag the UPS to a buddy's house, because he has an old, obsolete computer with a serial port on it. If it works there, at least I'll know it's my PC. Any other advice is appreciated, though.

[Anonymous user]

I took the UPS over to my friend's house & plugged it into the serial port on his Windows XP computer. The "New Hardware Wizard" did not come up, which was disappointing. When I opened the UPS tab in the Power options Control Panel applet, the UPS was not detected there, either. However, I set the settings manually, and it appeared that everything was connected fine. The UPS options showed that it was plugged in, and it showed the battery life left. When I unplugged the UPS, the computer showed that it was on battery power. So, this tells me that my cable works and that there is nothing wrong with the serial port on the UPS.

So, why won't this work with my computer?

[BillP]

Striker,

On your computer, have you tried configuring it as well using the Native options? Have you tried installing PCBE on your friends computer to see if the UPS will be detected? Normally, if you plug in the UPS into a computer using serial the "New Hardware Wizard" does not comes up this is based from my experience. Also if you are going to use the Native options make sure that the APC service is stopped and the Uninterruptible Power Supply service is running.

I suggest as well that you contact the manufacturer of your motherboard to see if you need to do some BIOS update or extra settings on it.

[Anonymous user]

There are no native options for UPSes in Windows Vista x64. Plus, Serial UPS is not supported by Vista natively (which is why PCBE is necessary). It's just not built into the OS. A USB UPS will work fine, but there is no longer a specific Control Panel configuration page for a UPS. It either shows up in Power options under "battery" or it doesn't. There's really no further configuration. I didn't install PCBE on my friend's computer because XP DOES have serial USB support built in. Since XP detected the UPS, PCBE would have, so no further testing was necessary.

I already contacted my motherboard manufacturer about this. Nothing extra is necessary, because my COM1 (Serial) port shows up in Device Manager with no errors. Theoretically, it should just work. I'm at a loss in figuring out why it isn't.

[Anonymous user]

Bump. Still not fixed.

[voidstar_apc]

Bumping is kind of pointless when your thread is the most recent thread in this forum.

Anyways, an easy way to determine whether your COM port, cable, and UPS set up is okay is to use hyperterminal at 2400 baud, 8 data bits, no parity, no flow control. Typing uppercase Y should cause the UPS to respond. If it doesn't, then either your COM port, your jury-rigged cable, or your UPS is not working.

Supposing that's the case, you can test your computer serial port by jumping pin 2 and 3 and seeing if the characters you type in hyperterminal are echoed back to you. Unfortunately this doesn't test the ground pin.

To test your cable, you could either use a genuine APC cable or you could borrow a UPS that is known to have a working serial port and try that. If the APC cable works, you know your cable is bad. If the APC cable does not work, you know your UPS serial port doesn't work. If your cable works with a known-working UPS, then your UPS serial port doesn't work. If your cable doesn't work with the known-working UPS, then your cable must be faulty.

[Anonymous user]

The last post on this thread was a month ago, pre-bumping. So, the act of bumping it brought it to the top of the forum. Since my problem has not been resolved and this is a support forum, I'd say that's relatively reasonable.

In my post on 8/5/09, I already tested this cable with another computer, and the UPS worked fine. So, the UPS data port and my cable are both working.

I downloaded a version of HyperTerminal (it doesn't come with Vista) and tested it out. When I tried to open the COM port, I get an error message: "Another program is using the selected Telephony device. Try again after the other program completes." There is currently nothing else using the Serial port.

I have a Windows XP 32-bit virtual machine set up through VirtualBox on my PC. I enabled the serial port on my XP VM, and I also get an error: "NamedPipe #0 failed to created named pipe COM1 (VERR_ACCESS_DENIED)." However, I'm not sure if that's related to a setting I missed.

I'm not sure why any of this is happening, since my serial port is showing up fine in Device Manager: http://i35.tinypic.com/x3v8n7.jpg

[voidstar_apc]

It sounds like something has acquired the serial port, so no other program may use it. If you have PCBE installed and configured to use COM1, it may be taking the port. For the purpose of testing with hyperterminal, make sure neither PCBE nor windows native UPS support are configured to use COM1.

If those aren't consuming COM1 yet hyperterminal will not connect...

One possibility I've run into before is Windows XP treating the COM port like a serial attached mouse. Vista may have the same issue. Windows polls the serial ports on startup and may think the UPS is a mouse. The easiest way to determine whether this is happening is to disconnect the UPS, reboot the computer, and then after it finishes starting up, reattach the UPS and see if it works. If this turns out to be the cause, there's an easy solutions on XP and presumably vista.

Another approach to try is [SysInternal's Process Explorer|http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/bb896653.aspx], a free tool from Microsoft. Serial ports are a lot like files so you can use Process Explorer's find->handle feature to search for "COM1", hopefully netting you your culprit.

[Anonymous user]

PBCE was definitely using the serial port (good call). When I tried to "End Task," it just started right up again. It probably ended up installing as a service, so that makes sense. The only way I could get it to stop was to uninstall & reboot.

When I was attempting to jump pin 2 & 3 for the Hyperterminal test, I noticed something that I should've caught earlier.

The motherboard pinout is set up like this:
1 3 5 7 9
2 4 6 8 x

The RS-232 header is:
1 2 3 4 5
6 7 8 9 x

So, although the PINS are the same (i.e. pin 5 = GND on both), the PINOUT is different (i.e. pin 5 on motherboard = pin 3 on serial adapter). I missed this because I initially compared the PINS, not the PINOUT. Which, I'll admit, is a pretty stupid mistake.

I'm going to either look for a serial adapter with the same pinout as the motherboard or cut the APC cable I made and rearrange the wires to where they "should" be. Hopefully, I'll have better luck with that.

[voidstar_apc · Accepted solution]

striker, nice catch with the pinout.

JoeMomma, thanks!