Drivers for MiniTiouner under Win8.1 - how to install?

[G8PEF]

Hi, all

I'm having a bit of trouble installing drivers for the MiniTiouner onto my Linx 10" tablet running Win8.1.
I've downloaded the file linked by the 'setup executable' link on http://www.ftdichip.com/Drivers/VCP.htm (CDM21228_Setup.zip), extracted CDM21228_Setup.exe, and run it. This itself extracted further files and then starts a Device Driver Installation Wizard.
Clicking the appropriate buttons, results in a window telling me that 'The drivers were successfully installed on this computer' and that both "FTDI CDMA Driver Package - Bus/D2XX Driver (08/16/2017 2.12.28)" and "FTDI CDMA Driver Package - VCP Driver (08/16/2017 2.12.28)" are 'Ready to use'.
Having clicked 'Finish', starting up the CheckMiniTiouneDriverAndFilters_V0_4.exe program, results in an alert box saying "The program can't start because FTD2XX.DLL is missing from your computer. Try reinstalling the program to fix this problem."
Any (constructive) suggestions as to what is going wrong, would be welcome


Footnote: I'm a Mac person, so Windows is foreign soil for me - any explanations/suggestions might have to be step-by-step
John

[g8gtz]

Hi John,

I have had it running on a Win 8.1 machine (my laptop came with 8.1 before I upgraded it to 10). I don't recall any particular issue, although on the other hand I seem to remember having to manually copy FTD2XX.DLL from one PC to another at some point.

It maybe worth searching to see if the file is present and if so where it is - on my Win10 machine it sits in windows\system32 - it won't do any harm to copy it in to there.

Sorry to not be more help.
73 Noel

[g0mjw]

The first thing to check is are those the right drivers for that hardware?

If you download the full pack of Minitioune there is a readme file pointing to http://www.vivadatv.org/viewtopic.php?f=80&t=379 which indicates where the drivers are, and instructs you to install "CDM v2.12.06 WHQL Certified.exe" It seems to me that you have downloaded a more recent version of the driver but not the one called "CDM v2.12.28 WHQL Certified".

Mike

PS Perhaps you used an automatic installer package rather than the drivers? Maybe it worked but put them somewhere that Minitioune can't find them. Once you have downloaded the drivers, you may find this forum section useful http://www.vivadatv.org/viewforum.php?f=80

It won't work without the USB plugged in. Always worth checking the USB cable is a good one.

[G8PEF]

Thanks chaps - I'll follow up your suggestions tomorrow or Tuesday and let you know how I get on.

[G8PEF]

Update:

Well, I connected everything up tonight to have a look at the problem, and it worked
The only difference was a different USB lead, so I think that he other one might be destined for the bin...

I have now run the test routines and the MiniTiouner passes all the tests - however, putting the RPi element of my Portsdown TX into ugly mode transmit, and running the RX software hasn't been entirely successful.
I see about -60 on the RF power meter, but the carrier lock and symbol meters are all over the place... Occasionally, they simultaneously creep high enough to ligh both 'LEDs' green, whereupon the MER meter flicks up, and the vague image of a constellation starts to appear (more if a fuzzy circle than a constellation), before the meters drop back and chaos is restored.

I have a short bit of wire stuck into the F-type as an antenna, and the RPi is sitting close by - moving them closer or further apart doesn't seem to affect anything, so any suggestions on what to try next would be helpful - in particular, I'd like to know what settings need to be clicked on the RX, part from setting the SR to 333, the frequency to 437000, the offset to 0, and the mode to DVB-S - what about all the FEC boxes and all the other settings?

[M0DHP]

Hi John. I found I had to lay the short length of insulated wire across the Pi near the GPIO pins to get a good signal.

73
Ray

[G8PEF]

Hi, Ray

Thanks for that - I'll give it a try later - do you remember what sort of RF power levels you were getting on the meter?

John

Hi John. I found I had to lay the short length of insulated wire across the Pi near the GPIO pins to get a good signal.

73
Ray

[M0DHP]

do you remember what sort of RF power levels you were getting on the meter?

Sorry, I didn't make a note of that.

[g0mjw]

Update:

I have a short bit of wire stuck into the F-type as an antenna, and the RPi is sitting close by - moving them closer or further apart doesn't seem to affect anything, so any suggestions on what to try next would be helpful - in particular, I'd like to know what settings need to be clicked on the RX, part from setting the SR to 333, the frequency to 437000, the offset to 0, and the mode to DVB-S - what about all the FEC boxes and all the other settings?

A good sign. you need to make sure you have the correct settings. The symbol rate and coding rates need to match. Set to DVB-S and ensure you are using the correct input A or B as appropriate. Low symbol rate checked. Then it helps to have the two relatively close to overcome multipath. I would start at a high symbol rate initially and on 23cm. Use the images of a correctly locked setup as a guide.

Mike

[G8PEF]

G0MJW wrote (inter alia):

... I would start at a high symbol rate initially and on 23cm. Use the images of a correctly locked setup as a guide.

I don't have the capability for 23cm (yet) MIke - I've not got as far as assembling the full Portsdown TX chain, so I'm stuck trying to check out the RX with 'Ugly Mode' direct from the RPi at the moment...

Thanks for the pointers, though - which will come in handy later on in the proceedings

John