HT600 Serial Bus Access Error 011

[Delano1981]

Hello everyone,

I have a Motorola HT600 radio I am trying to program but I keep getting a "SERIAL BUS ACCESS ERROR 011" message. I have read the computer spec section of this web-site and my computer should work without a problem.

Here are the specs of my computer:
Processor: Am486DX4PlusB
Base Memerory Size: 640KB
Extended Memory Size: 23552KB
OS: Dos 6.22, no windows installed at all, just DOS
Both External and Internal Cache disabled
Ribless Cable from Kawa on eBay
HT600 RSS

Why won't this setup work?

Thanks

[Tom in D.C.]

It's got to be that RIB, which has a reputation for being unreliable, besides which there is no such thing as a ribless setup when you're running RSS and DOS. Get a Motorola RIB and your problem will disappear. We have previously beaten this subject to death
on this Board and if you wish to do a Search and have the time please do so to confirm this advice.

The so-called ribless cable has what purports to be a RIB built into the connector. What you actually get is anyone's guess.

[MTS2000des]

herein lies the problem. Many of the Kawa cables don't work properly with OLDER machines with 8250 UARTS. I had the same issue with a Kawa Genesis cable, it would NOT work on an IBM PS/2 model 50 (486) with 8MB of RAM, 20MB HDD, PC DOS 7.0, no drivers.

Made a DOS boot CD, put the RSS on a small FAT-16 partition, and started up my Toshiba Tecra M5 Centrino Duo laptop which has a real 9-pin serial port, 2GB of RAM. It works perfectly.

Go figure, after talking with an old school code cruncher, he explained that many newer serial port UARTS in modern machines don't always supply the correct voltages and current as the older legacy 8250/16550's found in the 486/586's of yesteryear.

[kcbooboo]

While not all serial ports are the same, I've also found that the RIB-less cables get their power from some of the handshaking lines on the serial port. At least one of these has to be high to power the electronics, and not all computers force one of these lines high. Some RSS packages do, some don't. Some RIB-less cables will accept an external power source incase your own computer is one of the lucky ones.

As stated previoiusly, a real stand-alone RIB and the appropriate cables will most certainly work.

Bob M.

[Delano1981]

Thanks for the replies. I will look around for a more reliable cable.

Thanks again

[yagermeister]

I've tried using one of these KAWA RIB(less?) units on an IBM PS/ValuePoint 486 DX2 machine that has the UART16450 or 16550A serial ports and have had no success at all. Depending on which port is used (A or B), how the ports are configured, how many (if any) drivers are in Config.sys and Autoexec.bat (tried not loading either also) I either get no response when RSS checks communication with the radio (GP300), it just seems to keep trying and trying, or I get Error Code #7, Invalid Opcode. I've researched a tried about everything other than a different RIB. Is this PS/ValuePoint (425SX/S Model) likely one that that KAWA won't work with no matter what you do? I bought the computer as I figured it would work great with a 486 CPU as I had an IBM PC Clone with 486 DX2 that worked great until the CMOS battery leaked and it ate up the edge of the MB where the keyboard input is. Any suggestions on something to try would be greatly appreciated.
Thank You,
Gary

[MTS2000des]

get a real RLN4008B RIB and your problems will go away. I use a PS/2 model 58, 486DX-2 50, and had the same problems with those cheap Chinese knock offs. Using a REAL Motorola RIB and cable, works everytime on my HT600, MT1000 and Saber analogs.

[Motouser16]

Hey,

Just looking through the board and came across your post. It is the same as my post from a few days ago. I didn't see it then and I apologize for not looking har enough before posting.

anyway, I wanted to post and let you know I had the same issues with the KAWA ribless from ebay. I got a celeron 333 to work fine with it, but I noticed today as I was reprogramming some freqs that I had to follow the steps below for the cable to work properly, strange but when I don't do these steps I get errors and the cable will not communicate.

P.S. Im using MSDOS 5.0

1: connect cable, battery and turned on radio
2: boot to dos
3: run RSS
4: enter RSS Setup
5: change COM Port selection (from whatever it is to the other coice)
6: press F3 to test the port (should Fail)
7: change the COM port back to the proper setting
8: press F3 to test again (this time it will succeed.

If you dont change the coms back and forth, the test will fail and the radio will not communicate for some reason. I stumbled upon this and thought maybe you could give it a try if you haven't already found a solution.


Good Luck, Love my HT600!!

[kcbooboo]

One big difference between the RIB and the RIB-LESS cable is the method used to power the electronics in the RIB.

A stand-alone RIB will most certainly have an internal battery or an external power pack (usually optional).

A RIB-LESS cable MAY or MAY NOT have provisions for a battery or power pack; I've seen some that have neither. In this case they rely on the state of several handshaking lines on the computer's serial port. If these lines aren't high, the electronics won't get power and the RIB will appear dead. By switching COM ports, you may be forcing these lines to go high and your setup works - this time. Some programming packages set the lines high, others do not, and still others complain if they discover the lines high. Some computers force the lines to be high all the time, or you may be able to set them via the BIOS.

With a real RIB - one you attach your own programming cables to - the battery (or power pack) provides the power and the setup doesn't depend on the computer or software or switching COM ports to get it to work.

Also, some radios provide power to keep the RIB going (Spectras, for example) but it's better if the RIB has its own reliable supply of power.

Bob M.