Hardware & Devices

9-Jul-07 2:10

My idea is that you ask in the appropriate programming forum.

"Why don't you tie a kerosene-soaked rag around your ankles so the ants won't climb up and eat your candy ass..." - Dale Earnhardt, 1997
-----
"...the staggering layers of obscenity in your statement make it a work of art on so many levels." - Jason Jystad, 10/26/2001

PC not working

Hiteshforu20076-Jul-07 23:49

Hiteshforu2007

6-Jul-07 23:49

Recently i switched on my pc and a sound was heard with a small spark.
After that my monitor gets power but the cpu doesn't. And all this happened when i have my mca practical exams. Plz help...

Re: PC not working

Dave Kreskowiak7-Jul-07 7:28

7-Jul-07 7:28

Hiteshforu2007 wrote:
a sound was heard with a small spark.

Then something rather vital has died. Either power supply, CPU, motherboard, RAM, video card, any of the drives, ...

Strip the machine down to nothing but a poser supply, motherboard, CPU, RAM and video card. Try to power it up. If you still get nothing, you've got major problems. You'll be swapping these parts out one-by-one, starting with the power supply, until you find the part(s) that is(are) failing.

A guide to posting questions on CodeProject[^]

Dave Kreskowiak
Microsoft MVP
Visual Developer - Visual Basic
2006, 2007

Re: PC not working

#realJSOP9-Jul-07 2:13

need code to find serial number of hardware

9-Jul-07 2:13

Just buy a new system. The way you're asking the question implies you don't have the knowledge to fix it.

omidreza8126-Jul-07 20:36

omidreza812

6-Jul-07 20:36

hi my friends
my english is weak, so i use simple sentences
I emergency need some code of vb.net
i want to find my harddisk serial number
i want to find my mainboard serial number
i want to find my cpu serial number
if u have
please insert them here
or send to me Golab_omidreza@yahoo.com
thanks

Re: need code to find serial number of hardware

#realJSOP9-Jul-07 2:15

9-Jul-07 2:15

For $10, I'll give you the google URL.

Parallel Port Help

meki_21184-Jul-07 4:18

meki_2118

4-Jul-07 4:18

I would like to use the parallel port of my PC to act like a switch to a electronic lock, but I don't know how... can please help me with my problem...

many thanks...

Re: Parallel Port Help

CPallini4-Jul-07 4:26

CPallini

4-Jul-07 4:26

Try to type parallel port inside the CP article search box, maybe any magical will happen! Big Grin | :-D

If the Lord God Almighty had consulted me before embarking upon the Creation, I would have recommended something simpler.
-- Alfonso the Wise, 13th Century King of Castile.

Pentium 5

Aman.Jen3-Jul-07 23:06

Aman.Jen

3-Jul-07 23:06

Could Any body tell me about Pentium 5. Is it launched in the market. Is it available to purchase

Nitin Jenwal

Re: Pentium 5 [modified]

Jimmanuel5-Jul-07 2:21

Jimmanuel

5-Jul-07 2:21

There is no Pentium 5. After the Pentium 4, Intel did a ~~complete~~ redesign of their microarchitecture and developed the "Core" series which is what the Core Duo and Core 2 Duo processors are based on. The Pentium line is dead.

-- modified at 11:14 Thursday 5th July, 2007

Re: Pentium 5

Dan Neely5-Jul-07 2:25

Dan Neely

5-Jul-07 2:25

It's not a complete redesign. The Core series is derived from the Pentium-M which is an enhanced P3 design.

--
You have to explain to them [VB coders] what you mean by "typed". their first response is likely to be something like, "Of course my code is typed. Do you think i magically project it onto the screen with the power of my mind?" --- John Simmons / outlaw programmer

Generic USB access

legit3-Jul-07 4:32

legit

3-Jul-07 4:32

Hey all,

I have several projects that I want to complete that involve USB devices. I was wondering if there is any generic way to grab the output and input to any USB device.

I'm not looking for anything too clean, just something that works for the moment, as I will spend time adjusting the method to my various projects.

At any rate, is there a generic way to access the output and input of any USB device in windows? (or even just grab the output?)

thanks,
- legit

legit-tech.net

I'm moving this post from the MFC/C++ forum (if an admin wants to remove that other post to prevent duplicate posts that'd be great!)

Dave Kreskowiak3-Jul-07 9:51

3-Jul-07 9:51

legit wrote:
I was wondering if there is any generic way to grab the output and input to any USB device.

No, there isn't. USB is not a port, like serial or parallel. It's a BUS, just like the PCI bus you stuff cards into inside the machine. Communicating with any device on the bus requires you to go through the interface supplied by the drivers for that device.

A guide to posting questions on CodeProject[^]

Dave Kreskowiak
Microsoft MVP
Visual Developer - Visual Basic
2006, 2007

legit3-Jul-07 10:04

legit

3-Jul-07 10:04

Oh, Ok, thanks for explaining that, makes since now. Always wondered why USB was so different.

- thanks

Steve S5-Jul-07 1:46

5-Jul-07 1:46

I have a couple of USB boxes which support performing digital and analogue I/O.

They didn't come with drivers (and as I run FILEMON when I install stuff, I can be reasonably sure of that!). However, there is an API library supplied to communicate with the hardware.
Presumably this uses a standard MS-supplied driver to provide user-mode access to allow tx/rx of requests/replies sent to the devices?

Steve S
Developer for hire

Dave Kreskowiak5-Jul-07 4:47

5-Jul-07 4:47

You need the documentation on that SDK, otherwise, it's useless. That SDK is your only method of communication with the devices.

A guide to posting questions on CodeProject[^]

Dave Kreskowiak
Microsoft MVP
Visual Developer - Visual Basic
2006, 2007

Steve S9-Jul-07 2:51

9-Jul-07 2:51

I appreciate that (and I have, and use, the documentation), but my point is that it must be using some user-level mechanism which does not depend on a manufacturer-specific driver, instead using some generic way of communication. My next obvious step would be to run Depends on the supplied DLL, and see what it loads that I don't recognise.

Steve S
Developer for hire

Dave Kreskowiak9-Jul-07 5:01

9-Jul-07 5:01

Steve S wrote:
but my point is that it must be using some user-level mechanism which does not depend on a manufacturer-specific driver,

That's what the device's SDK is for. There are no "generic" communication methods with any USB devices.

Steve S wrote:
My next obvious step would be to run Depends on the supplied DLL, and see what it loads that I don't recognise.

Depends can tell you what functions a .DLL exports and will give you the function names, but it can NOT give you the number of parameters and the data types of those parameters. The only thing that can give you that is the docs on the SDK.

A guide to posting questions on CodeProject[^]

Dave Kreskowiak
Microsoft MVP
Visual Developer - Visual Basic
2006, 2007

Steve S10-Jul-07 6:42

10-Jul-07 6:42

Dave Kreskowiak wrote:
Depends can tell you what functions a .DLL exports and will give you the function names, but it can NOT give you the number of parameters and the data types of those parameters. The only thing that can give you that is the docs on the SDK.

Very true, and in this case, since it also gives the names of functions that the DLL imports, it can tell you that it's using SETUPAPI functions, and functions from HID. The latter is what the library appears to be using for communication. However, we're now well off the original poster's track, although I may come back at a much later date with an article on how the supplied DLL does it's USB communication without a specific device driver Smile | :)

Steve S
Developer for hire

Dave Kreskowiak10-Jul-07 12:29

10-Jul-07 12:29

Steve S wrote:
although I may come back at a much later date with an article on how the supplied DLL does it's USB communication without a specific device driver

Sure, with the SETUPAPI, a bunch of DeviceIo calls, and the documentation on what the device's commands and responses are. It's generic, but only to a point. Eventually, you have to get into the specifics of the device.

A guide to posting questions on CodeProject[^]

Dave Kreskowiak
Microsoft MVP
Visual Developer - Visual Basic
2006, 2007

legit5-Jul-07 10:18

legit

5-Jul-07 10:18

Is this a windows supplied API? or did it come with the devices?

Also, is there documentation for it?

thanks

Steve S9-Jul-07 2:52

Re: Audio driver for intel 810 chipset

9-Jul-07 2:52

It came with the device, and comes with documentation on it, but not how the underlying DLL itself works.

Steve S
Developer for hire

#realJSOP3-Jul-07 0:35