APC UPS not recognized

[No One]

Hi everyone ...

I have an APC Smart UPS 700 that works well and was working on an XP machine
that I replaced with a new Vista Home Premium machine. As with most new
computers, it does not have a serial port, so I added a new serial/parallel
card that DOES include a Vista 32 bit driver, and Device Manager says
everything is fine, no conflicts.

I hooked up the UPS and there are no options to recognize it. The
notification setting has power grayed out and I cannot select it. The power
options offer me nothing about a UPS as XP did. Help simply defines what a
UPS is, (and I might note that to date Help has not helped me, not even
once, nor has the Search.) There is a reference to battery meter, but I
cannot get that to show.

I take the cable and plug it up to the XP machine and it's recognized after
reboot. I plug it into Vista and nothing. Any ideas?

THANKS!

 

[Richard Urban]

APC must supply drivers for the serial port UPS to be recognized by Vista.
They are not going to do so.

I have a Smart UPS and am in the same sinking boat.

 

[No One]

Ah, once again, abandon technology that WOULD work in an attempt to force
you to buy new stuff. APC should know better than to cast adrift their
existing customers and expect us to have any loyalty to them for the
replacement.

But so should Microsoft ... this was built in to XP - and did NOT require
APC's Power Chute or anything else from APC - and should have been carried
into Vista given such a critical part of the failure process, and a huge
installed base.

But thank you for an actual real-world, non-canned answer.

It so happens that I do also have a Smart UPS 750, which does have the USB
port, and I was able to swap it with a Smart UPS 700 which does not, and was
the cause of this missive in the first place. Vista instantly recognized
the USB connection and installed the driver automatically. Now I have to
swap the serial/parallel card I bought and installed to make this work in
the Vista machine to the XP machine. At least I have the technical
wherewithal to know how to do all this AND that I need to ...

But here's a thought ... I had originally removed the factory 56k modem from
the sole PCI slot, put a parallel port in the Vista computer and installed
it's driver to print to a legacy laser printer. I then changed that to the
current serial/parallel card so Vista could sense the power status. Now
I'll be removing the serial/parallel card, and probably sticking the
parallel port back in. What's happening to all these drivers that I'm
abandoning? Does this simply become storage bloat, or is Windows still
looking for the drivers somewhere? And is there any way to get rid of
unused drivers and all their related files?

THANKS!!!

 

[Mike Hall - MVP]

Ah, once again, abandon technology that WOULD work in an attempt to force
you to buy new stuff. APC should know better than to cast adrift their
existing customers and expect us to have any loyalty to them for the
replacement.

But so should Microsoft ... this was built in to XP - and did NOT require
APC's Power Chute or anything else from APC - and should have been carried
into Vista given such a critical part of the failure process, and a huge
installed base.

But thank you for an actual real-world, non-canned answer.

It so happens that I do also have a Smart UPS 750, which does have the USB
port, and I was able to swap it with a Smart UPS 700 which does not, and
was
the cause of this missive in the first place. Vista instantly recognized
the USB connection and installed the driver automatically. Now I have to
swap the serial/parallel card I bought and installed to make this work in
the Vista machine to the XP machine. At least I have the technical
wherewithal to know how to do all this AND that I need to ...

But here's a thought ... I had originally removed the factory 56k modem
from
the sole PCI slot, put a parallel port in the Vista computer and installed
it's driver to print to a legacy laser printer. I then changed that to
the
current serial/parallel card so Vista could sense the power status. Now
I'll be removing the serial/parallel card, and probably sticking the
parallel port back in. What's happening to all these drivers that I'm
abandoning? Does this simply become storage bloat, or is Windows still
looking for the drivers somewhere? And is there any way to get rid of
unused drivers and all their related files?

THANKS!!!

APC UPS products which connect via USB will work for Vista..


--
Mike Hall - MVP
How to construct a good post..
http://dts-l.com/goodpost.htm
How to use the Microsoft Product Support Newsgroups..
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?pr=newswhelp&style=toc
Mike's Window - My Blog..
http://msmvps.com/blogs/mikehall/default.aspx

 

[Timothy Davis [MSFT]]

But here's a thought ... I had originally removed the factory 56k modem

from
the sole PCI slot, put a parallel port in the Vista computer and installed
it's driver to print to a legacy laser printer. I then changed that to
the
current serial/parallel card so Vista could sense the power status. Now
I'll be removing the serial/parallel card, and probably sticking the
parallel port back in. What's happening to all these drivers that I'm
abandoning? Does this simply become storage bloat, or is Windows still
looking for the drivers somewhere? And is there any way to get rid of
unused drivers and all their related files?

You don't need to worry about this. There are registry entries and driver
files left on your computer - but the impact of this is so small that I
would not think twice.

Windows ships with suppport for thousands of devices - so the drivers of
these devices are already sitting on your machine taking up space until you
plug in the applicable device. The modem/serial port driver adds 0.5% (made
up number, of course) more bloat to your driver cache.

 

[John]

APC must supply drivers for the serial port UPS to be recognized by Vista.
They are not going to do so.

I have a Smart UPS and am in the same sinking boat.

--

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP
Windows Desktop Experience

My APC UPS 1400 works just fine on Vista Ultimate 64 bit
connected to a serial port.

The console software complains about Win32 major version 6
when it starts but otherwise works fine. I'm using
APC PowerChute Business Edition Version 7.0.4.

 

[Richard Urban]

What about "Smart UPS" do you not understand?

Yours is a later model! It works! Great!

Mine works also. It just can not be integrated with any APC software and
Vista does not recognize it when it is plugged into the serial port. But
during a brown out or a power failure the onboard electronics keeps my
computer chugging along.

 

[Paul Shapiro]

Did you use the APC-specific cable? I seem to remember a standard serial
cable doesn't work with the Smart-UPS products. You might also check APC's
website for a more recent version of their software. I thought 7.04 was the
one with an expired java certificate that hosed the host machine, although
maybe that was an even earlier version. I know that at least 7.05 is
released.

 

[Richard Urban]

The cable is permanently attached to the UPS.

I am not worried as it protects me. I haven't even had the serial cable
plugged in for the past 2 years.

 

[No One]

Yes, there IS a specific serial cable, and yes I am using it.
APC's site talks about using PowerChute with Vista, points me to the version
I should use, and I downloaded the latest and greatest, but when I tried
PowerChute says it cannot find a USB device. THAT I had the same problem
with on XP, so that's an APC issue.
And yes, regardless of whether or not Vista can detect the UPC, it
nevertheless powers the computer until my whole house generator kicks in.
However, we all know that the batteries in these things fail just when you
need them the most, and a controlled shutdown by Vista is preferable to
shutdown through exhausted batteries.

Thanks everyone. I boil this down to:

Vista does not and will not recognize serial UPS's.
APC gives no help, and PowerChute won't resolve the problem either in spite
of their saying it will.
So basically, legacy support is out.
All that said, the UPS still works. It just doesn't communicate that fact
to Vista.

Hope everyone has a wonderful Holiday Season!
Bill

 

[John]

What about "Smart UPS" do you not understand?

Yours is a later model! It works! Great!

Mine works also. It just can not be integrated with any APC software and
Vista does not recognize it when it is plugged into the serial port. But
during a brown out or a power failure the onboard electronics keeps my
computer chugging along.

--

Richard Urban
Microsoft MVP
Windows Desktop Experience

One more try. I messed up the description of my UPS.

It is an APC Smart-UPS 1400 manufactured May 21, 1997.
It is connected to a real serial port (not a USB to serial convertor)
on my Vista Ultimate 64 bit computer via an APC supplied
serial cable. It works fine using APC PowerChute Business
Edition Version 7.0.4 software.