Connecting Reader with USB printer cable

[rprout]

After speaking with Brian today he wanted me to share the USB connection to the Motorola Readers. You use a basic USB Printer cable. I was forced into trying this when I had some problems with the FX7500 ethernet port. This worked as a perfect alternative to the ethernet connection.

 1.    After connecting a USB cable between the PC and reader, the RNDIS driver automatically installs. If it does not, right-click on Computer and select Manage. From System Tools, select Device Manager. Under Other Devices, look for an entry for RNDIS with an exclamation icon indicating that the driver was not installed.

2.       Right-click the icon and select Update Driver Software. Search for the device driver software by clicking  on Browse my computer for driver software.

3.       Select Let me pick from a list of device drivers on my computer.

4.    Select Microsoft Corporation from the manufacturer list.

5.    Under Network Adapter, select Remote NDIS Compatible Device, and click Next.

After installation, the PC recognizes the reader as an RNDIS device. The PC obtains the IP address 169.254.10.102, and the reader is reachable at the IP address 169.254.10.1. In Brians software you can use this or the Reader Name both work.

I have also tested the Bluetooth and Wireless dongle connection. By plugging either device into the rectangular USB port on the back of the reader you will be able to connect to the reader with Bluetooth or wirelessly directly to the reader and not through a wireless router. The difference with these connections is that you will need to go into the Web Interface for the Reader. See Attachment

[Jana Oudova]

I have bought FX9500 RFID reader. During ethernet lan configuration I have made fatal error. I have chosen in IPv6 setting "STATIC" and pressed submit. Now I am unable to get to Web Console. Is there any possibility to get this back or connect reader wia USB A/B (printer cable)?

After step 5 its error message:

Was found device driver, but its installation error occurred

This device can not start (code 10).

Thank you for any help.

[rprout]

Should have attached the USB setup from Motorola as well, Attached here

[Run Roanoke]

Would this work on a FX7400?

[Chris Hubbard]

Yes, we set up our primary reader on with the Ethernet cable and the back-up (Motorola FX7400) with the USB connection; works every time.

[SR Aaron]

FX7500 Reader connected to Win 8.1 Tablet via USB OTG. Had to update USB Ethernet/RNDIS Gadget to use the Remote NDIS Compatible Device driver

NOTE: NOT FULLY TESTED, there is a connection issue, I will explain later. I am also testing a direct OTG to Printer USB (might fix the issue, but coming from china, could be a few days).

[back40timing]

Wondering if you can help, I purchased 2 motorola 7400 but don't know the IP of either. I have tried the 'printer" cable connection you described and still will not connect to Brians software. Any thought would be great. Thanks!

[SR Aaron]

Ethernet Host Name: http://fx7400123456 <- Replace with your host name .. you can enter this into your browser and see the ip, or change it to a static ip.
Ethernet IP: 169.254.1.1 (I use static so this is just a guess, hope its right, if not use the above method to find it)
USB: 169.254.10.1 You need to install the RNDIS Driver described here http://www.ptsmobile.com/FX7400/fx7400_integrator.pdf (page 34)

Finally you can just enter the host name into ART without the need of an IP address and the reader should connect.

Aaron

[jonjkinzer]

I'm having an issue connecting two motorola readers to one computer.  I have hook up thru an ethernet switch. And can connect each reader independently thru the switch. But when I try to hook both up both only one connects.  Any thoughts on how I can get the two connected?

[Brian Agee]

If you entered two readers in the Options screen and you entered only an IP address for both (and used 169.254.1.1 for both) then try entering the readers host name in the system instead of the IP address.

If that doesn't fix it, then you'll want to use a Router instead of a switch. I'm not much of a networking guy, so someone else can explain it better than me, but a switch is a 'dumb terminal' and it'll only work if each reader is given a unique static IP. With a switch I'm assuming each reader has no idea that the other reader is connected, so both are using the default IP address. A router will give each reader a unique IP address, so the computer will be able to connect to both.

[jonjkinzer]

I have used the following:

First P/N: FX9500-8312D41-US (8 port)

Second P/N: FX9500-41324D41-WW (4 port)

I did not input the IP address. I will try a router and see if that works.

[Brian Agee]

The HostName should be FX9500XXXXXX where XXXXXX is the last 6 characters of the Mac address listed on the bottom. There should also be a sticker on the side of it that shows the host name, but it'll have a space between the "FX9500" and last 6 of the MAC address. Do not enter the space into the Setting screen of the software.

[jonjkinzer]

I have changed both readers to the host name. Both connect just fine alone. When I use the switch only the first one connect. So I will go look for a router today. What kind of router is the best or the one I should be looking for?

[blueridgetiming]

Jana,

Were you ever able to resolve your issue with the 9500 being connected through the usb printer cable? I experienced the same error. I was successful with an ethernet connection, but wanted to be able to connect using either option.

Any insight is welcome

[SR Aaron]

TABLET USB-MINI UPDATE

I finally had some luck connecting a reader to my tablet (8" VivoTab) via USB mini > OTG > USB.
This is great news! We could start using tablets for a portable solution, low cost and low power consumption!

Here are the devices I have tested.

FX7400 - YES - Works great in initial test, but further reliability testing needs to be done.
FX7500 - Maybe (works briefly before losing IP, however I just noticed there's a new Firmware update Dec 2015 that has a fix related to dropping IP's)
FX9500 - NO - I cant find any documentation on connecting via USB, when testing nothing works.

Notes: I am using POE to power the FX7400 and FX7500, network connection is being made via USB

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/EGH4v1Zs6Pw" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[Ohio Race Day]

Aaron,

How would the tablet look in bright sun?  Also, can you try to connect via a router?  ie - FX9500 reader plugged into router and tablet connecting wirelessly.

[Ho]

I'd like to share some of my experience(and problems) on connecting my Motorola readers via usb.

I have a fx7500 and fx9500 on hand. I have tried to connect 3 computing devices as well, including HP i5 laptop, ASUS i3 laptop and CHIWU hi10 z8300 windows 10 tablet via USB and Ethernet Lan.

For my i5, the connection to FX7500 or FX9500 is very successful either via usb or via Ethernet lan. It shows RNDIS driver recognized my reader and everything alright.

But for my asus i3, lan connection works fine for 7500 and 9500 but usb only works on connecting the 7500. The 7500 shows RNDIS driver works and have IP.
But while i plug fx9500, my laptop recognized a usb device is plug and can be played, but it shows the device as "ELMO GMAS". I am pretty sure the RNDIS driver is already installed(actually should be pre-installed within windows 7).

And for the win10 tablet, lan connection works very good. But usb connection cannot be done neither for 7500 nor 9500. The same problem is it plugged and recognized the reader but played as "ELMO GMAS" device.

I duno how to solve it. What i think it should be the voltage problem and what my further action is going to:
1. use another printer cable and try again
2. buy a battery supported usb hub and plug  the reader/computer together.

If there's any solution plz tell me or comment, thx.

[mstompro]

Okay, I'm not a network guy so I know very little about IP addresses and all that stuff.  Up until recently I used an FX7500 and a TR2?? with no issues.  My computers have always recognized them without any help from me.  I recently got a new computer and a new FX9500.  What's weird is when I connected my new FX9500 to my new computer (via ethernet cable) for the first time it connected fine to the FX9500, but listed it as an FX7500 under description and also listed the FX7500's host name to my FX7500, which is really weird since I've never connected my FX7500 to that computer.  The FX9500 was the first and only computer that I've connected to that computer.  I did sync my database and maybe that information is stored in there somehow?  

Anyway, my question is, there is a lot of mention of assigning IP's and using USBs vs ethernet, etc.  Is there a definitive set of instructions on exactly what and how you should connect your readers to your computers that a layman would understand?  Not that I'm having issues at this second, but I'd like to know that I'm doing it right.

[Brian Agee]

I believe I was on the road when I responded to this email so it never made it to the users forum for all to see. So I wanted to share my response here too for others benefits, and I'll add a little more info too while I'm at it. I like using the Ethernet port because I never really have trouble connecting to the reader with it and I love the fact that it snaps in place (so it's presumably less likely to get pulled out by accident). 

Here is what I sent Mr. Stompro via email:

1. The "Description" box doesn't mean anything when it comes to connecting to the reader.

 

2. If the HostName and IP are entered, the software will try to connect by IP address first, and if that fails the software will try to connect by HostName. If both of those fail, and theIP address is not the default IP for Motorola readers (169.254.1.1) then the software will finally try 169.254.1.1 before finally giving up. 

 

So if you entered the FX7500 hostname and found that it still connected, then that means that it either connected by whatever IP address you entered, or if you didn't enter an IPaddress then it would have tried to connect by Hostname and failed and finally connected when it tried by the default IP address.

As you can see the software does everything it can to try and find the reader.

[Zoli]

I attached FX7500 to win10 with the printer cable and I can see it only as serial port.
Need to set anything to RNDIS?

[Dioxin]

With Win10 I didn't need to do anything apart from plug in the reader.

Make sure you have an internet connection so the computer can download any updates it might need.

If an update is downloaded you may need to restart the computer.

[Zoli]

Tried:
- laptop + win10 (64bit): COM
- laptop + win8 (64bit): RNDIS
- tablet + win10 (64bit): COM
- tablet + win10 (32bit): COM
- tablet + win8 (32bit): RNDIS

Seems win10 don't want what I need :(

[Zoli]

If anybody else has same problem, I found solution for Win10 64 bit:
source: https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/forum/windows_10-networking/windows-10-vs-remote-ndis-ethernet-usbgadget-not/cb30520a-753c-4219-b908-ad3d45590447

"http://www.mobileread.com/forums/showthread.php?p=3283986

---

1. Download & Unzip attachment kindle_rndis.inf_amd64-v1.0.0.1.zip
2. R-click "5-runasadmin_register-CA-cer.cmd" and "Run as administrator"*
3. In Device Manager, expand "Ports (COM & LPT)", R-click "Serial USB device (COM3)" > Update Driver Software...
4. Browse for my computer for driver software > Select extract folder
   "