How to troubleshoot EL70Y serial communication

NOTE:-

Since Aug 2019, software license is no longer integrated into communicator. Instead they are provided by a separate USB dongle called EL70P, similar in size as a thumb drive. You just plug EL70P license dongle into any USB port and it will authenticate the software.
Therefore, under the new arrangement, the communicators are purely for converting USB to multi-drop or RS485.
EL70Q = USB to Mulitdrop or RS485 converter
EL70S = USB to RS485 converter
EL70P = USB license dongle

Therefore functionally,
EL70Y = EL70Q + EL70P
EL70W = EL70S + EL70P

(1) E.Win with EL70Y and E.Key (License) – (or EL70Q + EL70P)

  1. Double click E.Win Icon on the PC desktop to run.
  2. If the screen display ‘No Softkey detected’, click [Cancel] to exit.
  3. Check if the EL70Y USB connector is properly inserted, and E.Key is mounted firmly to the socket on EL70Y.
  4. Check if EL70Y driver or EL70Q driver is working by:

(A) Click [START] button, then select Control Panel.
(B) Double click [System] icon.
(C) Select [Hardware], then [Device Manager] (D) Check under Ports (COM & LPT)
(E) If the driver is installed properly, you should see:

USB Serial Port (COMx)

where,
COMx can be COM3,COM9,…

  1. If driver is OK, then you may reset EL70Y by reinsert the USB connector to the PC.
  2. If (c),(d) and (e) is OK, yet you still got ‘No Softkey Detected’, then you may have a very old version of E.Win or the EL70Y or E.Key may be faulty.

(2) E.Win with EL70Y, but without E.Key (or EL70Q)

(With total controllers up to 4 units)

  1. First of all, check what comm port EL70Y is linked to:

(A) Click [START] button, then select Control Panel.
(B) Double click [System] icon.
(C) Select [Hardware], then [Device Manager] (D) Check under Ports (COM & LPT)
(E) If the driver is installed properly, you should see:

USB Serial Port (COMx)

where,
COMx can be COM3,COM9,…

  1. Double click E.Win Icon on the PC desktop to run.
  2. The screen will display ‘No Softkey Detected’.
  3. Click [Continue] to proceed to main screen.
  4. Click [Setup] on the menu bar, then select [Communication Setup]
  5. Drop down the Comm Port list, then select the one you saw in (a).
  6. Click [Update] button.
  7. Click [Setup] on the menu bar, then select [Preferences] j. Click [Options], then tick [Limited Mode]. This mode allows E.Win to have a quick start without detecting key, with the limits of up to 4 controllers only. k. Exit E.Win, run again. l. You will be prompted to enter ID/password, without waiting for key detection.