novice programmer

[williem 0]

gentlemen, is there a driver available to run a 1784 pcmk card series "A" on windows xp. allen bradley says no, need series "B" and i refuse to spend another $2000 to upgrade.

[hakko808 0]

I was not aware that there was an issue with the A version and XP. I do know that the A version will work with XP since one of the laptops at work is still using an A version.

[jstolaruk 9]

Here is a list of drivers and updates from AB. http://www.rockwellautomation.com/support/pccards/ With the series A, you may be restricted to the slower DH+ baud rate. If the XP driver doesn't work, I would try the Win2K driver. List price is $1965 plus you need another $150+ in cables because series A cables are not compatible. The actually price should be closer to $1400 after the discount schedule is applied. Edited 20 Jan 2006 by jstolaruk

[Ken Roach 194]

I can also verify that the 1784-PCMK Series A card works fine with the current plug-and-play drivers under Windows XP. Any A-B specialist or tech support engineer could tell you that. Your PC might not support the older 16-bit PCMCIA cards, but that's not a Windows issue.

[Wordman 0]

I can confirm the above that I have used a series A with XP Compatability issues like this with hardware on their proprietary network is a good reason to for me to use Ethernet whenever possible.

[TimWilborne 108]

I have a series A that works with my old laptop on Windows 2000 but I never could get to work on my new laptop which also has Windows 2000. I don't know the specs of my laptop but I would bet that what Ken said about the 16 bit hardware is probably the problem

[gravitar 3]

I too can vouch for the fact that a series "A" card works in XP, as I just got done using mine 20 minutes ago :) As others have already said, the main differences between the series A and B are: Series A follows a very early PCMCIA standard (Actually I think it has an 8-bit data bus!) and the series B follows the newer "CardBus" standard (which I believe uses a 16 bit bus). Not all PCs work with the older series A cards. Series A only works at 57.6KBaud for DH+, Series B is 57.6/230.4 selectable Of course, the different cable connectors. Series B can be used as a RIO scanner for PC-based control applications. (maybe for those that wanna control their 2000 ton stamping press with a laptop :) And just for the record, I recall the Large OEM price for the 1784-PCMC (PCMK card + PCM5 cable) was $1248.81.. But that was 5 years ago and it surely has gone up a buck or two!

[swimmy67 9]

Hello, Here is a link to ebay. I purchased a PCMK ver B card from ebay and have had no trouble. http://cgi.ebay.com/Allen-Bradley-1784-PCM...1QQcmdZViewItem The drivers for the PCMK card are located on your copy of RSLogix 500. Thanks, swimmy67