Be sure to read the comments at USB serial converters from FTDI are quite popular – Thomas Mueller (dummzeuch) – Google+ [WayBack] as it tells more about how to set genuine and fake FTDI chips apart (often before buying them, you cannot tell) and how to replace fake ones buy genuine ones.
Getting back to original means de-soldering fake chips, and soldering new genuine chips on the boards.
Fake chips:
- have limited batches of the same serial (although there are ways to reprogram the serial, see links below)
- connecting multiple adapters with the same serial causes trouble
- are mangled by various FTDI drivers (either their PID is reset, or fake-data is inserted in the serial stream)
- have problems operating at higher data rates
Note that the workarounds for these fake chips mean you cannot use more recent chips.
Links from Thomas’s post and other relevant links on the various kinds of genuine/fake and getting fake ones work again
Fake chips can cause you a lot of headaches – and time – sorting out communication problems: [WayBack] esptool-ck, esp8266, and FTDI Bug Hunting – vilimblog
Two years ago, this shoot-out (with results on github) had a great conclusion:
Buy either an adapter with a genuine FTDI chip, or one of the Silicon Labs CP2102 chips.
The FTDI chip is the only one attaining 3M baud rates.
Overview articles:
- [WayBack] USB to RS232 Serial Port adapters, clones, & counterfeits | Portlandia Cloud Services
- [WayBack] USB to serial (TTL/RS232) converter comparison – ReiLabs
- [WayBack] USB to serial (TTL/RS232) converter comparison – Page 2 – ReiLabs
- [WayBack] USB to serial (TTL/RS232) converter comparison – Page 3 – ReiLabs
SiLabs chips seem to be the only without much trouble:
- [WayBack] SiLabs CP210x USB Adapters For The Win – vilimblog
- The “Legacy Utilities” allow you to re-program the serial on any
cp210xdevice, no matter the chip source:
- The “Legacy Utilities” allow you to re-program the serial on any
- Review of a Generic USB RS 232/485/TTL Adapter (“Winners” branded) – YouTube:
- Almost anything with FTDI/Prolific chips that comes from ebay/aliexpress should be assumed to be counterfeit – easy way to test this is to buy 2 and see if their serial numbers match. You don’t really want to waste your time with fake ones, you’ll end up spending more on those if you try to get them for as cheap as possible. Itead sells an adapter for 6.8 USD with genuine FT232RL chips, but they aren’t in as convenient dongle form factor, but might be worth more than your own time replacing fake chips with genuine ones.Although not mentioned here, CH340/1 should generally be avoided, while they work fine for short periods of time, for longer use they seem to be as unreliable as the counterfeit FTDI/Prolific chips on Linux.
I haven’t seen or recognized a fake CP210x chip yet, so my guess would be that these are generally fine no matter where you get them. One big advantage of those is the integrated voltage 3.3V regulator, which can save some space when rolling your own boards.
- Almost anything with FTDI/Prolific chips that comes from ebay/aliexpress should be assumed to be counterfeit – easy way to test this is to buy 2 and see if their serial numbers match. You don’t really want to waste your time with fake ones, you’ll end up spending more on those if you try to get them for as cheap as possible. Itead sells an adapter for 6.8 USD with genuine FT232RL chips, but they aren’t in as convenient dongle form factor, but might be worth more than your own time replacing fake chips with genuine ones.Although not mentioned here, CH340/1 should generally be avoided, while they work fine for short periods of time, for longer use they seem to be as unreliable as the counterfeit FTDI/Prolific chips on Linux.
FTDI related:
- Re-programming the serial does not work on all fake chips.
- [WayBack] Casualties of Chinese semiconductor counterfeits and an uneven pricing landscape – vilimblog
- [WayBack] Watch That Windows Update: FTDI Drivers Are Killing Fake Chips | Hackaday
- [WayBack] Fixing Fake FTDIs | Hackaday
- [WayBack] zeroflow comments on Watch That Windows Update: FTDI Drivers Are Killing Fake Chips
- [WayBack] Fixing the FTDI drivers – prevent auto updates – ReiLabs
- Programming on Windows (requires .NET 4.0 or higher):
- The old unarchived https://code.google.com/p/libcomm14cux/wiki/ModifyFTDIFirmwareWithLinux moved to [Archive.is] libcomm14cux/ModifyFTDIFirmwareWithLinux.md at wiki · colinbourassa/libcomm14cux · GitHub
- Build
ft232r_prog, then re-program usingsudo ./ft232r_prog --new-pid 0x6001as per (already archived original is gone) Unbrick FT232 counterfeit chip | Weird-Lab:
$ sudo apt-get install make gcc libftdi-dev
$ wget http://rtr.ca/ft232r/ft232r_prog-1.24.tar.gz
$ tar -zxvf ft232r_prog-1.24.tar.gz
$ cd ft232r_prog-1.24
$ make
$ sudo ./ft232r_prog —old-pid 0x000 —new-pid 0x6001 - That site can be really slow, but there are the archive
- Page [WayBack] Linux FT232R Projects and Stuff
- Download [WayBack] rtr.ca/ft232r/ft232r_prog-1.25.tar.gz
- Build
Genuine FTDI seems to be the easiest to find:
- The cheapest solution is re-soldering chips:
- DigiKey sells genuine chips all over the world; they even have a Dutch web-site: [WayBack] DigiKey Electronics – Free Delivery On Orders Over € 50,00
- The USA page for the genuine FTDI chip is at [WayBack] FT232RL-REEL FTDI, Future Technology Devices International Ltd | Integrated Circuits (ICs) | DigiKey
- DigiKey sells genuine chips all over the world; they even have a Dutch web-site: [WayBack] DigiKey Electronics – Free Delivery On Orders Over € 50,00
- Way more expensive, but saves a lot of time are complete adapters
- Mouser also has a Dutch web site: [WayBack] Mouser Electronics Nederland – Distributeur van elektronische componenten
- And they sell multiple types of cable supporting 3.3V and 5V: [WayBack] FTDI C232HD USB 2.0 Hi-Speed to UART Cables | Mouser
- RS-Eletronics too: [WayBack] RS Components | elektrische en elektronische componenten
- Mouser also has a Dutch web site: [WayBack] Mouser Electronics Nederland – Distributeur van elektronische componenten
Prolific has similar issues, driver v3.4.25.218 still works with fake chips:
- Get that driver from [WayBack] Downloads: Part Number JJ-EC1012-S3; the download itself is archived.
- [WayBack] Installing PL2303 HXA driver on Windows 8 – ReiLabs
–jeroen
Related posts where I mentioned some of the trouble with FTDI chips:
- Jark/FTDISample: Note: As of version 10556.0 the ftdi driver does no longer seem to work. A sample application showcasing the FTDI D2XX driver use in Windows Universal projects (UWP). This sample is tested on the Raspberry PI 2 with Windows IOT installed and a FTDI FT232R usb-to-serial adapter.
- Some links on getting a Remeha Avanta 35c connected to LoT
- Mac OS X – serial communication programs
- Some notes on apcupsd, a SUA3000XLI and a SUA48XLBP battery pack
- The woods and trees of OpenSuSE on single-board computers – image abbreviations – and getting it installed using OS X
