Windows detects USB GPS as Serial Ballpoint - please suggest permanent modification to prevent any serial mouse detection

Anonymous
2010-02-23T15:33:38+00:00

Using Win7 ultimate on a variety of machines, when I plug in a 'USB' GPS the system does two things: it installs the support for the USB-Serial device, and then it (using 'serenum' apparently) begins mistaking the GPS for a serial mouse, and 'detects' and installs the microsoft serial ballpoint.  I have editted /windows/inf/msmouse.inf, adding a line after line 28 (guessing at the syntax, copying from the alpha excludes)

ExcludeFromSelect.NTx86 = *PNP0F0C,*PNP0F08,*PNP0F09*PNP0F01,*PNP0F0A,*PNP0F1E

This does *NOT* do the trick.  The GPS is consistently being enumerated by the system as a "serial ballpoint mouse".

This has been reported by numerous people in numerous forums on numerous configurations over multiple windows versions.

When is Microsoft going to fix this?  This is not a GPS issue.  This is not a serial device issue.  This is not a USB issue.  This is, pure and simple, a Microsoft issue.

Removing the 'upperdrivers' entry for serenum might do the trick, but the registry keys are not writeable now in Win7.  Sweet.  Thanks, Microsoft.

Windows for home | Previous Windows versions | Devices and drivers

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  1. Anonymous
    2011-12-01T20:02:19+00:00

    Windows 7 sixty four bit does similar with the Sony Navu GPS type NV-U93TW.  It thinks that the GPS is a phone!  Presumably the Navu is running Windows CE that most mobile phones use.  Trying to synchronise My Portable Device with the laptop is only partially successful (failure actually).  The laptop can see the Navu and its expansion memory but it cannot read the memory contents or memory size.  Later the message "Synchronisation did not complete" appeared.  The object of the exercise was to try to load marine charts onto the Navu but it looks as if I'm stuffed for the lack of a few lines of code (I'm not a programmer just a dabbler) This is rather annoying especially as my well liked Advent (AKA Gericom Blockbuster)  that ran Xp was stolen by burglars. 

    I've bought a Toughbook which should be here in a day or two and its running ME.  Hopefully this will pair with the Navu.

    If anyone knows how to pair a Navu with Windows 7 I'd be very pleased to know.

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  2. Anonymous
    2011-11-18T18:04:38+00:00

    This does not always work- in fact it frequently does not work in my (extensive) experience with it!

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  3. Anonymous
    2011-10-12T15:03:47+00:00

    Nope.  I tried it on a Win7 laptop and even when I managed to disable the serial ballpoint mouse, it still has the COM port hijacked and other s/w can't access it.  I only seem to have the problem when the GPS is connected via a serial to USB adapter.  Laptops with built in COM ports don't seem to have this problem.

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  4. Anonymous
    2011-08-25T01:50:53+00:00

    That worked for me in Vista, but I have not yet tried in Win7, but I have verified that the "show hidden devices" is there in devmgr.

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  5. Anonymous
    2011-08-25T01:48:33+00:00

    I may have a solution. Like others, I've struggled with this problem for years. I really had a tough time with Vista, but I found a solution. When you disconnect the serial device, Windows appears to uninstall the driver, but it actually just hides it. In Device Manager, you can "view/show hidden devices" and then you will see the previously installed but currently inactive serial ballpoint mouse, then you can right click it and "disable" it like back in XP.

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