"Output buffer is full please check com status" message

Your display board port is crashing and then all of the data balls up and buffer overflow is the result. Why your USB to serial adapter is doing this is your problem to solve. There are different adapters out there and also ways to set up your USB ports to never go to sleep or go itno power save mode. I would check these port settings first and look at different adapters second.

Thanks John. The complete picture is this: I have 4 USB ports on my computer, one for my Racetime, one for the scoreboard, one for the SST key and one for the mouse. During a race two weeks ago SST ramdomly stopped receiving the signal from the Racetime. We thought it was because we didn't have enough power on the USB bus, that's why we decided to use an external USB hub with an external power supply.Would we have the same problem with the Racetime plugged on the hub and scoreboard on the computer?

Probably. From what you describe your computer is loosing control of its USB ports, timer and or display. Powered hub or not, you have lost it for both your timer and display board. Look for the USB port settings and try to go for max performance, no sleep, for your USB ports. This is buried somewhere in your windows settings. If this does not do it, you might want to try a different laptop. Of all the hardware you have, it is the least expensive to replace.

You might want to find a Dell 630 that has a native serial port.

The fewer the adapters the better.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/...jX8:20140128231239:s

Hi Fred. I understand that you don't trust a lot USB ports. Which equipment should be n the serial port ? The Racetime ?

The Dell D6xx series laptops that Fred mentions have serial ports, USB ports and a PCMCIA card slot, they were the perfect crossover between old and new I/O formats. You can drive your timer into the serial port COM1 and use a card adapter to provide a second physical port COM3. That can drive the display board. USB for the rest. Those old Dells can be found on ebay for $100-150 depending on condition and model. Get one with 2GB RAM and it will run Win 7, although no problems at present with the XP it will come with.

Our club also uses Dell Latitude D620 and D630 laptops with Windows XP for primary and back-up timing. They've worked great for us.

We had some difficulties using TIMYs with USB and love the robustness of the serial port. It ALWAYS works!

-- Mark

Never had any problem using Timy with USB, but at that time the scoreboard was directly linked with the Timy. I cannot do that with the Racetime and now everything is connected to the laptop with the USBs... Thanks for the advice.

Our order of safety for Timer to PC serial connection:

1) Direct to COM 1 on PC

2) Connected to PCMCIA card such as Socket dual serial card

3) Connected to a docking station ( check how your docking station works when disconnected from the power supply. Some IBM stations lose connectivity when the power goes out because they are not powered by the notebook battery)

4) Serial to USB adapters plugged direct into USB ports on the PC

5) Serial to USB adapters plugged into powered hubs

6) Serial to USB adapters plugged into non powered hubs