FONIX FP35 / 7000
Communications Troubleshooting Guidelines

You should use these guidelines if you are having problems getting your 7000 or FP35 hearing aid analyzer to communicate with your computer.

The most common problems encountered by Frye support personnel are listed below. It is always best to troubleshoot the most common causes first, before moving on to more complicated causes.

Most common RS232 problems encountered:

  • Computer lacks free serial port.
  • USB-to-RS232 adapter driver causing flaky connection
  • Bad RS232 cable
  • FONIX computer software program is misconfigured to point to the wrong COM port.
  • Customer has multiple COM ports in computer, but they were not configured properly on the serial card (e.g. COM ports were not enabled, interrupts conflicted, etc.).

TROUBLESHOOTING PROCEDURE

1. Determine the COM port and configure your FONIX software program

The latest versions of WinCHAP, the FONIX NOAH Real-ear Module, and the FONIX NOAH Audiometer Module have features that should automatically determine the COM port connected to your FONIX hearing aid analyzer or audiometer. However, there may be instances in which this automatic detection feature is not working properly. Use the instructions found on this page to determine the active COM ports used by your computer. The FONIX analyzer/audiometer MUST use COM 1-9.

Check the help files of your FONIX software to determine how to open and configure the FONIX Communications Setup for your program.

2. Check the computer's serial port

FCHECK32 is a diagnostics program used to check the connection between your FONIX hearing aid analyzer/audiometer and your computer. Instructions for how to use the program can be found on the Fcheck32 webpage.

3. Check the RS232 cabling

A bad RS232 cable is often the cause of communication problems between an analyzer and computer, particularly if the problem seems to be intermittent. The quickest way to check for a bad cable is to try a known good cable. If you don't have a cable that you are sure is good, you may want to purchase a new one. The odds of the new cable being bad are slight, so if you still have the problem after trying a new cable, you can assume that the problem is in the computer or application software.

The FONIX RS232 option expects a standard 'straight-thru' RS232 cable. These cables are available from most stores that carry computer supplies. If you want to use a longer cable, the RS232 standard supports cable lengths up to 50 feet at the communication rate used by FONIX instruments, but you can probably go up to 100 feet without having any problems. Do not use RS232 cables which are designated as "Null Modem" cables.

4. Replace USB-to-RS232 Adapter with Serial Port

If you are using a USB-to-RS232 Adapter to connect to a desktop computer, you may consider adding an inexpensive electronics card to your computer to add an actual serial port. Usually the adapters work fine, but sometimes they can cause intermittent problems in which the connection is fine one minute and not the next. Unfortunately, this is not a good solution for laptop computers. If you are using a USB-to-RS232 adapter with a laptop and having intermittent connection issues, you may want to consider getting a different adapter from another manufacturer. We supply a USB Serial cable with a built-in adapter that we have had very few problems with that you may want to try.

5. If you have performed all the checks in steps 1 through 4 and still cannot get the computer to communicate with your analyzer, call Frye for additional help.

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