My Win7 x64 installation was working fine with a Windows Update provided Polar Irda usb 2.0 adaptor driver, but is now not working and System Restore won’t bring it back. I’ve been looking for a fix for this problem and discovered that Polar is no longer supporting Win 7 for the irda adaptor. They were slow to make drivers and fast to stop making them. I have the RS800cx.
What is the best solution here? Dump my Polar products and move to Garmin? I don’t want to spend all my time at the computer doing the work Polar’s software engineers should have done 6 years ago.
Or, has someone else solved this problem? I’ve tried re-installing several flavors of drivers and Polar’s web site is about as much help as a bullet to the head.
Also, how does one know it’s not the irda usb adaptor itself that has failed? Do I have to buy another one to test it?
I’ve been using Polar products for 12 years or so, but I’m finally fed up. A 310xt may be in my future, but, alas my copy of First Beat then becomes worthless.
Why do you say that Polar is no longer supporting Win 7 for the IRDA adapter? Where did you get that information? They still have the driver on their website. I run Win 7 64 bit with the RS800CX and the IRDA and it works. I was told you have to have the black (not silver) IRDA device but some people on this forum say either will work with Win 7.
I’d have to dig it out of their web site. Hold on til tomorrow. Going to dinner and an anniversary celebration now. They never really supported native Win7 x64. The Mosch driver above is supposed to work, but I couldn’t get it to work. I have no clue why it is suddenly not working.
I have the silver dongle/usb adaptor, btw, and it DID work. But, I’m just so tired of having to solve computer problems when all I want to do is put my bloody data into the goddamn thing! We shouldn’t have to spend a hundred hours a year sorting out the problems of software/hardware manufacturers. Polar gets good money for its products, so I EXPECT top notch support. I expect FULL Windows 7 driver support. Is that too much to ask?
I’m not a fan of the IRDA device. I’ve written about that in a few threads. But, I’m wondering if this is a Win 7 issue or a Polar driver issue. Why would Windows Update install a new IRDA driver?
I ran Win 7 x64 for about six months before it started crapping out on me. I think the problem is that I ran too many registry cleanup utilities and I made Windows very unhappy. I backed up just my data, wiped my drive, reloaded Win 7 x64 from scratch, reloaded my apps and reloaded my data. Win 7 worked much better. Maybe, unfortunately, that is what you have to do.
On Vista and Win7, the drivers are actually standard Windows IRDA drivers. They have built in support for the protocol. At the moment I can’t imagine what happened, but DM me your email and phone number and I will make sure we figure this thing out immediately. You should be training, not fumbling around trying to figure out computer issues:)
I have a laptap that is two weeks old. I don’t think I have OS rot yet.
The problem with many of the hardware manufacturers and drivers is the manufacturers are very slow to develop working drivers. HP is the worst. Polar is simply very slow and never really developed their own native Win7 drivers to my knowledge. They certainly have failed to provide a Win7 x64 driver for the silver USB 2.0 adaptor, which is ubiquitous among users of Polar products.
Meanwhile, this a.m. I re-booted for the eleventy seventh time and then fiddled with the dongle and voila’ it decided to work. It appears the dongle was not connecting with the usb port unless you hold it at just the right angle. I used a small piece of cardboard to hold the dongle while I uploaded the data. Meanwhile I double checked the USB ports in my new Asus laptop and all the other devices work fine, including my camera and my CycleOps trainer.
If you do a web search on problems with this irda device you will see numerous complaints of the BSOD, non-starts, lost drivers, ad nauseam. I don’t feel Polar gave this issue the attention they should have. If they want me to spend $500 on one of their high end products I expect the drivers to be mature QUICKLY and to work with the dominant operating systems. I also don’t like cloud based approaches. I prefer having my data on my own computer. The movement to the cloud is not good for consumers, IMHO.
See my post above. I appreciate your help, but I have it working at the moment. Apparently, it is the USB IRDA adaptor. But, I have had more trouble with the driver for this device than any device since I was trying to get imaging software to work in WinMe in 1997!
My advice to Polar would be to get some decent software people working for them. (spend the money!) They obviously have great engineers because the products are wonderful.
I have a laptap that is two weeks old. I don’t think I have OS rot yet.
The problem with many of the hardware manufacturers and drivers is the manufacturers are very slow to develop working drivers. HP is the worst. Polar is simply very slow and never really developed their own native Win7 drivers to my knowledge. They certainly have failed to provide a Win7 x64 driver for the silver USB 2.0 adaptor, which is ubiquitous among users of Polar products.
Meanwhile, this a.m. I re-booted for the eleventy seventh time and then fiddled with the dongle and voila’ it decided to work. It appears the dongle was not connecting with the usb port unless you hold it at just the right angle. I used a small piece of cardboard to hold the dongle while I uploaded the data. Meanwhile I double checked the USB ports in my new Asus laptop and all the other devices work fine, including my camera and my CycleOps trainer.
If you do a web search on problems with this irda device you will see numerous complaints of the BSOD, non-starts, lost drivers, ad nauseam. I don’t feel Polar gave this issue the attention they should have. If they want me to spend $500 on one of their high end products I expect the drivers to be mature QUICKLY and to work with the dominant operating systems. I also don’t like cloud based approaches. I prefer having my data on my own computer. The movement to the cloud is not good for consumers, IMHO.
-Robert
Like I’ve said, I’m not a fan on the IRDA device and I’ve written quite a bit about it. I had quite a few driver problems with the silver device and Win XP Pro. But, I must admit I’ve had more problems with the device itself and getting it to communicate with my Polar devices than the drivers itself.
And there is something else I’ve written quite a bit about: I can’t wait until Polar comes out with a new, top-of-the-line HRM GPS. I’m willing to bet they will not use IRDA and I’m willing to bet they will integrate GPS into the watch.
That’s a problem with the drivers! Xp pro was an orphan OS for the most part. You are talking 64 bit, right? This is exactly what I mean. Notice that when you buy a Polar product the box doesn’t say anything about computer compatibility of their software? I don’t think they write drivers for their products, but rely on Microsoft and the chip makers to bring them code they can live with. But, testing? Hmm…
Let’s hope their new products don’t use the cloud or irda. I need to be able to seemlessly load my data into WKO+ and First Beat without having to “massage” web based html.
That’s a problem with the drivers! Xp pro was an orphan OS for the most part. You are talking 64 bit, right? This is exactly what I mean. Notice that when you buy a Polar product the box doesn’t say anything about computer compatibility of their software? I don’t think they write drivers for their products, but rely on Microsoft and the chip makers to bring them code they can live with. But, testing? Hmm…
Let’s hope their new products don’t use the cloud or irda. I need to be able to seemlessly load my data into WKO+ and First Beat without having to “massage” web based html.
-Robert
There are two separate issues:
Driver issues. This is when the driver won’t install or the driver crashes your system.
Communication issues. This is when it is difficult for the watch and the PC to communicate. For example, you have to keep changing the angle of the watch (how it faces the red part of the IRDA device) to get it to work. I do not believe this is driver issues. I believe this is an issue with the IRDA communication protocol.
What do you mean that XP Pro was an orphan OS? I’m talking about 32 bit XP, by the way.
I don’t think any manufacturer of a device like this will offer only cloud based software for a while. It would be nice if WKO+ and FBA are offered in a cloud version.
Xp Pro 64 bit was given very little driver support. X32 got more support but was quickly supplanted by the dreaded Vista. Were the Polar Xp drivers ever mature for irda? Doubtful.
The problem with downloads is they are so bloody slow with Polar’s irda, and, yes, finicky. This suggests a lack of commitment to seamless irda integration into WIndows by Polar. Downloads are so slow in Win 7 x64 from my irda that I get two pay checks in the mail waiting for my data to download. And their software is only marginally better. You must log on twice to upload then delete data from your watch, so I delete manually because it’s faster. Sheezh…
Meanwhile, the irda device stopped working again yesterday. I’ll have to troubleshoot it again today…alas.
Hey I have the same setup, 64 bit Win 7 (Home Ultimate) but mine works fine. However for some reason i had a problem installing Pro trainer 5 on Win 7. I had to do it over and over again until it installed correctly.
Just switched to windows 7. I’m using the white IR interface and only get “comm port couldn’t be opened” msg in Polar Precision Performance sw. Any fix here?
I have used the S720i for many many years and love the simplicity of it and would like to keep using it w/ the PPP sw.
thanks.
