usb serial driver updates automatically to faulty version

Hi people of windows 8,
I am experiencing an issue with a prolific USB serial adapter on win8.1.
Google taught me the adapter works with an older driver but not with the latest one.
I can get it to work with driver version 3.2, but when I reboot, the driver is automatically reset to 3.4 and the adapter stops working. I have to manually modify this every time which obviously is a hassle.
Things I tried: in device manager, right click the device, delete the driver. This only works until the next reboot.
Manually setting the driver to v3.2-> same result.
control panel>software: there is no option to delete version 3.4, only to delete version 3.2

Could anyone tell me how to delete v3.4 definitively and to stop windows from updating to the faulty driver?

You can try to rollback that driver in device manager (from 3.4 to 3.2). That should work for you and it should be permanent:




Good luck,

my2cents

Thank you for your answer.
Unfortunately that doesn't work.
The 3.4 was installed before I downgraded. Maybe that is the reason why?

The 3.4 was installed before I downgraded. Maybe that is the reason why?

Click to expand...

Yes. Now could you please provide the specific make/model number of that device and show me how/where it appears in device manager and maybe provide a link to the downloaded driver site as well. I really need to see the big picture on this one because I am not familiar with that specific device. However, if someone else is familiar with it, please join in and continue the support effort from here. Otherwise, if you give me that specific information, I think I can help you. Your choice from here.

my2cents

Hello,

The device is a logilink usb to serial adapter which uses the prolific chipset.
Searching the webz I found similar problems with the prolific device on several websites, like this one and a few others I can't seem to find anymore.
In any case, the problem is that windows always updates to the latest driver even when I specifically told it to use the older one.

and show me how/where it appears in device manager

Click to expand...

Thanks for that information. I still would like to see a screenshot of where it appears in device manager. It will help me immensly if I can see how it is identified. Please understand there may be others here that are better equipped to help you in this area but I feel confident I can get you through this if we work together. Right now, I'm going to download that driver and have a peek at it.

Update: Forget the device manager view. One of your links provides all that information. I'll be back shortly.

Ok, let's try this method:

Unplug the adapter
Right click and uninstall the driver in device manager
Remove any appearances in add/remove programs
Reboot
Verify all appearances/references (add/remove software, device manager) are now clean of related entries

Now we look for the driver that is causing your grief:
Go to start> run> %windir%\system32\DriverStore\FileRepository (cr)
This should open the driver file repository
Sort by date modified and look for a folder that is close to matching your first installation date of version 3.4
Open that folder and examine the .inf file. See if the contents match your device.

Here is an example of how I found my hp S2031 monitor driver:







Replicate my above steps to try and locate the folder containing your specific driver version 3.4. Once found, STOP and report your findings because we need to make very sure you have found the right folder/driver. We'll see how to proceed based on your findings.

my2cents