Is our system not responding when you are scanning a card into the magnetic strip card reader? This tutorial will explain what you can check in order to solve the issue.
After an upgrade to Windows 10, it is possible that the card reader stops working. This is most likely an issue with the com port driver. Com port drivers with a version from 3.4 or higher have issues with Windows 10. So we will need to install an older driver. We are referring to the Prolific USB to Serial com port. If you have this issue, there will be a warning symbol next to this driver.
What to do:
- Download the old driver from here (Username: Version. You don’t have to enter a password).
- Install this driver.
- Open Device Manager.
- Right-click the USB to Serial device and select Properties.
- Go to the Driver tab and click Update Driver.
- Select “Browse my computer for driver software”.
- Click “Let me pick from a list of device drivers on my computer”.
- Select the 3.3 version and click ‘Next‘. This will install the old driver again.
Warning: Windows might try to update this driver again to the latest (non functioning) version. To prevent this, follow these steps:
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- In the start menu, search for “Change device installation settings”, and select the appropriate entry in the search results. You should see this dialog:
- If you can’t find it, this article might help.
- Click “No” and then “Save changes“.
- In the start menu, search for “Change device installation settings”, and select the appropriate entry in the search results. You should see this dialog: