QUATECH ThinkQ QSE-100D-BA 4 Port RS-232 Serial Server (CHEAP!)
- Thread starter electron
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AceCannon
Active Member
Just got the screw terminal plugs in today. They fit snugly, though I have not connected the PSU's yet to test. Zac, perhaps you had a different size screw terminal connector? These seem fine.
Also, folks should note that there are several "Hong Kong" power supplies being discussed here. The ones I have are not the same as others have mentioned. I hope to have a report later this evening.
"Which ports did you forward? Did you forward UDP/49344 as I mentioned above? "
Why are you using port 49344?
Show me where in any of the technical documents that this specific port is required.?
we use ports in the 20000+ range.
I think its time I call technical support up and speak to the actual people who wrote its configuration software for v4.26 firmeare ONLY. I think my scenario is too complicated a setup.
and I also get that same EXACT error message that GARY MULL first observed is getting when viewing QUATECH remotely:
" "Another network device has been detected, via a simple ping test, at the requested IP Address for the SDS. Check with your network administrator to have a unique IP address assigned for your SDS. Process Aborted!""
Why are you using port 49344?
Show me where in any of the technical documents that this specific port is required.?
we use ports in the 20000+ range.
I think its time I call technical support up and speak to the actual people who wrote its configuration software for v4.26 firmeare ONLY. I think my scenario is too complicated a setup.
and I also get that same EXACT error message that GARY MULL first observed is getting when viewing QUATECH remotely:
" "Another network device has been detected, via a simple ping test, at the requested IP Address for the SDS. Check with your network administrator to have a unique IP address assigned for your SDS. Process Aborted!""
I didn't select port 49344, it's what the application uses, I used a packet sniffer to confirm this, and tech support will confirm this as well. You are more than welcome to question my suggestion, however, I am able to talk to my remote QSE just fine (with firmware 4.26). I'm just sharing what I am seeing, the only difference is that I am using a VPN connection, so no port forwarding or any other kind of funky stuff is involved. Maybe it just won't work with port forwarding.
this is what you first said and that port makes no difference:
" (I assume there is also a port for 'control')"
Gary Mull and I both tried it and it does not help with remote access at all.
I think its the MAC address of the home router versus UNSIGNED drivers being signed simultaneously by WindowsXP that its using such a negotiation for INITIAL remote access.
I think this is the whole point of why it goes out if its way to tell us to install its "UNSIGNED" drivers FIRST at our home networks acting as another layer of intial security to prevent illegal third party hackers from gaining remote acess...IP adderss and port assignments can easily be randonly guessed but not a MAC address...they are all unique. I think its MAC marrying issue and unsigned drivers that must be negotiated and this is really why we can NOT see them remotely and my guess is there is no way around that.
that's just a guess, but when I call technical support I will know for sure,
they even mentioned the DRIVERs are unsigned deliberatly btw in the manual..that was NO accident they want these things married manually at the computer testing them and the setup done simutaneoulsy to marry the two together. Windows wont support unsigned drivers especially for anything that can allow remote access to the homework...thatwould cirumvent their whole operating system. I think the whole thing is some sort of marryting negotiation issue that can only be done BEHIND the router for security purposes.
and yes I'm sure these QUATECH natively support port forwarding (just look at the UDP settings and see it for yourself in the v4.26 firmware that added that feature, so I doubt that is the remote issue here.
" (I assume there is also a port for 'control')"
Gary Mull and I both tried it and it does not help with remote access at all.
I think its the MAC address of the home router versus UNSIGNED drivers being signed simultaneously by WindowsXP that its using such a negotiation for INITIAL remote access.
I think this is the whole point of why it goes out if its way to tell us to install its "UNSIGNED" drivers FIRST at our home networks acting as another layer of intial security to prevent illegal third party hackers from gaining remote acess...IP adderss and port assignments can easily be randonly guessed but not a MAC address...they are all unique. I think its MAC marrying issue and unsigned drivers that must be negotiated and this is really why we can NOT see them remotely and my guess is there is no way around that.
that's just a guess, but when I call technical support I will know for sure,
they even mentioned the DRIVERs are unsigned deliberatly btw in the manual..that was NO accident they want these things married manually at the computer testing them and the setup done simutaneoulsy to marry the two together. Windows wont support unsigned drivers especially for anything that can allow remote access to the homework...thatwould cirumvent their whole operating system. I think the whole thing is some sort of marryting negotiation issue that can only be done BEHIND the router for security purposes.
and yes I'm sure these QUATECH natively support port forwarding (just look at the UDP settings and see it for yourself in the v4.26 firmware that added that feature, so I doubt that is the remote issue here.
My QSE was initially configured at home, 'married' to a local PC. Then the next day, I tried accessing it from a remote location, with a brand new machine, and I was able to access the serial ports without any issues. Let us know what tech supports says. MAC address based security doesn't make much sense since a) it's easy to spoof and B) the MAC address in a packet changes once it hits a router.
MAC adderss can be spoofed but NOT nearly as easy or convenient as an IP address and that's not the issue here. I have done both.
MAC addresses are much safer than IP binding, and many such TCP/IP remote devcies will use MAC for this purposes instead (PCs are all different too)...they are ALL unique addresses, unlike our D-LINK: routers which all use the same IP range: 192.168.0.1---192.168.0.200; thus its harder to guess what the MAC address is.
change to a new different family of router and I bet the signature negotiation will be lost and you will have TO manualy reinstall THE Quatech AND ITS DRIVERS probably at the intial location of the orignal home network...the new PC you tested it in is not the issue, its the router its originally married to (and that means MAC)...and that information I suspect is being stored in non volitle ram inside somewhere on these Quatechs. this also sugegst the PC MAC address is not a factor, since they fully expect people to use multiple PCs with these devices, but ONLY one router at a time.
do a hard 30 second HARD reset using the paperclip-pin in the back of QUATECH at the REMOTE location only and do it twice forgood measure until all LEDs flash rapidly and you may lose that original REMOTE negotiation to it.
thats would be a good test to see if its internally stored in the QUATECH in NVram..
MAC addresses are much safer than IP binding, and many such TCP/IP remote devcies will use MAC for this purposes instead (PCs are all different too)...they are ALL unique addresses, unlike our D-LINK: routers which all use the same IP range: 192.168.0.1---192.168.0.200; thus its harder to guess what the MAC address is.
change to a new different family of router and I bet the signature negotiation will be lost and you will have TO manualy reinstall THE Quatech AND ITS DRIVERS probably at the intial location of the orignal home network...the new PC you tested it in is not the issue, its the router its originally married to (and that means MAC)...and that information I suspect is being stored in non volitle ram inside somewhere on these Quatechs. this also sugegst the PC MAC address is not a factor, since they fully expect people to use multiple PCs with these devices, but ONLY one router at a time.
do a hard 30 second HARD reset using the paperclip-pin in the back of QUATECH at the REMOTE location only and do it twice forgood measure until all LEDs flash rapidly and you may lose that original REMOTE negotiation to it.
thats would be a good test to see if its internally stored in the QUATECH in NVram..
damage
Senior Member
an unsigned driver is "a device driver that has not been tested by the Windows Hardware Quality Lab (WHQL)." xp doesn't do any "signing". the reason they tell you it's unsigned is so you don't freak out when you're installing the driver and get a popup saying it's unsigned. it's very common to have unsigned drivers. my viewsonic lcd driver is unsigned. they tell the user it's unsigned. it has nothing to do with marrying my pc to my lcd.
Well I sent an email tech question to Quatech last week. The respnding email said it would be answered in 24 hours, some 5 business days have passed and no answer. Since I don't have a contract with them I guess they decided not to answer my email. I am glad I am not the lone ranger. I still have my Quatech at the v4 firmware, I did not update it to 4.26.
damage
Senior Member
what exactly are you pinging? if you are pinging the WAN address of the remote router, you are only pinging the router. you can't ping 192.168.1.18 since it's not routable.
AceCannon
Active Member
(Triple quote myself only to provide links to the devices in question.)
Quatech powered up via this PSP power supply and the screw terminal plug for at least 2 hours. I cannot make the connection break at all by wiggling the plug. Seems solid. The PSU is cool to touch, though I have no serial devices connected. Yet.
When trying to search for a QSE-100 on a remote network, it doesn't use the typical ICMP/UDP ping from what I can tell. You specify a remote subnet/gateway, and it tests every IP in that range by sending a UDP packet to port 49344. The QSE-100 will respond with basic info, including the Firmware version etc.
Just for fun, I grabbed one of my configured QSE-100's, and I plugged it in directly to my laptop. I used a brand new virtual machine on my laptop (which was never connected to this QSE-100) to install the drivers, and it found the QSE-100 just fine, so this would blow the MAC address theory out of the water.
AceCannon: Thanks for the update. It's kind of scary how much bigger this power supply is compared with the HK model I ordered.
AceCannon: Thanks for the update. It's kind of scary how much bigger this power supply is compared with the HK model I ordered.
