Pharos GPS-500 with Vista 64bit Streets & Trips 2009

Downloaded Streets & Trips 2009 to my HP laptop running 64bit Vista.
Can not get driver to load properly, first downloaded driver for Vista from Pharos website, called Pharos support, they e-mailed me the driver for the 64bit. Followed provided install instructions. Still no luck. Have unistalled,
reinstalled and updated driver with no luck. Pharos has been very good about trying to fix. They have called me several times with possible fixes.
Last call they have turned it over to engineering. I'm open for any other suggestions.

Hi Stevet5808!

Welcome to the forum!

There are many of us using the Pharos GPS on Vista 64bit on the forum. Hopefully, you will soon have success.

The Vista 64bit drivers are also available on WindowsUpdate. Have you tried plugging in the GPS and checking for updates? If no driver is offered then try to unplug the GPS then plug it back in and Search Windows Update again.

Yes, I tried that something is not letting the drivers load right.

I get an error message like an error was encountered while loading driver

name already used as a service name.

I'm looking at upgrading my laptop very soon. I'm wanting to get Vista Ultimate, but for some reason HP seems to only offer Ultimate in the 64bit version. Some of the software I run flat out won't run on 64bit.

Could you give an example of something you use that doesn't work?

1/4 of new consumer computers ship with 64-bit Windows. This means that the big software publishers have generally tested for compatibility already. There's very little that doesn't work on 64-bit Windows now (mostly shell integration).

Is your Vista 64 bits in french?
I had similar problem with Streets and trips 2008...

Thanks

ALK's CoPilot v9 and v11 definitely won't run on a 64bit system. They don't even recommend it on a 64bit machine running a 32bit operating system (XP or Vista).
Not 100% on Drivers Daily Log or iGuidance.

Then I guess there's no choice. What Ultimate features do you need? HP offers Business in 32-bit.

Alternatively, if you feel comfortable installing an OS and drivers from scratch, you can install 32-bit Ultimate yourself after you get the machine. This way, you can still get the OEM pricing for Windows, but you solve the 64-bit problem. Warning: you may lose software support from HP if you do this.

The bit about not recommending a 64-bit machine (even with a 32-bit OS) is simply doubletalk. Sounds like ALK is a pretty clueless company.

I spent 2 and half hours chatting with microsoft support last night trying to get the driver for my Pharos gps receiver to load. He finally said it is a driver issue and to contact Pharos, which I already have. Pharos forwarded my problem to their engineering dept last week and have not heard from them yet.

GPS receivers are so cheap these days that you may be better off buying a new one. Device drivers can be really temperamental -- might as well save yourself the aggravation of trying to make it work.

It's good to have a backup receiver in any case.

I use a Prolific BU-353 USB receiver. It came with drivers for everything (XP & Vista, 32 & 64bit). It was something like $39.95.

Talked to Brian at Pharos on Friday. We found an old driver file that was not letting the new driver load. Deleted old file from registry. Loaded new driver. Device works fine now.