With my last correspondence with AM I s told they were out of cables and weren’t sure when they’d be back in stock. I think TB provided enough solid info to get me on track… Looking to see if I can find the same devices @ Amazon, I have one to return and a bit of a credit there… So I think…lol.
I do have a HiPro in addition to a MiniPro but my HiPro is the USB version, not the classic serial version. So my HiPro doesn’t have the firmware update issue that Alpine is seeing. In fact, if I remember correctly, I used the HiPro and not the MiniPro to update my opn to firmware 5.0.
I did some more looking and found a cable that says it supports all the data lines and has the correct pinout and gender for your application:
Here is the same cable with a better price.
Again, I can’t guarantee this will work, but I do believe it’s your best shot, if your problem is what I think it is.
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@alpine1 I completely rewrote my last post. I just want to make sure you see it.
With this new adapter, you won’t need anything else. This is your best shot.
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ICUSB232FTN for $12 on EBay (looks like the same one);
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That’s a great find! Exactly the same adapter at half the cost and free shipping.
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Ordered…,…TBC!!
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After you get it, let us know how it works.
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It was worth a try, an unsuccessful one at that. The new cable arrived with the exact same outcome. Genie2 will connect to my hearing aids and I can change programming I also added a music program to the HA’s. But, when I try any one of the 3 ways to run the firmware updater the connection to the hearing aids is dropped and genie states no programing device can be found. I tried changing the baud rate, the comm port and reinstalling genie2.
Thank you @TexasBob @Volusiano and @pvc and anyone else who offered up suggestions seems I’m at an impass with this PIA situation.
At this point I’m not interested in spending the kind of cash needed for a USB Hipro so I guess I’ll send them back to Audiometrics to have the firmware update…
I know I’m late to the party here and I’m not sure what drew me in but …interesting about the problem that programming works but not firmware updates. Did you ever try the product mentioned on the datasheet for the HIPro itself that I found and linked to back in that Original HI-Pro thread in Online Sellers?
The datasheet also says something about maximum 19200 speed.
Well, that stinks.
I don’t know what else they have going on in the HiPro. That has always been the bane of RS-232 communications… some device manufacturers just insist on half-assed proprietary implementation.
Yes @z10user2 I had seen the cable that was recommended via your link but I went a different route for unknown reasoning. So if I feel a lil more punishment is in order and I order the Iogear cable I will also need
which one of these 2 items, assuming they are different from each other.
DB9 F/F Serial RS232 Mini Gender Changer (Coupler)
Or
DB9 Female / DB9 Female Null Modem Mini Adapter
Hey…I wasn’t taking anything personal. 
I was doing some looking around and I see you’ve been at this for quite some time…here…like 2009 or something.
I found a reference on that help2hear site about pinouts as well that might be of interest if it isn’t already old news to you. Although I don’t know how to check them in this case.
I would vote the gender changer to keep it simple and fewer cables. The iogear seems to say it’s already null modem. Although so did the Startech.
With other looking I did, I found that the chipset of these adapters may have something to do with it. That Startech one is ftdi. This iogear suggested by GN themselves is Prolific. Somebody claims success with the Belkin F5U409 and it uses a Philips chipset. And they went somewhere else for an updated driver. So who knows.
Dang! I feel your frustration. It’s extremely puzzling that it works for programming but not firmware updates.
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Now your stepping outside my area of knowledge 
How do I check Pinout? And I’m assuming you mean Pinout on the Hipro?
Sorry. I’m no expert and I’ve already been shown to be as much by other more better experts.
I wrote a whole long thing about pins and connectors and realized that I have no clue how to check pins when converting from USB to serial going through a converter chip like these adapter cables have.
I’ll edit that bit out of my previous post.
I think I’m at the end of my rope with this project. I found some more info that dealt with making a PCI serial port work with the serial HiPro, using a custom built cable. I could make the changes that your new adapter would reuire, but I really would need to be right there with you to build and test the cable.
If you have a friend that is capable of acquiring the parts and building the cable, I would be happy to lay it out and send you the information.
The cost for me to get the parts, build it, and send it to you would be more than you paid for that new adapter. I also don’t know when I could get it done.
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There should be a block schematic in each manual showing the plug configuration and what each pin provides. RS-232 is a very flexible design and can be configured many ways w. or wo. hardware handshaking. That shouldn’t be a problem with good parts for you. What you need to know is the pinouts on 2 & 3. This is normally noted as Tx and Rx and they should be reversed on on device. If not, a null modem adapter is need.
The original design connected a terminal to a computer. One is a DTE and the other DCE. They must be different to work. e.g. DCE cannot connect to DCE DTE is normally the male plug.
http://www.db9-pinout.com/
@TexasBob that’s a great offer and your advice with this issues has been greatly appreciated. I may try another cable and or the info I see that @KenP has just sent. Thankfully the cables I’ve tried to date can be sent back at no cost and if all else fails an upgrade to mini-hipro when finances permit…BTW, it’s -31F here this morning…TB maybe I will be down shortly to take you up on that cable offer…lol
This is the only info in been able to find on the Hipro.
I think I’ll give this dainty lil piece of hardware a try with my current cable assuming this is the null modem adaptor your referring to @KenP?
