Troubleshooting Downloads

If you are having trouble downloading from your device, please follow through these steps carefully.

Make sure you have installed a USB driver

First, ensure you have the correct USB driver installed. Depending on your device and the type of cable you use, this driver will vary. Please see the supported devices page on the MacDive website for a current list of supported devices and which drivers to use.

If your cable is not listed (ie it is from another vendor or is a DIY cable) then you will need to find out what chipset the cable or adapter uses and find the appropriate USB driver. Generally starting at the manufacturers website is a good idea.

Make sure the device is in transfer mode

Some models automatically go into Data Transfer mode when they are connected to an appropriate cable. Some, such as the Suunto Mosquito, require you to manually start transfer mode. Please consult your owners manual to find out the correct procedure.

Configure MacDive

MacDive attempts to guess where your dive computer is connected on the system. Sometimes other things can confuse it. Try going to Preferences -> Advanced, and clicking "Scan for serial port". If there are a few things in the list, you have to try and choose the correct one.

Some common ones are:

   * /dev/tty.usbserial-ST000001    (Suunto, FTDI Driver)
   * /dev/tty.usbserial-20030001    (Oceanic, FTDI Driver)
   * /dev/tty.usbserial (Reefnet Sensus Ultra, their driver)

(Please add your own device to this if you have a different one, it's a far from complete list!)

If you find there are other things in the list (Nokia modems, iPhones, etc) please choose a different serial port and try again. MacDive will retain this value permanently, so this step is only required once.

Error Messages

Failed to connect to serial port XXX

If you get this message, please read it carefully - if you see a serial port such as "MyiPhone" or "BluetoothModem" in the error, or something else that is obviously unrelated to your dive computer, make sure you have used Scan For Serial Port in preferences and picked the appropriate one. Of course, these are not always obvious - they won't say "MyDiveComputer", but there are some things that will obviously not be correct.

Failed to read header information

If you get this error message, the most common cause is that you don't have a good connection to your device. For some, it can be tricky to get the cable on correctly. Jiggle it around and try importing a couple of times, it is frequently the case that the cable is just not quite connected right. In some cases, it is very easy to plug the cable in upside down.

USB Hubs

USB Hubs can interfere with a connection. If you are having problems, make sure your device is plugged directly in to your computer, not through a USB hub.

Jiggle

Certain devices can be tricky to get connected properly. They may show that they are in transfer mode, but may still not have a good connection. The OC1 is a common example of this. Sometimes you need to try importing a few times and giving the cable a bit of a jiggle around to get things to happen correctly. Don't give up immediately - as silly as it sounds, this is a common issue.

Low Battery

Make sure your battery is not low. Some devices will not allow you to download data if they have low battery. Note: some devices will go into PC transfer mode with low battery, but still not let you download. If you have low battery, replace it and attempt to download again. Sometimes downloads will intermittently work with low battery, but you will run in to issues so it is best to get the battery changed.

If all else fails...

If you have access to Windows and all of these steps have failed, you should try using the original manufacturers software to ensure that your cable is not faulty.