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FTDI driver kills fake FTDI FT232s

eevblog.com

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Re: FTDI driver kills fake FTDI FT232s

#31

Post by DannyBee »

Zigurd wrote: post #24
dmitrygr wrote: post #5

IF this is on purpose and can be proven so, it is most definitely illegal!

I wonder why this is voted down. The US has some severe laws against vandalizing computing devices and against unauthorized access. Why wouldn't these laws apply here?

There are a variety of laws that would apply here, and doing what they did, if done intentionally, is almost certainly cause for civil liability.

They are not allowed self-help in the form of destroying other pieces of hardware. If they have a problem with counterfeit chips, the solution is customs/legal process/etc

If they aren't happy with what that buys them, they should be pushing for legal change.

Re: FTDI driver kills fake FTDI FT232s

#33

Post by snarfy »

dmitrygr wrote: post #5

IF this is on purpose and can be proven so, it is most definitely illegal!

From their website:

>The licence only allows use of the Software with, and the Software will only work with Genuine FTDI Components (as defined in the Licence Terms). Use of the Software as a driver for a component that is not a Genuine FTDI Component MAY IRRETRIEVABLY DAMAGE THAT COMPONENT.

IANAL but I don't believe this disclaimer can possibly be valid. Personal property rights cannot be waived away with a disclaimer.

Re: FTDI driver kills fake FTDI FT232s

#34

Post by Ecco »

wrl wrote: post #17
bri3d wrote: post #7

FTDI have been anti-consumer for years - their last several drivers have introduced intentional instability and Code 10 errors for suspected counterfeit devices. I think this is totally crappy. I see what they're trying to do (create market incentive for consumers to insist on real FTDI chips) but the reality is that it's just screwing over innocent consumers who buy a device.

The FTDI OSX drivers will still randomly cause kernel panics when the device is unplugged and a program still holds an open file descriptor for the serial port. While working with a company which was developing and selling products with FTDI chips in them, we made FTDI aware of this issue and attached many panic logs. It's been about 5 years and they've still yet to actually fix it.

OS X ships with an FTDI driver since 10.9. I suspect this one is made by Apple. Maybe because of this kind of issues. Do you still have crashes on 10.9+?

Re: FTDI driver kills fake FTDI FT232s

#35

Post by ChuckMcM »

Interesting situation. Given that "drivers" for USB serial ports are now boiler plate, why not just have some Chinese company buy the USB VID code from the USB Consortium and then agree that everyone will make chips that export that?

Re: FTDI driver kills fake FTDI FT232s

#36

Post by amckenna »

If anyone is curious what a real vs fake FTDI chip looks like under the hood (de-capped chip) this is a great analysis and some beautiful pictures.

http://zeptobars.ru/en/read/FTDI-FT232RL-real-vs-fake-supere...

Exerpt:

"What's the economic reason of making software fake of well-known chip instead of making new one under your own name? This way they don't need to buy USB VID, sign drivers in Microsoft, no expenses on advertisement. This fake chip will be used right away in numerous mass-manufactured products. New chip will require designing new products (or revisions) - so sales ramp up will happen only 2-3 years later. Die manufacturing cost is roughly the same for both dies (~10-15 cents)."

Re: FTDI driver kills fake FTDI FT232s

#37

Post by alyandon »

wdewind wrote: post #8
alyandon wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Wow. That is seriously uncool. I'd never even heard of FTDI before but they can rest assured that if I ever need a USB-to-UART chip that FTDI won't be the company I choose to buy. FTDI's drivers refusing to work with the fake parts is understandable, purposely reprogramming them to make them non-functional isn't.

> purposely reprogramming them to make them non-functional isn't Dumb question maybe, but why?

Making alterations to someone else's property without their consent for the express purpose of rendering it non-functional is commonly called vandalism.

Re: FTDI driver kills fake FTDI FT232s

#38

Post by Someone1234 »

Microsoft should revoke the driver's signature via their next CRL update, so that it refuses to install (effectively making the drivers unsigned). It is acting maliciously and will break consumer's hardware, even hardware which doesn't contain any FTDI chips.

If FTDI have an issue with a company ripping off their IP then go sue that company. But what they're doing is catching consumers in the firing line, who will wind up with multiple dead USB devices. There's no reasonable way a consumer can know they are buying something with a fake chip and this could kill devices years old, which will be outside of warranty.

I am totally serious that Microsoft should step in. FTDI's driver is so defective that it is literally killing hardware, if they won't step in for this then what will they step in for?

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