TI-Connect USB Help

Submitted By: thepenguin77 Date: August 29, 2011, 10:07:35 am Views: 15119
Summary: If TI-Connect is not working, I can help.
This is a guide for people for whom TI-Connect is not working, TI-Connect can't find their calculator, TI-Connect is giving strange error messages, TiLP screwed up your TI-connect setup, or TI-Connect is just not working correctly via USB with their 83+, 84+, or their 84+SE / 84+ Silver Edition on Windows XP, Window Vista, or Windows 7.

(Enough key words)


First and foremost, you have to realize that TI-Connect errors mean nothing. What the error says, and what actually went wrong are usually completely different.

Here are the things to try if you get an error message:
  • Try clearing RAM (2nd, +, 7, 1, 2)
  • Try new batteries (this will fix 90% of cases)
  • Check to make sure that your variable name doesn't include illegal characters. For programs, this is anything besides uppercase letters and numbers. (The real name, not the Windows name)
  • Check to make sure that you are actually sending the correct file format. .83p -> 83, .8xp -> 83+, 84+ and 84+SE
  • Check to make sure that TI-connect is actually recognizing your calculator as the correct calculator
  • Make sure that your calculator has enough free memory. If it does, but just barely enough, you might have run into the problem of the memory not being continuous. To solve this, send all your programs to your computer and send them back from biggest to smallest.


On a side note, when it asks you to select a cable, if you are using usb, none of those are the correct choice, so you'll just have to wait for your calculator to show up.

If none of this works, then it's time to have some fun. At any point during the following list you can stop to see if it works, just remember that you'll have to redo all of the previous steps if it doesn't work.

Almost flawless fix method:
1. Open Device Manager (Control Panel>System>Devices>Device Manager)
2. Plug your calculator into a usb port that you know you've plugged it into before.
3. Find your calculator on the Device Manager list, usually under LibUSB devices
4. Right click>Uninstall
5. Repeat 2-4 for any USB port you may have plugged your calculator into.
6. Uninstall TI-Connect through windows
7. If you are on a 32 bit operating system go to C:\WINDOWS\System32\DRIVERS\ and delete libusb0.sys. (It's a driver)
    If you are on a 64 bit operating system, I've never had to delete the drivers, but they are: silvrlnk.sys and tiehdusb.sys.
8. Experimental (though, unlikely to break anything): If you have previously installed TiLP, go to C:\Program Files\Common Files\LPG Shared\drivers\usb\ and delete anything with a .inf extension.
9. Restart your computer
10. Reinstall TI-Connect

And it should work. If it doesn't work, you probably have something else going on since this basically removes all traces of TI-Connect. It will even make TI-Connect work after you've installed TiLP. At this point, you should probably start a topic on this website explaining your problem. (Don't contact TI Cares as they are absolutely no help)

If you are going to be using TI-Connect a lot, you might want to think about buying a Silver Link cable. You can find them at BestBuy for around $15 (at least you used to be able) and they are much more reliable than direct USB. One end of the cable plugs into your usb port, and the other plugs into the I/O port on the calculator.


A final note about why changing your batteries fixes almost 90% of cases. The TI-84 was designed to run on 3.3V, this means when your batteries are low, they are down around 3.4V. But, USB will accept a voltage no lower than 5V. See the problem? If your calculator is running at 4V, it will be perfectly content and tell you that your batteries are fully charged, but when you go to use USB, it's not going to work at all and TI-Connect will give you "Error: Access Denied" or similar.

Rechargeable batteries have also cause a lot of troubles in the past because of the whole 5V issue. Rechargeable batteries don't always charge to the same voltage as standard alkaline and this means that even fully charged batteries may not work.


Update 4/16/2013
I believe (though currently untested) that if you get the error where TI-Connect asks you to locate libusb0.sys, you can solve it by deleting TiLP's .inf files. (Step 8 ) (If this actually fixes your issue, please email me and tell me. I only need confirmation from one person. If it doesn't fix it, I'd also like to know so I can tell people to stop doing this.)

The exact error message in this situation is this:
   The file libusb0.sys on TI-84 Plus USB Device Install Disk is needed.
   Type the path where the file is located, and then click OK.


Also, since they are really hard to find, here is a TI-Connect driver download, with tiehdusb.sys and silvrlink.sys in a zip.

TI-Connect Drivers (32 bit and 64 bit):
TI's Official Page
Omnimaga Mirror (in case TI's page disappears)


Last update: 10/27/13

Still valid as of: 10/27/13
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