Help pulling program from an old omron C20 PLC

Hello, I purchased a machine with an old Omron C20 PLC. The machine functions as we would like; however, I am concerned that I don't have the program should something catastrophic happen and I need to replace the PLC with an updated item. Through the help of these forums, I was instructed to purchase a Host Link module (I bought 3g2c7-LK201-EV1), and I also bought the cable (c500-cn221-eu). I also have sys win 3.4. I powered down the machine and connected the module, I didn't know what the many dip switches should be set to. But I just opened syswin, under communications, I selected the correct com port that my cable was connected to and told it to "test plc". I received an error that said "error in default parameters, windows detected a problem with the communication driver". Before before I got carried away, I wanted some input as I don't want to cause the PLC to fault or issue a stop command. Can someone please suggest what the dip switches should be set to or any other parameters that I should look at? Also, is there anything additionally I should do to try to prevent any sort of data loss as the whole reason for all of this is to backup the program. Thanks in advance![FONT=&quot][/FONT]

Crankycowboy,
Please see the last few pages of the attached file.
This shows the switch settings for the 3G2C7-LK201.

Couple of things to check.
Syswin would need to be run on Windows XP.
Will not run properly on newer Windows OS.

Does the computer have a real serial port or are you using a USB serial adapter. Many of the adapters cause issues with communications. Omron CS1W-CIF31 is not cheap, but is works with everything.

Hope this helps.

There are a lot of Omron Manuals at the website in the link below:
http://forums.mrplc.com/index.php?/files/category/44-manuals/

You may have to register to Download if you see something you can use.

http://www.omronkft.hu/nostree/pdfs/plc/cxxk/w182e11a_c_k_host-link-units_system_manual.pdf

Here is a link for the Host Link 3G2C7-LK201 manual. 2-1 Host Link Settings section will show you the dip switch settings.
9600 E 7 2 - ASCII
CTS - On
The cable should have all of the handshaking signals jumped on each end. Only the send, receive and ground signals are required.

+1 gtsuport
XP computer with built in DB9 serial port.

I have had luck with the Sabrent USB to Serial cable with the XP machine. You will still need to make your own from the converter to the 25pin on the host link.

Regards,

Wow! Thanks for the quick replies guys! I'm actually not using the official omron cable. I'm using a cable from plctrainer.com which is usb on one end and the large 25 pin connector on the other. I did buy an old used laptop just for this purpose that is a 32 bit windows xp machine. It does have a 9 pin on the back and it shows up in device manager. I haven't tried that yet as I don't have a cable from db9 to the 25 pin. Thanks for the link to the host link manual. Some of the dip switches made sense to me (ie. parity, and baud rate), but others didn't so I didn't mess with anything. I'll pull the info from the links you guys suggested. Would you suggest me getting a real serial db9 to 25 pin cable instead of the one I have?

CrankyCowboy,
Attached is the pin out for the DB9 computer side to DB25 Host link cable.

PLCtrainer.com cables are great. There may be a driver or other issue, so I would try the direct serial port and cable to see if you can establish communication.

Curious where you purchased the Host Link. These have been discontinued for several years from Omron.

gtsuport

Thanks again @gtsuport.

The cable I received didn't come with the drivers like they were supposed to, so I contacted their support group yesterday. They initially provided me with the wrong set of drivers on accident (for different windows ver), which still left the exclamation point in device manager for the usb device. After they sent the correct driver, then device manager is correct now. I uninstalled the other driver just to be safe. I've made some adjustments to the dip switches. I'll try again with this cable and if that doesn't work, I'll give a direct port connection a shot.

Regarding the host link. I have been sitting on this project for a while (you know how it's not important...until it is). So I had been watching Ebay and sites like that for a while. Finally one popped up and I snagged it.