Windows users - be careful about updating your FTDI driver if you are fond

Archive FastLED Archive
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Windows users - be careful about updating your FTDI driver if you are fond of no-name arduino boards:

http://hackaday.com/2014/10/22/watch-that-windows-update-ftdi-drivers-are-killing-fake-chips/
http://hackaday.com/2014/10/22/watch-that-windows-update-ftdi-drivers-are-killing-fake-chips

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Yep, I’ve had some issues with this cause I like to save money. Makes me wonder if I really save in the end, haha

Ended up rolling back my FTDI driver to an older version. If you have USB issues with a no-name chip I recommend trying this first before giving up

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Ouch. It actually bricks the chip.
(resettable through a very annoying process, but still…)

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I’d be pretty choked with anyone who intentionally bricks my hardware; clone or not.

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This makes me think of the anti-spam blacklists that intentionally list entire netblocks as spam, to intentionally inflict collateral damage on the ISP’s legitimate customers in hopes of pressuring them to remove spammers from their networks.

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First, DRM on audio and video has made 1/2 my iTunes library of legally purchased music disappear. Now this.

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I installed the FTDI drivers on my Mac to try and get the RFduino working (but I think in the end it turned out to be a problem with Arduino IDE versions.) Very pleased I uninstalled them. Do you think they pulled this stunt with the Mac drivers too?

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FTDI has backtracked and removed the controversial update from Windows Update: http://www.ftdichipblog.com/?p=1053