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Lead Tide SIM Reader

I recently came across a cheap little device for reading SIM cards. It was available from Meritline for less than USD 5 with free shipping. Curious to see what it was like, I ordered one.

The device came in a small package along with a mini CD containing drivers. The packaging advertised the device as the LEAD TIDE Sim reader. Like most things these days, it's made in China. The device has a USB 1.1 interface. There was no product code or number anywhere on the packaging.

Installing the drivers for the device turned out to be harder than I expected. The mini CD's autorun installed some stuff but Microsoft Windows XP couldn't install any suitable driver for the device. The mini-CD had several top level directories with what appeared to be product codes but I couldn't match any to the device itself since it had no product code. Google searches revealed that I wasn't alone in my endeavors to get the device working. Further digging revealed pointers to some third party drivers that work with similar devices but I didn't have any success with it either.

For now it seems to be USD 5 down the drain.

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Comments

Big A said…
Look for this file on the cd
"HL-0108.exe"
*:\HL-SIM9.0 CARD\HL-0108.exe


Its the Huge Pine USB to UART Driver.
Install it.
Reboot.
Let me know if is still doesn't work.
Done on an xp system.
Anonymous said…
Useless. What a waste of 69 pence.
Paula2U said…
I got it working I used the CD and Windows XP, I looked on line for more software because I had another sim reader, same problem . I dont know if I switched drivers but its working
;-) signed paula4u
Anonymous said…
There was a limitation with this device it only works with COM1-COM7, If these COM ports are not free on your system, then it will not work.

To make it working Simply go to the Device manager in case of WIn XP and inside Ports option right click on "Huge Pin USB to Serial Ports" and a property dialog box appears click on Port Settings Tab and then on Advance there you can change the port.

That's it... it is all yours now :-)

Regards,
Nitin
http://www.techcrony.info/
Anonymous said…
INSTRUCTIONS TO GET THE LEAD SIM READER TO WORK

Make sure you don’t have the reader plugged in.

Insert the mini CD and you should have the following directories:

Usb-1284
Usb-232
Usb-CARD
Usb-IDE-SATA
Usb-SIM9.0

These are the directories I found on my CD, not sure if they’ll be consistent though.

Go in to the Usb-SIM9.0 directory and run Setup.exe. This should install the application files SIM Data, SIM Editor and SIM Scanner under the directory GSM SIM Utility 9.0. It will also install something called A-Men Technologies USB-Serial Driver but my installation failed. I don’t think it really matters.

Within the Usb-SIM9.0 directory run HL-0108.exe.

Next, within the Usb-232\ HL0108 directory run Setup For HugePine.exe.

Restart your computer.

Insert your SIM card in to the device.

Insert the device in to the USB port and Win XP should come up with the “Found New Hardware Wizard”. Choose “No, not this time” and let it try to find the software. It should recognize the “Huge Pine USB to Serial Port” driver.

This should be all that is required. Next, run the SIM Editor program and it should connect. Try to read the card. My read failed after the first few phone book entries. I went in to the Options menu>Configuration and entered values 1000, 1000, 40 and 40 respectively. Tried it again and all my records were read.

Still haven’t managed to figure out how to read the messages.

NOTE:

If you are not able to connect to the device, go to the Control Panel, choose System, go under the Hardware tab, and choose Device Manager. Under Ports (COM & LPT) you should see Huge Pine USB to Serial Port (COM#) where # is the port the device is mapped to. If you have other devices connected to this same port you’ll have a conflict. Right click on the “Huge Pine USB to Serial Port (COM#)”, choose Properties, click the Port Settings Tab, click Advanced and change the COM Port Number to one that isn’t in use.

Hope this helps:)
Anonymous said…
you can download driver and the step-by-step installation instruction on link: http://www.esnips.com/web/SimCardReaderDriver
Anonymous said…
http://www.esnips.com/web/SimCardReaderDriver

thanks for this link
Anonymous said…
Found the solution and what the problem is here: http://www.technutopia.com/forum/showthread.php?t=2917

Anybody with regional settings that are not US, Taiwan or China will have problems.

Copy and rename a file as described in the page on the website and voila!
Anonymous said…
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Anonymous said…
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Eric said…
It appears some use different USB-COM chips. Under Device manager details, you can see the usb ID. Mine was PID_2303, so I used the PL2303 - Prolific USB to Serial Bridge Controller. I actually got an updated driver from
URL=http://www.prolific.com.tw/eng/products.asp?id=59

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