Inspiration Not Detected

If your Inspiration cutter is not detected by your computer, here are some suggestions that may help you get up and running again.

Compatibility chart for Inspiration Studio and Pazzles InVῡe™ Software

USB 3 and your Inspiration Creative Cutter

First of all, there is some technical information that you will need to know when using the older Inspiration Creative Cutter on a newer computer.

USB 3 is a newer, faster standard of communication with USB ports. Our Inspiration cutter was released before the adoption of this new standard, and will not function while plugged directly into a USB 3 port, in most cases. Many newer computers built in 2012 or later come with these ports, mixed with some USB 2 ports. Some of the newer computers have only been fitted with USB 3. To circumvent this hardware incompatibility, you will need to purchase a third party USB 2.0 hub.

Most USB Hubs are USB 2.0 and should work. Some are USB 3.0 and will not work. Make sure you check the device specifications before purchasing one.

Inspiration on Windows 7, 8, and 10 with the Inspiration Studio [Original] Software

The software from 2008 (Inspiration Studio) will not work on these newer operating systems.
The software will install, but will not detect the cutter. There have been some instances where the cutter and software have been able to communicate on these operating systems, but it is very inconsistent.
Unfortunately the company that made this software stopped development on it years ago. There will be no updates to rectify this.

We have created our own software called InVue. We designed it to work on our newer Vue cutter as well as the older Inspiration Creative Cutter. It will work on the newer operating systems, and even with Mac OSX.

You can get the software here.

Inspiration on Windows 7, 8, and 10 with the Pro 2010 and Pro 2014 Software

If you are having any issues using the Pro versions of the software on any of the above compatible operating systems, the first thing to try after verifying that the cables are plugged in correctly and the mat is loaded into your machine is a restoration of the firmware on the cutter.

• Turn off the cutter.
• Press and hold the load/unload button (button with two arrows on the right side of the cutter). While holding this button, press the power button, then release both buttons at the same time. If done properly, both of those buttons should be lit up.
• Download the firmware from here.
• Run that application, then click the top ‘upgrade’ button and follow the prompts until the installation is finished.
• Restart the cutter and then test it out to make sure it is cutting as it should.

If this does not work, or if the update gives you an error, please submit a support ticket.

Inspiration on Windows 7, 8, and 10 with the InVue Software

If you have an Inspiration Creative cutter and you are attempting to send a cut using InVue on any of the aforementioned operating systems, but are getting no response from the cutter, please follow the steps below to change the driver setting to allow communication.

1: Open your device manager by opening the start menu and typing ‘device manager’ into the search bar. Click the device manager in the results.
2: Expand the category ‘universal serial bus controllers’ using the little arrow to the left.
3: Find ‘USB Serial Converter’ (cutter must be powered on and connected)
4: Right click that, select properties
5: If there is an ‘advanced’ tab at the top of the properties window, open it. make sure ‘Load VCP’ is NOT selected and then save the properties window by closing it. If there is no advanced tab, go to step 7.
6: Restart your cutter. Do a test cut. If it is still not working, let me know.
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If there was no ‘advanced’ tab in the properties window, we will need to reload the driver and restart the computer using the following instructions.
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7: Close the properties window. Right click ‘USB Serial Converter’ and select ‘Update Driver Software’
8: Click “Browse My computer for driver software’
9: Click the ‘Let me pick from a list’ option.
10: De-select the box that says “Show Compatible hardware”
11: In the manufacturer list on the left side, find ‘FTDI’ and select it.
12: On the right side, find the driver that says “USB Serial Converter Version: 2.12.16.0 [3/9/2016]” — if you don’t have that specific one listed, you can choose any other with that exact format, as long as it does not have a letter in the name such as “USB Serial Converter A Version: 2.12.16.0 [3/9/2016]”
13: Click next, and complete the installation, and then it should prompt you to restart your computer. Once the computer is restarted, complete steps 1 – 6.

If these steps do not help, please attempt the firmware update as described below:

• Turn off the cutter.
• Press and hold the load/unload button (button with two arrows on the right side of the cutter). While holding this button, press the power button, then release both buttons at the same time. If done properly, both of those buttons should be lit up.
• Download the firmware from here.
• Run that application, then click the top ‘upgrade’ button and follow the prompts until the installation is finished.
• Restart the cutter and then test it out to make sure it is cutting as it should.

If you are receiving no error with the mat loaded properly, but the cut is still not being sent, try the following:
Inspiration on Mac OSX 10.9+ with the InVue Software

Please navigate to the Mac setup instructions here.