[HighAltitude]

I just received my second Oplink Mini Ground Station from China.  The first had a defective Micro B USB port and wouldn't stay connected.  I've attempted to follow the installation procedure, but haven't gotten very far, despite having tried it on the old laptop (Win XP) I usually use for Librepilot/Revo activities and my desktop machine (Win 10).   
In both cases, the driver appeared to install correctly and Device Manager says the device is working properly. The port settings are 9600 bps, 8 data/1 stop bit, no parity or flow control. Librepilot shows a greyed-out OpLink Mini in the USB slot at lower right, but the Hardware Configuration panel stays empty except for the notification that it will be updated once telemetry is connected and running. 
I've tried 3 different USB/Micro B USB cables, two different computers, Device Manager on both computers, and different sequences for plugging things in.
Do I have ANOTHER defective Mini Ground Station, or is there something else to try?
Thanks

[hwh]

There are no drivers.  If you installed drivers to make the oplink a serial port you prevented GCS from accessing it through the HID drivers in the OS.

I've never tried it for an oplink but https://librepilot.atlassian.net/wiki/display/LPDOC/Troubleshooting will probably fix it.

[f5soh]

but the Hardware Configuration panel stays empty except for the notification that it will be updated once telemetry is connected and running.

The Hardware tab is never updated when you connect the oplink, should be only updated from remote hardware connected.
The only active tab in config with Oplink device alone is the Oplink tab.

Be sure your oplink firmware is updated, if using the next branch and old firmware on Oplink you should get nothing because Uavo mismatch.

Try to do a manual update:
- Disconnect Oplink from USB port
- Hit Upgrade&Erase button
- Connect Oplink to USB port

[zukenj]

That was the behavior I had with my new OPLink, the I updated the firmware and it work.

What f5soh is mentioning is really important.

Be sure your oplink firmware is updated, if using the next branch and old firmware on Oplink you should get nothing because Uavo mismatch.