Removed the nut installation, config files and did a complete Raspbian upgrade ... Now after reinstalling nut with the bare minimum configuration, it is finally talking to the ups.

Even though I have been technically involved with computer tech going back to the late '70s, this install was certainly not for the faint of heart ... I can understand why people walk away in frustration from this stuff

Struggling with getting nut to work with an old APC UPS ... lsusb suggests the UPS USB port is connecting to the PI (it lists the device when plugged in) but can't seem to find the right combination of configurations to allow nut to actually monitor the UPS itself.

tried drivers;
usbhid-usb port=auto
genericusb with type; = 1, 2, 9, or 12 (port=serial1)
apcsmart
apcsmart-old
apcupsd-ups

seems that the ups is just not being found

is there some way to manually poke the USB port (sort of like we used to do with uarts with AT commands)?