Re: Change COM port

From: Mike Hall (mike.hall.mail_at_sympatico.ca)
Date: 01/14/05 

Date: Fri, 14 Jan 2005 10:09:16 -0500

Bill

Traditionally, COM 1 was indeed the 'mouse' port.. serial mice worked better
on COM 1 than COM 2, sometimes because COM 2 was of the 25 pin D type (not
always though.. it is not unusual to see two 9 pin connections), and mice
were 9 pin.. also, external modems of the day (they still are) were fitted
with 25 pin D type connectors.. other devices could also be connected to COM
2, serial printers etc.. Direct Cable Connection also brought about a use
for the 25 pin serial port known as COM 2.. but that was then and this is
now.. serial port connections for most home users are a thing of the past,
at least the physical ports found on the back of most computers.. they are
there mainly for compatibility with older devices..

The mouse that you have connected is a PS2 mouse, so called because it is
connected to the (IBM) PS2 port (IRQ 12) allocated for mouse use.. there is
absolutely no physical connection to COM 1..

Internal modem installation programs select COM 3 for obvious reasons.. it
is generally the first free COM port after the two physical ports on the
backplate.. even if there is only one COM port there, the installation will
attempt to use COM 3.. if COM 3 is in use, it will select the next up..

So your modem is sitting on COM 3, and the Fax/Voice software should either
automatically find the modem, or you should be able to tell the software
which modem is in use.. most software of this type scans the COM ports
looking for a valid modem, finds it on COM 3, and then finalizes set up.. it
should work..

The fact that COM 1 seems to have a problem could be down to two things at
least.. the first is that there is a physical problem with it (unlikely), or
that the operator has attempted to force settings to make a device use COM
1.. what you might try doing is removing COM 1 from the configuration,
rebooting to let XP sort the problem for you..

Even if COM 1 has a problem, the modem and Fax software should work ok..

Re a table of IRQ allocations, I really can't see this of being any help to
you, especially as XP and modern systems are quite capable of sorting all
of these things without the any user interference..

IRQ 0 Timer channel 0 (May mean "no interrupt".)
          IRQ 1 Keyboard
          IRQ 2 Cascade for controller 2
          IRQ 3 Serial port 2
          IRQ 4 Serial port 1
          IRQ 5 Parallel port 2, Sound card
          IRQ 6 Floppy diskette
          IRQ 7 Parallel port 1
          IRQ 8 Real-time clock
          IRQ 9 Redirected to IRQ2
          IRQ 10 not assigned
          IRQ 11 not assigned
          IRQ 12 not assigned
          IRQ 13 Math coprocessor
          IRQ 14 Hard disk controller 1
          IRQ 15 Hard disk controller 2 

-- 
Mike Hall
MVP - Windows Shell/user
<billurie@nospam.org> wrote in message 
news:eBzbMzj%23EHA.3592@TK2MSFTNGP09.phx.gbl...
> Richard Urban wrote:
>> Should it not be set for the same com port that the modem is operating 
>> under?
>>
>> That can be found in device manager/modem/advanced settings. See if they 
>> are the same.
>>
> I do have the warning yellow triangle and ! telling me that
> there is a problem under device manager, Ports>>Communication
> Port (COM1)
> Device mgr>modem>advanced tab>advanced port settings>>>COM Port 3 for
> the modem is what shows.....
> If I were to change it, I see that COM1 is marked as (in use).
> I presume that to be the mouse.
> But Control Panel>>Mouse>>hardware>>properties, etcetera, doesn't
>        tell me what port the PS2 mouse is on, so I can't tell me
>        if they are the same. In olden days' systems, there used
>        to be a table of COM and IRQ to tell what was on each.
>
>
> -- 
>                    William B. Lurie

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