Re: COM1 not behaving...

I'm afraid it doesn't. It shows the exact same information as in the device
list, and nothing else than "this device is working properly"...

"Bob I" wrote:

Double click on it, it will open Properties, there is a window that will
provide the info about the error.

Erik wrote:
Oh, it's interesting alright!

I have gone into the BIOS, and changed the IRQ to 3, with its corresponding
memory range. I have also removed the /fastdetect switch from boot.ini.

Device manager now shows me that COM1 has IRQ 3, and the default memory
allocation as shown in the BIOS.

Now, when I start my PC, right before my mouse lights up, my device
connected to COM1 clicks (relays) as it has done for all the years that I've
been using it. So that's OK.

However, something must still go wrong after those drivers are loaded,
because my programs still say that they can't open COM1.

After some more digging in the device manager, looking at the resources by
connection, when I go to COM1 I see that there's a small, blue letter "i" on
top of the serial cable icon. It also did that when it was on IRQ 4 (7).
There are no memory allocation overlaps.

It seems like Windows is trying to tell me something ("i" for
"information"?); but I can't find more info about that "i"...

I have gone through the event viewer again, but there are no new errors
concerning the com port. Still, it doesn't work as expected.

Any other ideas?

Erik

"Bob I" wrote:


Interesting, perhaps the BIOS is handing off 4 and OS is assigning 7
because it thinks 4 is used and there is the error message?

Erik wrote:

Nope, not forcing anything.

COM1 has its own IRQ. COM2 and 3 share IRQ 16.

What's weird though, is that I just noticed that COM1 now has IRQ 7 (not
shared with anything else), while it had IRQ 4 yesterday (again not shared).
And I swear it's always been 4 in the BIOS...

"Bob I" wrote:



You say "3 com ports". You wouldn't happen to be trying to "force" IRQ4
on 2 of them? In the old ISA system, IRQ 4 is used in COM1 and COM3,
and that would be conflict.

Erik wrote:


Thanks Bob, but that switch is already present in boot.ini. I suspect it's
the default.

"Bob I" wrote:




Just a thought, you could try killing mouse detection on the serial
ports with the /fastdetect switch.

Available switch options for the Windows XP and the Windows Server 2003
Boot.ini files
http://support.microsoft.com/kb/833721/en-us

Erik wrote:




Hi DL.

Sorry for the late reply; I didn't get a notification that you had replied
again.

Often missed yes; but if I'd tell you how many times I've called the 1800
number for a new activation code (if I could remember...) you'd know that
I've done this "a couple" of times :)

To answer your questions:

1. No conflicts in device manager at all. Everything is reported as "working
properly".
2. Error messages in event viewer: lots! A little over 600 in the
Application tab, almost 2,000 (yep, two thousand) under the System tab. Many
of these entries are merely Information (about SP2 that was installed), some
are related to some CDROM issue (even though they appear to work fine); but
I've found a few that say "While validating that \Device\Serial1 was really a
serial port, a fifo was detected. The fifo will be used." I've done a Google
(oops!) search for this error message; but didn't find anything useful. Any
idea what that means? And, what else am I looking for?
3. I haven't swapped the expansion card to a different PCI slot yet, no. I
was kinda hoping that there is an easier (as opposed to opening the box -
again - and swapping cards around...).

Any ideas?

Thanks,

Erik

"DL" wrote:





Thats often missed :)

When you get the problem, any conflicts shown in Hardware Devices?
Any err.msgs in Event Viewer?
Tried the card in a different slot?


"Erik" <Erik@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:A2CAEDD5-2461-4BB6-A5F1-337958A41FE3@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx




Of course :-)

"DL" wrote:





new mobo?
You have installed the chipset drivers?

"Erik" <Erik@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:0D48120C-ACCD-48E9-BF1B-18D1CF6FE3BC@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx




Hi all.

I seem to have a stubborn serial port.

I just got a new motherboard, with one onboard serial port, and also
have
a
PCI expansion card with two serial ports.

After I installed the drivers for the expansion card I got an error
message
regarding COM1 (the onboard port). I blamed it on a silly driver
conflict,
forgot to write the exact error message down, rebooted the PC, and
everything
was fine. Or so I thought...

Yesterday, when I started one of my programs that use all 3 COM ports,
I
immediately got a "cannot open port 1" message. After checking the
ports
and
their settings in the device manager, I saw "this device is working
properly"
for all 3 ports. Yet COM1 refused to work. 2 and 3 worked fine.

Blame it on pure luck, for some reason I disabled COM1, and then
enabled
it
again. And after that it worked. So I didn't investigate further.

This morning I start up my PC, only to find out that COM1 wasn't
working
again. "This device is working properly". No, it isn't... So I decided
to
do
the disable/enable routine again, and sure enough, it worked.

I have gone so far as to uninstall/install COM1 through the device
manager,
thinking that that would fix it. After uninstalling and rebooting XP
(SP2)
picked up the "new" device, and installed the drivers. But again, the
COM
port was not working until I disabled/enabled it.

Does anyone have any idea how I can fix this permanently?

Thanks,

Erik






.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: COM1 not behaving...
    ... Erik wrote: ... Now, when I start my PC, right before my mouse lights up, my device connected to COM1 clicks as it has done for all the years that I've been using it. ... I have gone through the event viewer again, but there are no new errors concerning the com port. ... I've done a Google search for this error message; ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware)
  • Re: COM1 not behaving...
    ... IRQ's the same, memory allocations, nothing changed to speed ... connected to COM1 clicks as it has done for all the years that I've ... serial port, a fifo was detected. ... search for this error message; ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware)
  • Re: COM1 not behaving...
    ... perhaps the BIOS is handing off 4 and OS is assigning 7 because it thinks 4 is used and there is the error message? ... What's weird though, is that I just noticed that COM1 now has IRQ 7, while it had IRQ 4 yesterday. ... I haven't swapped the expansion card to a different PCI slot yet, ... I seem to have a stubborn serial port. ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware)
  • Re: COM1 not behaving...
    ... I have gone into the BIOS, and changed the IRQ to 3, with its corresponding ... connected to COM1 clicks as it has done for all the years that I've ... serial port, a fifo was detected. ... search for this error message; ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware)
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