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Dead serial port

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by simon_mackay

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Hi everyone!

I sometimes connect "non-modem" peripherals (digital cameras and Palm-Pilot cradles) to COM1 on my ATX-based Celeron 266 PC (which works under Windows 98SE) and the host applications don't recognize it. COM2, which I hook up my modemto, works fine -- as it should.

What should I do to fix it?

With regards,

Simon

8 replies

by clover252525

The digital camera probably came with software that allows you to change the serial port setting. Try to change it to COM1 within the software if it allows you.

However, COM1 is usually used by the mouse (unless you have a PS2 mouse and port) so it may conflict with something anyway.

clover

by don christner

Go into the BIOS (sometimes called the CMOS setup) and make sure that com1 is enabled. Then boot into Windows, goto start-settings-control panel-system and on the device manager tab, select properties. Look for IRQ3 and IRQ4, make sure that they are being used by com1 and com2 only.

Good luck,
Don

by joel m

In addition to checking in BIOS to make sure that the serial port is enabled in the first place...you should also check the device manager under -Ports (COM & LPT)-
There should be a listing for Communications Port (Com1)...if it's there...remove it and reboot the system so that windows redetects it.

Another thing you could check to give you a definitive answer to wether the port is detected or not, is using the debug command...(Start | Run...type debug)

1. you'll get to a dos windowswith a dash prompt (-)

2. type d 40:00

3. the output is kind of confusing...the part that you will be looking at is the first row of the output, it should loook something like this:
---------------
0040:000 f8 03 f8 02 00 00 00 00-00 00.....
---------------

the columns that say "f8 03" is in reference to Com1...the ones that say "f8 02" is in reference to Com2...if there are 4 zero's in place of f8 03, then Com1 is not recognized and you may have a hardware failure

hope it helpsJoel
jdm.4mg.com

by dl.goss

some other thoughts on the subject... on occasion the connect thar you use to plug in your "toys" can become loose from the main board, you night try even opening the case and making sure that the ribbon cable that runs from the port it's self the the main board is securley seated... ( the red stip on the ribbon denotes pin one)... and there is also a slim chance that the riggon cable it's self could be faulty in which case you can replace it... in the rare event that it actually is a dead com port ( which the other posts would help you acertain ) and there is no warranty on your main board you can buy expansion cards which you can configure and plug in in it's place from companies like http://www.lavalink.com

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