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Change system resources for modem in xp

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10 replies

by casemaker

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Hi,
I have a very old pc in my shop. I could not get the pc to pick up a dial tone. I tried 2 different modems with the same results. The client wanted xp even though the system did not meet min requirements. The pc has com 1 and com2. The creative Di5652-1 is installed and the irq is 10 and attached to com 3. How do I change the resource to use either com 1 or com 2. I look in modem properties and it is all greyed out and I cannot change the resources. No matter where I have looked it is the same. I did a clean install full version xp home and it still finds com 3.

10 replies

by casemaker

I went into bios to see if I can make changes. The modem that is installed is assigned to irq 10 the bios has serial port 1 and 2 and com 1,2,3,4 in case that helps. The pc has two external serial ports and I think that these settings are for them.

by sgt_shultz

what BIOS setting do you have for plug and play os? should be 'no'
try disabling onboard com1 and com2, then remove them from device manager.
try an external modem?

by casemaker

Thank You, I checked the bios for pnp and it said use setup utility. I disabled serial ports for com 1 and com 2 and it found a new com 1 and com 3 on reboot but did not install any drivers so they have yellow explanation marks in device manager. I also tried to set the bios to plug and play os and that would not work.

by thechas

As you have seen, XP overrides ALL BIOS hardware settings.

The only way I know of to get XP to use COM 1 for a modem is to use an external serial modem connected to COM 1.

1 suggestion for this customer, install as much RAM as the motherboard can handle.
Maxing out the RAM is the best way to improve performance for an old PC with XP.

Chas

by cascade545

ensure your modem is a PnP modem and not one that is pinned out to use those resources you mentioned. If ipnned out even XP will not e able to change the resources.

by wdtur

Dear Casemaker,

If you are using an internal modem which it looks like you are, Windows automatically installs the resources for it.
Com1 and Com2 are serial ports for external modems and mice. With no dial tone it sometimes happens that the phone cord is in the wrong hole. It is easy to get it switched.
You could always run a diagnostic on the modem from the modems tab and be sure that it has the correct drivers installed. XP uses only compatible drivers. ( a big pain sometimes ha ha )

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