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OT: Help with Com Ports

4 posts by 2 people · 16 Jan 2001 00:59 UTC - 17 Jan 2001 09:16 UTC

Peter Hooper 16 Jan 2001 00:59 UTC#209537
Hi all, Apologies for posting this here it's just that I have always got much better advice from you guys than anywhere else. I have been fixing a friends PC which had been totally screwed for some time... She had somebody try to fix it recently but everything on there had subsequently stopped working and having looked at it I found that the OS was all over the place with different versions (Win 98, 95 and 2000) all spread around the system making it almost useless. Anyway, I have got everything back in order but the one thing I can't seem to solve is a problem with the com ports. It has the modem on com port 1 which works fine, but then it has com ports 5 and 6, no 2, 3 or 4. The problem with this is that she has a Fuji digital camera and the software for downloading the images to the pc needs the camera to be connected using a supplied cable that connects via com port 1, 2, 3 or 4. It doesn't go up to 5 or 6. Is there any way to re-assign lower numbers to these ports. I have tried removing them and re-installing them but Win 98 simply assigns them numbers 5 and 6 again. Any advice gratefully received. TIA and sorry once again for the off-topic post. Peter Hooper
Peter Hooper 16 Jan 2001 19:09 UTC#209377
Apologies if this appears twice.. I sent it last night but it hasn't appeared so am trying again. Hi all, Apologies for posting this here it's just that I have always got much better advice from you guys than anywhere else. I have been fixing a friends PC which had been totally screwed for some time... She had somebody try to fix it recently but everything on there had subsequently stopped working and having looked at it I found that the OS was all over the place with different versions (Win 98, 95 and 2000) all spread around the system making it almost useless. Anyway, I have got everything back in order but the one thing I can't seem to solve is a problem with the com ports. It has the modem on com port 1 which works fine, but then it has com ports 5 and 6, no 2, 3 or 4. The problem with this is that she has a Fuji digital camera and the software for downloading the images to the pc needs the camera to be connected using a supplied cable that connects via com port 1, 2, 3 or 4. It doesn't go up to 5 or 6. Is there any way to re-assign lower numbers to these ports. I have tried removing them and re-installing them but Win 98 simply assigns them numbers 5 and 6 again. Any advice gratefully received. TIA and sorry once again for the off-topic post. Peter Hooper
On Tue, 16 Jan 2001 19:09:05 +0000, Hoops74 <[email hidden]> wrote: >Is there any way to re-assign lower numbers to these ports. I have >tried removing them and re-installing them but Win 98 simply assigns >them numbers 5 and 6 again. If you have com 1 installed, it is likely using IRQ 4. Com 3 would also like this IRQ, so there is your reason why WIndows wont give you COM 3 Check in device manager to see if you have IRQ 3 taken up with something else. That is the IRQ that both COM 2 and 4 would use. If it is taken up with something else, then Windows starts getting creative and making up COM ports above 4. A little juggling of devices to free up IRQ (if it is taken) and then deleting the excess ports should help matters. At worst, you could uninstall both comports in device manager and the BIOS, reboot a couple times, re-enable them in the BIOS and then boot windows. It should allow you both comports, then. ~daxe
Thanks for that Dave, I'll try some of what you have said.. Com 1 is installed and is used by the modem. Unfortunately I cannot get into the BIOS as there is a password required before allowing access and my friend does not know what it is as the PC was her husbands and he died recently. Regards PH On Tue, 16 Jan 2001 22:03:33 GMT, daxe <[email hidden]> wrote:
Quoted text (24 lines)>On Tue, 16 Jan 2001 19:09:05 +0000, Hoops74 <[email hidden]> >wrote: > > >>Is there any way to re-assign lower numbers to these ports. I have >>tried removing them and re-installing them but Win 98 simply assigns >>them numbers 5 and 6 again. > >If you have com 1 installed, it is likely using IRQ 4. Com 3 would >also like this IRQ, so there is your reason why WIndows wont give you >COM 3 > >Check in device manager to see if you have IRQ 3 taken up with >something else. That is the IRQ that both COM 2 and 4 would use. If >it is taken up with something else, then Windows starts getting >creative and making up COM ports above 4. > >A little juggling of devices to free up IRQ (if it is taken) and then >deleting the excess ports should help matters. At worst, you could >uninstall both comports in device manager and the BIOS, reboot a >couple times, re-enable them in the BIOS and then boot windows. It >should allow you both comports, then. > >~daxe

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