Confusion With Win98SE And Com Ports

[kelticwizard]

Just put Win 98SE on the following computer:
IBM PC 300 GL, 400 MHZ, 6277 machine type, 8 GB, 128 MB.

Reformatted and put Win 98SE on it fresh.

Trying to install various modems.

Friend had this sent to her from her cousin in Wash. DC. No device drivers, but thing was supposed to work. Cousin had AOL on it. I took that off prior to reformatting and did not, (and will not), reinstall it. She will use another ISP.

The problem is these two modems, on of which was installed, (Aztech), one of which came as a spare.

Downloaded drivers for these from the internet.

No matter how much I try, I can't get these modems to work. The diagnostic in the Control Panel, (Modems), says "port cannot be opened", or some such.

The peculiar thing is the com ports. I thought Win 98SE left you with two com ports and one printer port. At various times, when trying to install one of these modems, I have seen Com 3, Com 4, and even Com 5. Also, at one time the System Device Manager showed only one Com port-had to install another from the Win 98SE disk.

Amybody know why Com ports change number so easily, and why one would even disappear on me? Shouldn't these things just stay Com 1 and Com 2 forever?

If worse comes to worse, I have an inexpensive modem which works that I can give to her, but I cannot understand why, after downloading the drivers for these modems, I cannot install them. Especially since one modem apparently worked in the machine before it got shipped from DC.

Any advice here would be extremely welcome.

[fdegrove]

Hi,

Go into the Bios of the machine at boot time, disable Plug and Play, safe settings on exit and try again.

Also, install one modem at the time, the other one should be disconnected from the port.

Once you have one going, connect the other and install it.

Cheers,

[kelticwizard]

Only had one modem in the machine at one time to avoid conflict and confusion.

Oh yes, forgot to mention I downloaded a more recent BIOS also.

Tomorrow I will disable Plug and Play, and see what happens.

Thank you very much for the advice, will let you know how it works out tomorrow.

[fdegrove]

Hi,

Forgot to mention it but Win98 can also be rather too liberal in addressing resourses to COM ports:

Check in control panel, system, com ports, COM 1 if the resources are as follows:

I/O range: 03F8-03FF
IRQ: 04

COM 2: 02F8-02FF

I/O range: 03

If not, either try to change manually, or delete the port alltogether.

Good luck,

[mbroker]

One or more COM ports may be turned off in the BIOS altogether. So while you're in there disabling the PnP, check to make sure that they are on.

Mark

[kelticwizard]

Originally posted by mbroker
One or more COM ports may be turned off in the BIOS altogether. So while you're in there disabling the PnP, check to make sure that they are on.

Mark

I think I am having trouble with the COM 2 port. this computer is a friend's.

I have two Lucent Modems. One, with an AV92 chipset, is new and installs on Com 2 no problem. But it seems sluggish in this 400 MHz computer.

The other, the 1648 chipset, only installs from a self-extracting file to com 2 and wouldn't work. This is the one I use in my own computer-another IBM-but am lending it to this one momentarily to see how it works, so I can order a new one for this computer if it is satisfactory.

I go to the BIOS and see no mention of Com 2.

Here is what I saw in the BIOS about interrupts, etc.

Devices And I/O Ports
Serial Port Setup:
Serial Port A 3F8h
Serial Port IRQ IRQ4


ISA Legacy Resouces
I/O Port Resources:

2F8h-2FBh Available
2Fch-02FF Available

3F8h-3FBh Serial Port A
3FCh-3FFh Serial Port A

Interrupt Resouces:
3: Available
4: Serial Port A

Going from BIOS to Control Panel-System

Modems Properties Diagnostics:
Com 1: No Modem Installed
Com 2: Lucent Win Modem
Com 5: No Modem Installed

System-Device Manager-Ports:
Com 1
Com 5
ECP Printer Port

Out of desperation to get the 1648 chipset Lucent Modem working, I went System-Device Manager-System Devices-PCI bus Properties-Settings, and switched to USE BIOS instead of Use Hardware, but swithched back. Then I clicked Set Defaults.

I went to System-Device Manager-System Devices-PCI bus Properties-IRQ Steering, and clicked St Defaults.

Then the 1648 chipset modem worked.

But I still don't know the following:

A) In the BIOS, is Serial Port A the same as PCI port? If so, why isn't there a Serial Port B corresponding to Com 2?

B) Why are the numbers corresponding to Com 2 listed as "Available" in the ISA Legacy Resouces, but the settings corresponding to Com 1 listed as belonging to Serial Port A?

C) What the heck is Com 5 and how did it get there?

D) How can a modem hooked up to Com 2 , (according to the System Modem Properties) work so well when the System Ports says Com 2 doesn't even exist anymore?


I realize this is complex stuff, but if any mavens out there can figure out this crazy quilt, please let me know. I want to uninstall this 1648 chipset modem and reinstall the SV 92 chipset modem-the one which worked all along, although slightly sluggishly. I want to order a new 1648 modem for this person's computer, ( I am using the 1648 for my own computer), and install the 1648 chipset modem in the future. So I want Com 2 functioning, which I suspect it is not in this computer.

How do I get Com 2 to appear in both System-Modems and System Com Ports at the same time?

Bedeviled is not the word for my predicament.

I would like to thank both F. deGrove and Mark Broker for the help they have given so far.

[elizard]

if you're sure they're installed properly, try using AT&FX as init string ..

i do dial up tech support for a living, but we don't deal with installs of modems
i know when they fail to respond at&fx resets them, so that helps sometimes

[mbroker]

Hmmmm....

Serial Port A is definately a com port, not a pci.

All of the internal modems I've ever used (all two of them ) used COM 3 or COM 4. Typically COM 1 and 2 are on the motherboard and extra cards use COM3, 4, 5, etc. It's entirely possible that your computer DOESN'T have a COM 2 on the motherboard. Or, and perhaps more likely, a cable isn't connecting the MB to a DB-9 on the back of your computer.

Does the modem have any jumpers you need to set? Is it set to PnP? (I haven't used dialup since I graduated school in 2001, and there it was 28.8k external)

I recommend deleting (removing) all the COM ports and the modem(s) from the Windows Control Panel. Upon reboot it should detect the "new" hardware and "install" the correct drivers.

[kelticwizard]

Mark:

It won't install either modem because it doesn't have the drivers on the Windows disk. Each modem is installed by an exe program that you simply click on and it performs the installation all by itself-to Com 2. There are no inf files hanging around-just one exe file, period. Click on it and the install shield process begins.

I can uninstall the both com ports, though.

Neither modem has any jumpers or settings.

How about if I uninstall the ports and modem drivers, remove the modem from the PCI port, and shut down. Then put Win 98SE in the CD drive, and reboot. Then, while computer is still on, put the modem into the PCI port. I think it would be better if the computer did not detect anything-just let the exe install the modem.

Is it a good idea to put a PCI card while the computer is still on and running?

Thanks for all your help so far.

[Jennice]

KelticWizzard,

The numbering of Com: ports in windows is purely a logical addressing. Therefore you cannot rely on the numbering; not to mention any copmparison with numbering in the BIOS.

When you open the BIOS, it seems that there is only one COM port in your PC (on the motherboard). Any additional ports, placed on plug-in cards, are often referred to as com3 or 4, as windows by default expects the availability of two com ports on the main board (like history gave the PC two floppy drives, which is why your hard disk remains drive C: even if you only have one floppy drive.)

If your internal modem is on an ISA card (long black/dark connector on the mother board, it weill need som IRQ settings (jumpers or switches) on the plug-in board.

If it's a PCI (smaller, white connectors on the mother board) Plyg and Play (or: plug-and-pray ) , it will require some sort of name.inf file to work. An exe file (unless it unpacks an inf file for windows to work with) will not likely do the trick.

If it's an external modem, but connected to a com: port on a plug-in card, you have two reasons for possible error:

The com: card is too old (yes, they can be if an ISA type!), or it's IRQ/Address settings are incorrect. Before you connect any modem to it, check if Windows Hardware manager shows this com port (serial interface) in the list. If not, the port isn't working properly, and hence you'll not find anything if you connect a device to such a port.

A picture of the rear of your PC will probably help to illustrate what ports are installed.

Jennice