Assign new COM port number on a XP opertaing system

quantum

I am having trouble in my laptop after a thorough formatting. The problem is with the modem. It has XP professional. It is recognizing the modem and all seems to be kool. But from the Device manager-Modem Properties-Diagnostic it is not being able to use the COM port 3 it was supposed to. The Query Modem responses back with " The port that the modem is attached to cannot be opened. This mat be the result of a hardware conflict....." Funny thing is, there is no hardware conflict. I have tried various ways to assign it a different port or IRQ. But can't. The main problem is the BIOS do not support such advanced options. Any clue?
_________________

Dust fills my eyes / Clouds roll by / and I roll with them / Centuries cry / Orders fly / and I fall again
Afford best design, implement best solution. Outsource your web design.

dinangkur

Was the modem working OK before and now it doesn't?
What changed? new software? change hardware setup? update something? Add something? or remove something?

If so then try going back to setup the way it was before you made the changes.

If not then likely the modem has simply failed and needs replaced. Winmodems has a fairly high failure rate and this should be a suspect area if no changes was made to the system before it just "quit".

It seems as if the modem drivers are such that they are not able to make the modem work. The "cannot open port" error is a sign that either the drivers are not correct, or there is a physical defect with the modem that doesn't allow it to start. While are might be some power feature in your laptop preventing the modem from being turned on, I suggest you check out some other driver version for your modem. Also the hardware conflict is not necessarily diff devices sharing the same IRQ, it can also be different devices sharing the same COM port. Do check that and retell.

-DK.
_________________
...we too are stardust...

quantum

The modem in question is Conexant-ambit V9.0(V.92) Soft K56 MDC Modem.

It was working fine before the formatting. So I am assuming it is a software or configuration issue, rather than hardware problem.

Now those changing or updaing software causing the trouble won't work here. As I said it was after a clean format of the whole harddisk.

The driver is packed with the Dell CD that originally came with the Inspiration Laptop. But I will check for other versions and see if there are any upgrades.

Now is there a shortcut to find out which port is being used by which device. Some sort of list?
_________________

Dust fills my eyes / Clouds roll by / and I roll with them / Centuries cry / Orders fly / and I fall again
Afford best design, implement best solution. Outsource your web design.

dinangkur

From device manager.

-DK.
_________________
...we too are stardust...

quantum

Bah silly DK. Of course, I checked out the device manager already. It is not in the device manager. That is why I asked. I am mainly interested about port 1 or port 3, right? Well none of the devices in the device manager is reporting to be using ANY port!

So is there any other way, except for the device manager to find out information on ports? For the conexant modem it is showing PCI Bus 0, Device 31, Function 6. No mention of port.
_________________

Dust fills my eyes / Clouds roll by / and I roll with them / Centuries cry / Orders fly / and I fall again
Afford best design, implement best solution. Outsource your web design.

Last edited by quantum on Wed Jun 02, 04 10:11 pm; edited 1 time in total

dinangkur

Can you disable com2 from BIOS?

Otherwise, you can check through phone & modem options -> modems tab.

Check the property and then advanced tab > advance port setting.

Let me know the configuration.

-DK.
_________________
...we too are stardust...

quantum

Com ports cannot be disabled from BIOS. I told you, the bios supports no advanced features. At the most you can change the system time there and which drive to boot from.

The advacnced port option says modem is using port 3. I have tried various other ports, starting from 1 to 1500, abd it has no effect whatsoever.

Configuration:
Use Fifi buffer - checked
Receive Buffer High
Transmit buffer high
Com port 3

It's the default setting.
_________________

Dust fills my eyes / Clouds roll by / and I roll with them / Centuries cry / Orders fly / and I fall again
Afford best design, implement best solution. Outsource your web design.

Guest

According to my experience, modem driver is conflicting with OS. Now though you're reinstalling the driver, it's not updating the registry value for the modem. I think you try to install a new version of OS and try service pack 2 with XP.

-DK.

quantum

I will give that a run. Thanks.
_________________

Dust fills my eyes / Clouds roll by / and I roll with them / Centuries cry / Orders fly / and I fall again
Afford best design, implement best solution. Outsource your web design.