I hope someone can help. I've researched this on
Microsoft support and the web, and cannot find anything to
help.

I've got a 16-bit MS-DOS application that I run from
Windows 2000 that needs to use COM1 to talk serially to a
device at 9600-8-N-1. It was working fine before the
holidays. Now when I run the app I get a warning message:

"The system cannot open COM1 port requested by the
application. Choose 'Close' to terminate the application"

I'm also not able to use the serial port to sync my Palm
Pilot which I was able to do before. I only run hotsync
(which grabs the port when I pull up the Palm desktop)
when I start the Palm Desktop. The Palm Desktop is always
down until I want to do a data sync.

It seems like something grabs COM1 as a service/background
application when the system boots and is keeping it active
so nothing else can use it. I've rebooted, looked at the
Services entries, Task Manager apps, etc. and can't
determine if one of these applications is holding the
port. I haven't installed anything to my knowledge since
it last worked. Very stuck.

Does anyone have any ideas how to track down why this is
happening or find the application which holds the port and
kill it (if in fact that is what is happening).

I'm running Windows 2000 Service Pack 4 on a Compaq Armada
M700 Pentium III, with 512MB memory.

I appreciate anyone's assistance.

Jim

I'm having almost the exact same problem and have been trying to find
the answer. We're using an old dos program with the same settings, and
having the same error. The application has worked fine on windows NT
and windows 2000 on other machines, and actually on this same machine
with windows NT. THen we format a new hard drive and put it in with the
same motherboard and everything else, and install windows 2000 and the
application gives the same error you're describing. We have to figure
this out as soon as possible to work. I hope somebody figures this out.


Adam


Jim Mihalick wrote:
> I hope someone can help. I've researched this on
> Microsoft support and the web, and cannot find anything to
> help.
>
> I've got a 16-bit MS-DOS application that I run from
> Windows 2000 that needs to use COM1 to talk serially to a
> device at 9600-8-N-1. It was working fine before the
> holidays. Now when I run the app I get a warning message:
>
> "The system cannot open COM1 port requested by the
> application. Choose 'Close' to terminate the application"
>
> I'm also not able to use the serial port to sync my Palm
> Pilot which I was able to do before. I only run hotsync
> (which grabs the port when I pull up the Palm desktop)
> when I start the Palm Desktop. The Palm Desktop is always
> down until I want to do a data sync.
>
> It seems like something grabs COM1 as a service/background
> application when the system boots and is keeping it active
> so nothing else can use it. I've rebooted, looked at the
> Services entries, Task Manager apps, etc. and can't
> determine if one of these applications is holding the
> port. I haven't installed anything to my knowledge since
> it last worked. Very stuck.
>
> Does anyone have any ideas how to track down why this is
> happening or find the application which holds the port and
> kill it (if in fact that is what is happening).
>
> I'm running Windows 2000 Service Pack 4 on a Compaq Armada
> M700 Pentium III, with 512MB memory.
>
> I appreciate anyone's assistance.
>
> Jim

Give this a go.

http://www.sysinternals.com/ntw2k/fr.../portmon.shtml

--
Regards,

Dave Patrick ....Please no email replies - reply in newsgroup.
Microsoft Certified Professional
Microsoft MVP [Windows]
http://www.microsoft.com/protect

"ad" wrote:
| I'm having almost the exact same problem and have been trying to find
| the answer. We're using an old dos program with the same settings, and
| having the same error. The application has worked fine on windows NT
| and windows 2000 on other machines, and actually on this same machine
| with windows NT. THen we format a new hard drive and put it in with the
| same motherboard and everything else, and install windows 2000 and the
| application gives the same error you're describing. We have to figure
| this out as soon as possible to work. I hope somebody figures this out.
|
|
| Adam
|
|
| Jim Mihalick wrote:
| > I hope someone can help. I've researched this on
| > Microsoft support and the web, and cannot find anything to
| > help.
| >
| > I've got a 16-bit MS-DOS application that I run from
| > Windows 2000 that needs to use COM1 to talk serially to a
| > device at 9600-8-N-1. It was working fine before the
| > holidays. Now when I run the app I get a warning message:
| >
| > "The system cannot open COM1 port requested by the
| > application. Choose 'Close' to terminate the application"
| >
| > I'm also not able to use the serial port to sync my Palm
| > Pilot which I was able to do before. I only run hotsync
| > (which grabs the port when I pull up the Palm desktop)
| > when I start the Palm Desktop. The Palm Desktop is always
| > down until I want to do a data sync.
| >
| > It seems like something grabs COM1 as a service/background
| > application when the system boots and is keeping it active
| > so nothing else can use it. I've rebooted, looked at the
| > Services entries, Task Manager apps, etc. and can't
| > determine if one of these applications is holding the
| > port. I haven't installed anything to my knowledge since
| > it last worked. Very stuck.
| >
| > Does anyone have any ideas how to track down why this is
| > happening or find the application which holds the port and
| > kill it (if in fact that is what is happening).
| >
| > I'm running Windows 2000 Service Pack 4 on a Compaq Armada
| > M700 Pentium III, with 512MB memory.
| >
| > I appreciate anyone's assistance.
| >
| > Jim
|