How do I determine which process is using a comm port? I
have a piece of software (QuickDesigner from Digital)
which needs access to my serial comm port 1, but it keeps
telling me comm port 1 is in use when there are no other
applications running that could tie up that port.

I have contacted Digital's support desk and they have
indicated that it must be a Windows issue and that I
should investigate system level processes that may
be 'hogging' the comm port. How do I do this?

Thanks,
Dalayce

"Dalayce" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message news:1896901c420ac$d00f64b0$(E-Mail Removed)...
> How do I determine which process is using a comm port? I
> have a piece of software (QuickDesigner from Digital)
> which needs access to my serial comm port 1, but it keeps
> telling me comm port 1 is in use when there are no other
> applications running that could tie up that port.
>
> I have contacted Digital's support desk and they have
> indicated that it must be a Windows issue and that I
> should investigate system level processes that may
> be 'hogging' the comm port. How do I do this?

Try this:

Start/Run/cmd <ENTER>

At the Command Prompt, type:

attrib -s -h -r c:\boot.ini <ENTER>

and then:

notepad c:\boot.ini <ENTER>

Under the [operating systems] section, add the /noserialmice
option, i.e.:

[operating systems]
multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT="Microsoft Windows 2000 Professional" /NoSerialMice:COM1

Save the changes to boot.ini, exit Notepad, then reapply its
file attributes:

attrib +s +h +r c:\boot.ini

Reboot and see if that fixes the problem.

Rick

Hi Rick,

Didn't seem to make any difference.
Is there any way to find out what is 'using' that comm
port?

>-----Original Message-----
>"Dalayce" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:1896901c420ac$d00f64b0$(E-Mail Removed)...
>> How do I determine which process is using a comm port?
I
>> have a piece of software (QuickDesigner from Digital)
>> which needs access to my serial comm port 1, but it
keeps
>> telling me comm port 1 is in use when there are no other
>> applications running that could tie up that port.
>>
>> I have contacted Digital's support desk and they have
>> indicated that it must be a Windows issue and that I
>> should investigate system level processes that may
>> be 'hogging' the comm port. How do I do this?
>
>Try this:
>
>Start/Run/cmd <ENTER>
>
>At the Command Prompt, type:
>
>attrib -s -h -r c:\boot.ini <ENTER>
>
>and then:
>
>notepad c:\boot.ini <ENTER>
>
>Under the [operating systems] section, add
the /noserialmice
>option, i.e.:
>
>[operating systems]
>multi(0)disk(0)rdisk(0)partition(1)\WINNT="Microsoft
Windows 2000 Professional" /NoSerialMice:COM1
>
>Save the changes to boot.ini, exit Notepad, then reapply
its
>file attributes:
>
>attrib +s +h +r c:\boot.ini
>
>Reboot and see if that fixes the problem.
>
>Rick
>
>
>.
>

"Dalayce" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:1b84301c420d6$800d6c30$(E-Mail Removed)...
> Hi Rick,
>
> Didn't seem to make any difference.
> Is there any way to find out what is 'using' that comm
> port?

Is your serial port enabled and set to COM1? This will be a setting in the
system BIOS. You can check the status of the COM ports by doing the
following:

Right-click My Computer
Click Properties
Click Hardware
Click Device Manager

Open Ports (COM & LPT)

Choose COM1 (if it exists)

Right-click COM1 and choose Properties
Click Resources

What (if any) are the values here? Best values are I/O 03F8-03FF, IRQ 04

If this is the case, make sure your Communication software is set to use
these values for Com1.

Let me know if any of this helps.

Hey Mike,

Serial Port is enabled and set as Com 1 with the IRQ and
i/o loc you specified. The software (QuickDesigner) is
set to look for the same baud, parity, stop bits and flow
control.

The stupid thing is that it's showing com 3 as available
(which is where my onboard modem is tied to) but not com 1.

The QuickDesigner software works fine on a different
laptop running win95, but I'd like to get it working on
the new win2K laptop as well so I can continue to use the
software when the old win95 dinosaur finally packs it in.

Thanks,
Dalayce


>-----Original Message-----
>
>"Dalayce" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
>news:1b84301c420d6$800d6c30$(E-Mail Removed)...
>> Hi Rick,
>>
>> Didn't seem to make any difference.
>> Is there any way to find out what is 'using' that comm
>> port?
>
>Is your serial port enabled and set to COM1? This will
be a setting in the
>system BIOS. You can check the status of the COM ports
by doing the
>following:
>
>Right-click My Computer
>Click Properties
>Click Hardware
>Click Device Manager
>
>Open Ports (COM & LPT)
>
>Choose COM1 (if it exists)
>
>Right-click COM1 and choose Properties
>Click Resources
>
>What (if any) are the values here? Best values are I/O
03F8-03FF, IRQ 04
>
>If this is the case, make sure your Communication
software is set to use
>these values for Com1.
>
>Let me know if any of this helps.
>
>
>.
>

Just for a test, have you tried disabling the onboard modem?

Rick

"Dalayce" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message news:178a801c4218d$3cd1e330$(E-Mail Removed)...
> Hey Mike,
>
> Serial Port is enabled and set as Com 1 with the IRQ and
> i/o loc you specified. The software (QuickDesigner) is
> set to look for the same baud, parity, stop bits and flow
> control.
>
> The stupid thing is that it's showing com 3 as available
> (which is where my onboard modem is tied to) but not com 1.
>
> The QuickDesigner software works fine on a different
> laptop running win95, but I'd like to get it working on
> the new win2K laptop as well so I can continue to use the
> software when the old win95 dinosaur finally packs it in.
>
> Thanks,
> Dalayce
>
>
> >-----Original Message-----
> >
> >"Dalayce" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
> >news:1b84301c420d6$800d6c30$(E-Mail Removed)...
> >> Hi Rick,
> >>
> >> Didn't seem to make any difference.
> >> Is there any way to find out what is 'using' that comm
> >> port?
> >
> >Is your serial port enabled and set to COM1? This will
> be a setting in the
> >system BIOS. You can check the status of the COM ports
> by doing the
> >following:
> >
> >Right-click My Computer
> >Click Properties
> >Click Hardware
> >Click Device Manager
> >
> >Open Ports (COM & LPT)
> >
> >Choose COM1 (if it exists)
> >
> >Right-click COM1 and choose Properties
> >Click Resources
> >
> >What (if any) are the values here? Best values are I/O
> 03F8-03FF, IRQ 04
> >
> >If this is the case, make sure your Communication
> software is set to use
> >these values for Com1.
> >
> >Let me know if any of this helps.
> >
> >
> >.
> >

"Dalayce" <(E-Mail Removed)> wrote in message
news:178a801c4218d$3cd1e330$(E-Mail Removed)...
> Hey Mike,
>
> Serial Port is enabled and set as Com 1 with the IRQ and
> i/o loc you specified. The software (QuickDesigner) is
> set to look for the same baud, parity, stop bits and flow
> control.
>
> The stupid thing is that it's showing com 3 as available
> (which is where my onboard modem is tied to) but not com 1.

Is the modem also using IRQ4 by any chance?