How to disable hardware search on boot?

[Guest]

I've got a test cell built around an XP box, with one huge problem. The core
of the issue is this. I have some flow meters hooked up to serial ports that
are being identified by XP at bootup as pointing devices. The flow meters
stream data into the serial ports, which they are supposed to do, however the
"Intellipoint" device driver then makes the cursor jump wildly around the
screen.

If I cold boot the computer without the flowmeters hooked up, everything
works fine. Once booted, I can connect the flowmeters and the system
functions like intended.

I need to be able to disable the hardware search for devices on startup,
even if just for these specific ports. It's ridiculous to assume that every
time you turn off your computer, some new hardware will appear. I am fully
aware of when I install hardware, and I can run the hardware search routine
when needed on my own, thank you very much.

 

[Jetro]

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;[LN];Q131976
How to Disable Detection of Devices on Serial Ports

P.S. There is gazillion of users who is not aware of hardware, software, and
anything related to the inner computer secrets. This is why PnP technology
was invented.

 

[Guest]

Thanks so much for the help. I'll give this a try.

Excuse me while I rant....

I see that this bullitan does not mention Windows XP as a workaround to
which it applies. Hmm.... Maybe that's why I couldn't find it in the XP
support sites. Next time, I'll keep that in mind. Perhaps I should look in
my old DEC 10 support manuals to start.

Also, I agree that most people don't know about hardware, and shouldn't be
expected to know. However, anybody that is intelligent enough to go swipe
his credit card at CompUsa and plug something into a computer is intelligent
enough to know that he did it, and could get the OS to look for it only then.

 

[Jetro]

Actually, XP wasn't mentioned for the following reason
(www.sysinternals.com):

/NOSERIALMICE is an obsolete Windows NT 4 qualifier - replaced by the
absence of the /FASTDETECT switch. Disables serial mouse detection of the
specified COM ports. This switch was used if you had a device other than a
mouse attached to a serial port during the startup sequence.

/FASTDETECT is default boot option for Windows. Replaces NT4 switch
/NOSERIALMICE. The reason the qualifier exists (vs. just having NTDETECT
perform this operation by default) is so that NTDETECT can support booting
NT4. Windows Plug and Play device drivers perform detection of parallel and
serial devices, but NT4 expects NTDETECT to perform the detection. Thus,
specifying /FASTDETECT causes NTDETECT to skip parallel and serial device
enumeration (actions that are not required when booting Windows), whereas
omitting the switch causes NTDETECT to perform this enumeration (which is
required for booting NT4).

Go figure when and which qualifier Windows needs...

P.S. What level of intelligency is needed to swipe a credit card? Mostly
this is a teller rather than a customer who does it )

 

[Guest]

Probably these serial devices *really* look to XP as serial mice...
how can you know?
One possible solution can be disabling serenum (it is the component that
detects PnP devices attached to COM ports).

--PA

 

[Guest]

Thanks for that lead as well.

If anyone has any other suggestions, I would be glad to hear them. I have
often found that there is some tail chasing when I run into these situations.


http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/system/CEC/serddvr.mspx

 

[Frank]

I've got a test cell built around an XP box, with one huge problem. The
core
of the issue is this. I have some flow meters hooked up to serial ports
that
are being identified by XP at bootup as pointing devices. The flow meters
stream data into the serial ports, which they are supposed to do, however
the
"Intellipoint" device driver then makes the cursor jump wildly around the
screen.

If I cold boot the computer without the flowmeters hooked up, everything
works fine. Once booted, I can connect the flowmeters and the system
functions like intended.

I need to be able to disable the hardware search for devices on startup,
even if just for these specific ports. It's ridiculous to assume that
every
time you turn off your computer, some new hardware will appear. I am
fully
aware of when I install hardware, and I can run the hardware search
routine
when needed on my own, thank you very much.

Are you hot plugging serial port

 

[Guest]

I'm not sure what you're asking. As I explained, once the system is booted
up, I can connect the meters and the system works as intended. So yes, I am
"hot plugging" the devices into the serial port.