I need Com1 for a old device and software but windows has coms 1-4 already assigned

[scottabbett]

First I am using a gateway laptop running on Windows XP.

I have an old piece of hardware/device which reads a data card. (Both
the device and cards are very outdated and I cannot really describe
them more but they are used in the wind power industry to gather
metrological data)

This card reader is supposed to hook into a serial port. Since I am
working on a newer gateway laptop without serial ports, I had to buy a
usb to serial adapter. (Belkin one to be exact) All drivers are
installed correctly and work fine since I am able to use the adapter to
hook in a GPS device fine. (gps device is serial and not usb also)

Now....Problem is the software which reads this device is an old dos
program and only searches for the device in COM 1 or COM 2. I looked
in the hardware manager and saw that the usb to com adapter I have
installed is set up as COM 5. If I go in the options to switch the usb
to serial adapter to COM 1 or 2 it says that COMS 1-4 are already
assigned to something. I have the option to assign this adapter to COM
1 for example but I never tried to apply it becasue I'm afraid it will
mess something else up since that COM is already assigned. On top of
that I have a feeling when I try to apply that change it woun;t even
let me.

A friend said maybe the com setting are in Bios so I looked in bois but
saw nothing which appeared to help.

Is there any way I can reassign COM 1 or 2 which appearently is already
being used by windows to a different COM? This should allow me to set
the usb to serial adaptor to COM 1 or 2 and then my hardware should be
recognized by the dos program.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.. I already tried seaching these
groups as much as possible and could not find any leads.

 

[Ghostrider]

First I am using a gateway laptop running on Windows XP.

I have an old piece of hardware/device which reads a data card. (Both
the device and cards are very outdated and I cannot really describe
them more but they are used in the wind power industry to gather
metrological data)

This card reader is supposed to hook into a serial port. Since I am
working on a newer gateway laptop without serial ports, I had to buy a
usb to serial adapter. (Belkin one to be exact) All drivers are
installed correctly and work fine since I am able to use the adapter to
hook in a GPS device fine. (gps device is serial and not usb also)

Now....Problem is the software which reads this device is an old dos
program and only searches for the device in COM 1 or COM 2. I looked
in the hardware manager and saw that the usb to com adapter I have
installed is set up as COM 5. If I go in the options to switch the usb
to serial adapter to COM 1 or 2 it says that COMS 1-4 are already
assigned to something. I have the option to assign this adapter to COM
1 for example but I never tried to apply it becasue I'm afraid it will
mess something else up since that COM is already assigned. On top of
that I have a feeling when I try to apply that change it woun;t even
let me.

A friend said maybe the com setting are in Bios so I looked in bois but
saw nothing which appeared to help.

Is there any way I can reassign COM 1 or 2 which appearently is already
being used by windows to a different COM? This should allow me to set
the usb to serial adaptor to COM 1 or 2 and then my hardware should be
recognized by the dos program.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.. I already tried seaching these
groups as much as possible and could not find any leads.

The best solution to all of this would be to upgrade the application
to work with today's systems. Without a physical COM1/2 port, it will
be difficult forcing the OS to see them as legacy devices and reserve
them, as evident by the laptop lacking configuration setups for them.
An option would be one where the adapter forces COM1. If there is an
installation CDROM that accompanied the Belkin adapter, it might have
the capability of making the configuration change to accomodate the
DOS program. (Of course, the alternate solution would be to keep an
old computer with MS-DOS, just for old applications that need it.)

 

[GTS]

It's unusual for any PC made in recent years not to have BIOS settings for
COM ports. Are you sure you may not have missed it? Note that even if you
do succeed in getting the USB device to use COM1, there is very little
possibility that your DOS program will function correctly in XP. NT
versions of Windows prohibit the type of direct access to hardware that we
used in DOS programming. I'd suggest you try the program on a different XP
computer with a hardware serial port to see if you're wasting your time in
pursuing this.

 

[scottabbett]

First, I really appreciate the input on this Ghostrider and GTS.

I was able to get everthing to work fine on a computer with windows XP
and a normal serial port so I can safely assume that XP is not the
problem. I tried the Belkin CD and unfortunately there was no option
to change assignments of the COM Ports.

I did go back into Bios and still did not any options for changing the
COM assignments. (I'm not a computer wiz but usually am pretty
intuitive with this sort of stuff.. that being said there is always the
possibility that without someone "holding my hand" through it", I'm
missing that option in Bios.)

It appears that this project is becoming more of a hastle than expected
and the path of least resistance is to seek out the use of a computer
with a serial port, or just buy an old dos PC specifically for this
purpose. (I'm assuming people would just be giving those away these
days anyways)

Thanks again for the help