Lost "Ports" in Device Manager

[Guest]

After cleaning out all the BT serial ports that have been adding up and
removing all the BT radios and generally cleaning BT off my laptop. I
reinstalled 3-party BT application and now when I create a BT serial port
(the only thing I use BT for) XP
comes up with Com0.

Looking into DM the "Ports" (COM & LPT) is missing and Com1 and a pcmcia
Socket card I have (Com4) show up in a grey diamond "Unknown" tab.

How do I get XP to assign good Com port numbers and how can I get back my
"Ports" tab in Device Manager?

 

[Brian A.]

It appears you took your cleaning steps one step to far.
Boot to Safe Mode and remove any/all device listings under Ports in DM.
Reboot and Windows will redetect/reinstall the device drivers.
If your PCI card is not recognized, run the hardware install wizard to reinstall the drivers.

--

Brian A. Sesko { MS MVP_Shell/User }
Conflicts start where information lacks.
http://basconotw.mvps.org/

Suggested posting do's/don'ts: http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm
How to ask a question: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555375

 

[Guest]

Brian,

Removed the all the devices from the "Unknown" tab in DM under Safe mode and
rebooted. XP found the Com port and LPT and installed the devices, but
returned them the the Unknown tab. I inserted the Socket card and XP
reinstalled it as well. Both Com port and Socket came up with Com0. I went
into Advanced on both devices and assigned Com1 to the onboard serial port
and Com4 to the Socket card. While doing that I noticed that XP still know
of other ports, Com3(In use), Com5(In use) Com6(In use). XP did not recreate
the "Ports" tab. Everything is still in the "Unknown" tab.

I created a BT serial com port and XP gave it Com0 again. I can't see any
way to assign it to another Com port. XP seems not to be assigning Com ports
to devices. I can work with the two Com ports I have, but I have no way to
use the BT serial port to my BT GPS.

Thanks for your help on this....

Larry

 

[Brian A.]

Boot back to Safe Mode and remove any/all unknown and COM ports.
Close out and reboot to the BIOS.
Check the COM settings in the BIOS to see if you can configure them.
Close out and reboot with the Card in the machine.
See if Windows gets it proper and fit this time.

If no joy you may need to remove other devices, install the card/drivers and then reinstall the other devices.


--

Brian A. Sesko { MS MVP_Shell/User }
Conflicts start where information lacks.
http://basconotw.mvps.org/

Suggested posting do's/don'ts: http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm
How to ask a question: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555375

 

[Guest]

Brian,

No joy! I was able to configure the Serial and LPT in BIOS. Both were set
for OS controled. Rebooted. No difference. Returned to OS control and
rebooted, no difference.

Do you, oor anyone else out there, know the link between what hardware is on
the system and how it is displayed in DM? Is it a "Class", or Registry entry
or what that provides the Com port assignments and links them to DM?

Larry

 

[Brian A.]

You should be able to find what you're looking for In the registry at the Key:
HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet.
With CurrentControlSet selected an hilit press ctrl+F.
Type in: port and press Enter.
Press F3 to proceed to the next item.

--

Brian A. Sesko { MS MVP_Shell/User }
Conflicts start where information lacks.
http://basconotw.mvps.org/

Suggested posting do's/don'ts: http://www.dts-l.org/goodpost.htm
How to ask a question: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/555375