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ECS K7S5A and Serial Ports not working

H

HappyPuppy

Lifer
When I built this machine a few months ago I only enabled Serial Port 1 in the BIOS for my internal modem (don't know if I needed to do that). In Device Manager under Ports no COM ports ever showed up, although my modem has always worked fine.

To the problem. I pulled out a digital camera my wife had and I had used with my old computer. I enabled Serial Port 2 in the BIOS of the new computer because this camera uses a serial cable to download the images. Back in Windows Device Manager there are still no COM ports showing and I can't download images because there is no communication between the camera and the computer.

I have tried adding COM ports through the Add New Hardware applet in Control Panel by manually selecting Ports and then Communications. It hard locks the computer every time. I have to power off by holding the power button 4 or 5 seconds.

I'm not overclocking anything and my temps are fine.

I need some suggestions.

My rig:

ECS K7S5A
Tbird 1.4GHz @ 1.4GHz
Swiftech 462A HSF w/ Sanyo Denki screecher
512MB Crucial PC2100
Radeon 8500
TB Santa Cruz
Onboard NIC
3Com PCI Pro modem
Romtec Trios
3-IBM 60GXP 40GB HDD
LiteOn 16x DVD ROM
LiteOn 24x10x40 CDR/RW
3-Ultimate HDD Coolers
LianLi PC70 Case
2-stock intake fans bottom front
2-stock exhaust fans rear below PSU
2-Panaflo Hi exhaust fans rear above PSU
Enermax 431 watt PSU
Win98SE

 
I'm guessing that there's camera specific software for this camera? Have you already installed it on your new computer?

Have you tried going back into the BIOS, leaving Serial Port 1 enabled, disabling Serial Port 2, and plugging the cable into Serial Port 1? If that fails, I'd try enabling all the settings on that page and giving it a whirl.
 
I downloaded the twain driver from the manufacturer (I/O Magic, Magicimage 500, cheap but it works). I've tried two photo editing softwares that allow me to Select and Acquire the camera, but an error messange tells me that the camera isn't plugged in etc. meaning that the serial port isn't working.

I've tried enabling/disabling each port in bios and plugging into each port on the computer. No go.

Enabling everything on the bios page shouldn't have anything to do with it, but what the heck, I'll try. Gotta get those Christmas pictures downloaded before my wife kills me.

Thanks for the suggestions.

Anyone else?
 
Maybe there is an IRQ conflict with the LAN/MODEM in use. Try manually assigning IRQs in BIOS (if that is an option) or move modem to another slot. I am very hesitant to advise people on that ECS MB since I am one of those who abandoned that particular MB for various reasons.
 
Thanks for the suggestions.

I finally took the serial ports off "Auto" in the BIOS and set them to COM1 IRQ4 and COM2 IRQ3. The ports are now displayed in Device Manager and the camera downloads fine.

Thanks again.
 
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