hardware conflict - HELP!!

[azkiwi]

:disgust:
OK, here's the situation

Win98SE
K6-3 800 @ 896
KA-7 mobo

3Com/USR 56K internal Pnp ISA
Netgear EN104
Creative Live

I had huge troubles getting my modem recognized when I setup the system about 6 mo's ago, but eventually achieved working status - had to switch of the PnP in the BIOS and install the modem first etc.

Aaanyway, recently I've been having system lockups that seem to point strongly to a resource conflict. I just kept rebooting and it would go OK again for another day. Finally got PO'd enough to want to fix it. Now can't get my modem recognized again and am fairly sure of two things:

I have a port hardware conflict
Win98 keeps reallocating the old resources.

I've tried the latest VIA drivers, removed the modem physically and in DM, pulled out the sound card, NIC, and tried to hunt down the modem references in the registry. NO DICE! The system shows the modem (sometimes two modems) but says it isn't configured or is conflicting and turned off. Tried reinstalling Win98.

No yellow exclamations appear in DM, and I've tired to set the modem on different ports. If I set it to Com3 on the modem Win98 creates Com5. If I set it to Com2 I get an I/O conflict at boot up.

AAAAAAHHHHHHHHH!!!!!

Since I am forced to write this on my wifes computer (the ultimate low blow) I would greatly appreciate help, ideas, anything intelligent.

Thanks in advance!!

 

[Dan]

For now, leave the NIC out of the system. Delete the NIC and modem in Device Manager and reboot. Disable Com 2 in your bios during the reboot. That should help Windows assign an IRQ and com port to the modem.

 

[corkyg]

I got a sneakin' hunch you are going to have to fix something in BIOS to reserve an IRW for the ISA modem. While it may not be what you want to hear, I would suggest getting rid of the ISA modem . . . it is too "legacy" for the rest of your system.

 

[Ornery]

Disable COM2 in your BIOS. Manually jumper the modem to use IRQ3 and COM2.

 

[azkiwi]

I don't have any special allegiance to the ISA modem, except it does consistently hook up at 51K, and all my experiences with PCI modems have sucked turds.

Do you have a PCI you would really recommend? The irony is that I don't have much plugged in - a NIC, a SCSI controller, sound card, Voodoo3 and the modem - that's it. Half the resources seem to be cloged up by motherboard "steering" devices.

 

[azkiwi]

OK, I disabled serial port 2 in the BIOS, and Com2 no longer appears in the Device Manager. Jumpered the modem to Com2 IRQ3 and it is recognized in Control panel and DM. But, attempting diagnostics (more info) gets "couldn't open port".

There are no TSRs besides explorer and systray.

grrr..

 

[Ornery]

What ports are listed in device manager? If COM2 is there, delete it.

Also in the BIOS, tell it you don't have a PNP OS installed.

 

[lowtech1]

Don't disable your serial port & do what Dan's suggested.

If it still a no go, then physical remove the modem & NIC and reinstall them one by one with reboot the system for each device. And, still have problems, then try to asign the NIC to a differnt COM/IRQ than your modem. eg. COM1/3 & IRQ4,

If you still have trouble then remove the modem and set its jumper to take a COM/IRQ differ than the NIC.

 

[azkiwi]

Coms 1 & 3 only are listed. Com3 is shown under System Information to be forced (IRQ4) but without conflict.

Thanks for taking an interest!

 

[Ornery]

Avoiding Interrupt Request and Communication Port Conflicts

Most computers come with two external COM Ports (COM1 and COM2). If you have an external COM2 connector (look on the back of your computer), you will have a conflict if you install an internal modem using COM2. Even if nothing is connected to the external port, the COM Port is still reserved for that Port, unless you disable it in the system BIOS(see below). The reason this happens is that the external connector uses a serial interface card, which reserves COM2 and IRQ3 for the external connector.

Disabling The External COM2 Connector
If you do not plan to use the external COM2 connector, most computers will let you disable it (consult your computer?s user guide or its manufacturer?s technical support). Your internal modem may then be installed using COM2 and IRQ3, if you choose. Modems are not required to be on COM2 and IRQ3, but we are using this as an example.

Technical Support
If you continue to have conflicts, or do not know how to disable the on-board COM Ports, or other settings, you should contact your computer manufacturer or software manufacturer. If you are sure that there are no conflicts in your system, and your U.S. Robotics modem still does not function, please contact our technical support department for further assistance.

 

[azkiwi]

I had already tried that - the NIC is on IRQ 10, so probably not a conflicting device.

I have tried both setting the BIOS to PnP and non-PnP and dis/enabling the port.

FWIW the modem was running unjumpered before I decided to "fix' it. Leading me to think there are registry items screwing with the setup.

What a pain in the as*.

 

[Ornery]

I wouldn't have bothered, but I just did this on my sister-in-law's PC. ISA modem, Win98, was working and then not seen, the whole bit.

Delete the modem. Let it find it at bootup. I believe that's the last thing I did before changing BIOS to not having PNP OS.

Hang in there. Once it's over you'll forget all about the hassle...

Edit: Holy crap! As I recall, the damn thing was set by default to PNP on the modem jumpers. I left that alone. I was going to set them to COM2 and IRQ3, but I gave it a few more tries to find it automatically. I knew that it worked that way once and should find it again.

Let's see if I got this right. No PNP in the BIOS for sure. Modem jumpered to PNP for sure. I did delete the modem and let Win98 find it a couple times for sure. I'm not 100% sure if the IRQ3 was set to legacy or not. Not 100% sure if I left the COM2 disabled or not. Some help, eh? Sorry, but after it was working I just blocked the unpleasantness from my mind

 

[azkiwi]

well, I finally got it running. As usual late at night after a half a day of buggering around with it..
And as usual having tried so many different things that I'm not sure what worked...
I left COM2 disabled in the BIOS, and left the modem unjumpered (PnP). PnP is still turned off in the BIOS - anyone know what that really means? Win98 still seems to organize things. I also pulled both the NIC and the sound card...so the end of the story is not yet told.

As Ornery said so well, at this stage I just want to put the unpleasantness out of my mind! Which is probably just what happened the first time I installed it.

Thanks for the input -- I guess

 

[Ornery]

Yay, now I can sleep tonight

Good luck, I'll check tomorrow evening on the progress...

 

[azkiwi]

All seems restored to ops normal.

Modem is PnP, Com2 disabled on the mobo, modem installed before sound and NIC card. It set up on Com2 and (so far) everything is happy.

Thanks to all who responded.