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How do I install a modem with only 1 com port?

D

DARRIN

Platinum Member
One of my wife's friends has an old POS 133MHz machine that they tried installing a modem in. Well the problem is that the old serial mouse is using com 1 and there are no other com ports except the printer port. Is there no other way to install a modem except to install an external one?
 
I assume from your statement it's an external modem. Are you positive it's missing the other serial port? Even 386's had 2 serial ports. It very well could be a 15 pin connection instead of a 9 pin connection.
 
What about an internal ISA modem? I think you can still find them. I had a USR x2 ISA in my old machine...ran great.
 
The one that they are trying to use is an internal one. After installing the drivers it asks which com port to use and the only option is the printer port because the serial mouse is using com 1. I went to the device manager and it only listed one com port. Why would this thing only have 1 com port?
 
get a internal modem... or get cable/dsl...
I'm in denmark, just had a friend from LA to visit me, he told me that around 95 % of us folks has 56k, isn't it time to upgrade?? all small towns in dk has a satelite transmitter/reciever on top of theyre cornsilos, and they connect via a card witha small antenna on it, range is 40 km. 512kb up and down... most cities in dk has unlimeted cable and dsl connections... some cities it's free!!! us is supposed to be the leading country when it comes to tech. my friend was shocked!
 
well, then you don't need a com port, most machines has enough internal com ports to support your modem...

you should start a revolution on that matter....
 


<< most machines has enough internal com ports to support your modem >>



Thats the problem - it doesn't have enough. It only has one. 1 . uno.
 
Tell windows to install com2 and have it run on com2. This is a standard setup. Even if it only has one external serial port.
 
Don't ISA Modems have their own hardware com ports (Sorta Speak)? I guess I would check to see if they are trying to use some sort of crap winmodem? Dunno why it would only have 1 com port, I am assuming you have already to checked the bios...
 
it would be a wierd machine if you couldn't set irq's for atleast 3 comports in your bios.... i could on my first 386, and on my old 486dx2 and on my p75, and now on my dual 550...?
 
Does the modem show up in device manager at all, or show up under modems?

It should automatically be given a com setting. I've seen some set up as com5.

What modem? Do you have to manually set jumpers on the card to assign what com?
 
It will shouw up only if I assign it to the printer port. When I run a modem diagnostic on it it says that it is not connected.
 
Yes, com ports can be disabled/enabled in the bios. For internal pci modems you will need to enable a spare port and for internal ISA modems you will need to disable a spare port.
 


<< I will check the bios tonight. Good thought. Can com ports be disabled in bios? >>


yeah, i think... but windows only installs needed comports... so they are probably not installed, just intall a com port in windows, and it will show up 🙂
 
Darrin,
Make sure two are enabled in the bios and see if windows finds another when it boots up after that. If it doesn't, run the add new hardware wizard, alot of times it will add one after running that. Hope that helps,



Nut
 
Did you ever tell us what OS you're using? There's a big difference
between Win 3.1 and win9* installation of an internal hardware
modem........Greg
 
Loads of misinformation here.

The COM ports that are enabled/disabled in your BIOS refer *only to physical COM ports built-in to your motherboard. If you add an internal modem or add a serial card to make use of an external modem, you do NOTHING with your BIOS settings. The only time you would is if you want to disabled one of them built-in to your mobo.

If you are adding an internal modem, you set it to an unused COM port. The modem becomes that COM port - you don't &quot;match&quot; the number with something you already have - you are adding it.

If the system truly only has 1 COM port, set the internal modem to COM2 (and IRQ3 of you are given that choice). Check your Windows device manager to see how many ports Windows detects before doing this. If it only shows the 1 port, then you should be OK, use COM2. If it shows 2 ports, then your motherboard has 2 ports. The 2nd one may be a 25-pin connector (not 15 as someone stated) which was used in OLD systems. This will be the same size as your printer port but will be male instead of female. If there is no such beast but Windows says there is, they probably just didn't hook up the header cable.

Anyway, if there are 2 com ports already in the system, configure the new modem for COM4 (IRQ3 or IRQ5 if given the option).

 
Bozo1 is correct.

The first thing that you should do is boot into windows. I'm assuming you are using Windows 95/98. Then check to see what you have available for IRQ's and COM ports. Most internal modems that are ISA (Darrin has yet to tell us if it is an ISA or PCI) will allow you to set the modems IRQ and COM ports. The following configurations work well together:
Com 1 or Com 3 use IRQ 4
Com 2 or Com 4 use IRQ 3

I would probably set the computer up to use COM2 and IRQ 3 because it should be free as the printer uses IRQ 7 and COM1 is usually using IRQ 4. This is easy to do if you have an ISA modem with jumpers.

If you have a PCI device then things are trickier as most PCI modems are plug-and-pray when it comes to installations. If it is a PCI device, could you give the make and model and feel free to contact me at nino@purdue.edu
 
GregMal - Winblows 95


bozo1 - After installing the drivers it asks me to select which com port I want to use and the only option is the printer port.


julianf - I'll give that a try too.
 
If you are installing drivers, I assume it is a PCI winmodem. (not good for a machine that slow) Anyway, why would it give you the option of the printer port when asking about com ports - 2 different animals. Something is amiss here - what is the exact question it is asking and what choices do you have. BTW, you do NOT want to &quot;add&quot; a port in Windows.
 
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