I'm running a Toshiba Satellite laptop with Windows XP Pro 2002....utilizing a Novatel Wireless Satellite Merlin C201 modem card from Centennial which gives me access to Internet via satellite. Problem is....laptop doesn't like the modem card anymore. First I got an error message indicating modem faulty or other hardward problem...but right now I'm running off this modem in my table PC so the modem is OK. After a bit of messing around I got an error message indicating my com ports utilized by the modem might be disabled. So I went into Device Manager and guess what ?? Ports (com & Lpt) is now MISSING from the list. So my com ports are apparently not only disabled....they are missing. Or at least I don't know another way to access them. I first tried the repair option utilizing the software installation disc which came with the modem....and NO CHANGE. Still get message com ports disabled. Next I tried complete uninstall of modem software....and new installation ........NOT GOOD....I now get the blue death screen when ever I insert the modem card. Next I tried the restore to an earlier date....before the modem softward was ever installed.....Still the Ports (com & Lpt) are missing from the Device Manager list. After all this.....I assume that my XP Pro has somehow been corrupted and will require a complete reinstallation to fix the problem....and once again make the com ports available from Device Manager. Please advise me as to whether my analysis may probably be correct...OR...what ever advise or thought you may have? MUCH APPRECIATED....Apart from this problem....the computer seems quite normal. A check of the complete system by Gri Soft AVG Free recently updated revealed NO Virus......Similiar checks by Spyware Blaster, Spybot Search & Destroy and Lava Soft Ad-Aware....revealed NO problems.
- Thread starter Caribee
- Start date
Computer Experts....Robert, Rocky, Chris, anyone
this modem is attached to a com port? a com port is a 9 pin connector on the back of the laptop/pc . this is strange as generally a modem card which will work on a latop and desktop would be connected via a USB port. Please respond with how this card is connected to both computers so we can troubleshoot further.
Well.....
I'm impressed.
You have all the right stuff on that laptop and you sure know your way around.
I wonder if the control for those ports is more of a utilities thing than Windows itself.
From what I've seen, laptops often come with 2 discs, one with the OS and the other with utilities.
These utilities discs could control all sorts of things, like audio, browsers, USB ports, etc.
Do you have the original utilities disc?
The next thing I would try is finding the drivers on the internet.
A search with keywords like "com port drivers xxxx" whatever model you might have.
While I am at it, I might as well ask you.
What's a com port?
Can you describe what it looks like?
Maybe I know what you are talking about but use a different name.
The more I think about it, I'm 99% sure you will be able to find these drivers on the net.
I'm impressed.
You have all the right stuff on that laptop and you sure know your way around.
I wonder if the control for those ports is more of a utilities thing than Windows itself.
From what I've seen, laptops often come with 2 discs, one with the OS and the other with utilities.
These utilities discs could control all sorts of things, like audio, browsers, USB ports, etc.
Do you have the original utilities disc?
The next thing I would try is finding the drivers on the internet.
A search with keywords like "com port drivers xxxx" whatever model you might have.
While I am at it, I might as well ask you.
What's a com port?
Can you describe what it looks like?
Maybe I know what you are talking about but use a different name.
The more I think about it, I'm 99% sure you will be able to find these drivers on the net.
Thanks for the quick response....Beads & Rocky....
I appreciate the compliment but I know VERY LITTLE and am probably using incorrect names, etc. The modem is a card which slides into the right side of the lap top. I installed a card recepticle in my PC which allows use of the modem. My exploration revealed that the 1.96 modem is utilizing Com 4 and 1.96 modem status is utilizing com 5. The laptop has 16 of these com (ports?) or whatever they are properly called. I tried changing to com 6 and com 7 but no improvement.....so I changed them back to their original positions. Yes, I think I have what ever discs came with the lap top but they are buried deep somewhere in an ocean shipping container and will take some time to locate. BUT...I need to go through the remaining boxes in this container anyway.....so I guess necessity will be the MOTHER of motivation...LOL
I appreciate the compliment but I know VERY LITTLE and am probably using incorrect names, etc. The modem is a card which slides into the right side of the lap top. I installed a card recepticle in my PC which allows use of the modem. My exploration revealed that the 1.96 modem is utilizing Com 4 and 1.96 modem status is utilizing com 5. The laptop has 16 of these com (ports?) or whatever they are properly called. I tried changing to com 6 and com 7 but no improvement.....so I changed them back to their original positions. Yes, I think I have what ever discs came with the lap top but they are buried deep somewhere in an ocean shipping container and will take some time to locate. BUT...I need to go through the remaining boxes in this container anyway.....so I guess necessity will be the MOTHER of motivation...LOL
A laptop with 16 com ports? PCs dont come with usually more than 2 com ports and an LPT port. generally they come with 1 COM port or even possibly none. a COM port is a db9 (9 pin port on the back). Old style is a 25 pin port. It sounds more like you have a PCMCIA card for the laptop. Heres what I suggest. remove the device if it shows up as a network adapter or a modem in the device manager. you may have to look in the PCMICA section of the device manager to look for further information such as drivers to remove. Now turn off the laptop and remove the PCMCIA card from the unit. Plug the card back into the card slot and turn the laptop on. Does the PC recognize it? Look in the PCMCIA section of device manager as well as network adapters and modems. If your card came with software it should ask to load the drivers and instruct you to insert the drivers disk. If there is no drivers disk do a search on the companies website for installation instructions and drivers. Sometimes the drivers are considered native to windows.
PCMCIA decives utilize an interupt generally as well. If you have a conflice the device will show up in the device manager with a "?" next to it. Look for this indication as their being a problem or a red X denoting the device being disabled.
If you still cannot see the card once plugged in but it works in a desktop I would think the PCMCIA port on the laptop has a problem. Generally there are an upper and lower card slot so try the other.
Hope this helps if not report back what you have tried and the results.
ALWAYS TURN OFF LAPTOP BEFORE INSERTING OR REMOVING PCMCIA CARDS!
PCMCIA decives utilize an interupt generally as well. If you have a conflice the device will show up in the device manager with a "?" next to it. Look for this indication as their being a problem or a red X denoting the device being disabled.
If you still cannot see the card once plugged in but it works in a desktop I would think the PCMCIA port on the laptop has a problem. Generally there are an upper and lower card slot so try the other.
Hope this helps if not report back what you have tried and the results.
ALWAYS TURN OFF LAPTOP BEFORE INSERTING OR REMOVING PCMCIA CARDS!
There are internal COM ports, most PC's have 4, and there are 9 pin serial ports that usually require an available COM port for communication with the OS
I have been under the impression that new cardbus (the newer PCMCIA standard) cards support hot-plug and unplug, however I did see a perfectly good USB cardbus card go completely dead when I hot-unplugged it with a USB hard disk mounted using this port.
I am still not sure whether I killed the card, the driver, or the port itself - but a clean install of Windows XP did not seem to fix the problem.
There is a chance you have a plain old hardware failure and there is no amount of reconfiguring that can help you, but please try checking the bios settings on your laptop and make sure your serial, com and LPT ports are enabled in the BIOS. Them not showing up in the hardware manager is odd, unless they are one of those ports that only show when they are in use. (this happens sometimes)
Could be your Bios
On bootup your computer will say something like press F2 for setup. This is where the HARDWARE gets configured. Now, it could just be that some busy little fingers have got in there and disabled the ports.
I'd check there first. Then when in Windows, go to accessories, system tools, system information. Check your hardware resources - then IRQ's. It's pretty normal that IRQ 3 and 4 are assigned to COM ports. They should be COM 2 and COM 1. (1 and 3 and 2 and 4 actually pair together). Come back and tell me what it says ....
On bootup your computer will say something like press F2 for setup. This is where the HARDWARE gets configured. Now, it could just be that some busy little fingers have got in there and disabled the ports.
I'd check there first. Then when in Windows, go to accessories, system tools, system information. Check your hardware resources - then IRQ's. It's pretty normal that IRQ 3 and 4 are assigned to COM ports. They should be COM 2 and COM 1. (1 and 3 and 2 and 4 actually pair together). Come back and tell me what it says ....
Great suggestions... if all else fails, before you reload WinXP... try running the drivers disk for the motherboard. It's available on the Toshiba website under your specific model. Should clear up the problem if the COM port driver somehow got corrupt and is no longer recoginized by XP.
Great idea if that service is available.
If it doesn't work after that, it would have to be hardware failure, but I doubt that that's what it is.
Sorry Caribee, I don't do hardware
If it was me that had to deal with this problem, I'd be screaming for a computer engineer or begging MrMike for a technician. Now, if you had a software problem, I could probably take a shot at it.
<!-- v3 Arcade /v3 Arcade -->
If it was me that had to deal with this problem, I'd be screaming for a computer engineer or begging MrMike for a technician. Now, if you had a software problem, I could probably take a shot at it.
<!-- v3 Arcade /v3 Arcade -->
Disable com ports
Intending to help, not having a lot of time at the moment, do as follow, could help:
As suggested, find a way to enter BIOS setup and if there is option (usually there is),
DISABLE (not enable) COM ports on your laptop.
Your PCMCIA modem card has COM port build in, and that one is in conflict with existing one(s). Let me know does it work.
Regards.
Milos, Compcabarete.
time, do as follow:
Intending to help, not having a lot of time at the moment, do as follow, could help:
As suggested, find a way to enter BIOS setup and if there is option (usually there is),
DISABLE (not enable) COM ports on your laptop.
Your PCMCIA modem card has COM port build in, and that one is in conflict with existing one(s). Let me know does it work.
Regards.
Milos, Compcabarete.
time, do as follow:
Computer up and running again..........
:laugh: Thanks to EVERYONE for the great response! MUCH APPRECIATED!
It was a great learning experience every time I had a few minutes free to work on it. I tried ALL suggestions but nothing seemed to work so I finally did the complete reinstall of XP and that cured the problem.....what ever it really was. At least it was NOT a hardware problem which would have required a trip to the Capitol for warranty work.
Thanks again.................................Lloyd
:laugh: Thanks to EVERYONE for the great response! MUCH APPRECIATED!
It was a great learning experience every time I had a few minutes free to work on it. I tried ALL suggestions but nothing seemed to work so I finally did the complete reinstall of XP and that cured the problem.....what ever it really was. At least it was NOT a hardware problem which would have required a trip to the Capitol for warranty work.
Thanks again.................................Lloyd