Long, regarding a "lost" COM port

Hello again,

I just got done doing an online chat with HP, regarding the absence of a COM
port on an HP Pavillion A730N, running Windows XP SP2. What prompted the
customer to call me was the inability to use dial-up. Here is my original
post to HP:

__________________________________________________ ____________

Hello, My customer has an HP Pavillion a 730 n. It runs Windows XP Home
Edition Service Pack 2. Recently they've been unable to establish a dial up
connection.

What I have done:

1) checked the phone line: OK

2) tried a different modem: did not solve problem

3) tried the original modem in different PCI slot: did not solve problem

Also, my customer attempted to perform a System Restore, to a point previous
to the point when the problem arose.

In Device Manager, under Ports (COM and LPT), there are no COM ports listed.
I attempted to install a COM port, through the Add New Hardware Wizard, and
the COM port did install, but a yellow exclamation point appeared next to
it, in Device Manager.
I attempted to update the driver, first from an automatic search through the
C: drive, this did not solve the problem. I then inserted a Windows XP Home
Edition disk into the CD drive; I couldn't find a driver on the CD, either.

I also checked the BIOS, it is version 3.06. I did not find any listing for
a COM port in the BIOS, but I did find one for an LPT port. I will make a
guess that there ought to be the possibility of a virtual COM port somewhere
in the BIOS, or the operating system, or both, but none appear to exist, at
least, not correctly configured.

Can you help me? I need to know how to correctly establish a communications
port.

Thank you.

Ken Newton
Proprietor, Kema Computer Consulting
P.O. Box 791
Harwich Port, MA 02646


__________________________________________________ ____

We "chatted" for a while, and the technician advised me that the best thing
to do is a "non-destructive" re-install, i.e., data will not be lost, but
problem will be solved. Run from the Recovery Partition.

Don't think for a second that I'm not going to back up all data, and then
prepare for the worst. But, does anyone out there know of a less invasive
solution?

Thanks, in advance.

smackedass

smackedass

Did you look at this?
http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/d...c=en&cc=us&dlc
=en&product=431078&rule=3714
?


hope this helps.

me

Weird. Usually when I see what you do the com/serial ports have been
disabled in CMOS though you say you can not find any such setting. Maybe it
would help to configure CMOS to use default settings if that option exists
to see what happens. Also check the CMOS option for is the operating system
plug and play capable if that exists.

Steve


"smackedass" <> wrote in message
news:zuvxh.4160$_d4.2432@trndny05...
> Hello again,
>
> I just got done doing an online chat with HP, regarding the absence of a
> COM port on an HP Pavillion A730N, running Windows XP SP2. What prompted
> the customer to call me was the inability to use dial-up. Here is my
> original post to HP:
>
> __________________________________________________ ____________
>
> Hello, My customer has an HP Pavillion a 730 n. It runs Windows XP Home
> Edition Service Pack 2. Recently they've been unable to establish a dial
> up connection.
>
> What I have done:
>
> 1) checked the phone line: OK
>
> 2) tried a different modem: did not solve problem
>
> 3) tried the original modem in different PCI slot: did not solve problem
>
> Also, my customer attempted to perform a System Restore, to a point
> previous to the point when the problem arose.
>
> In Device Manager, under Ports (COM and LPT), there are no COM ports
> listed. I attempted to install a COM port, through the Add New Hardware
> Wizard, and the COM port did install, but a yellow exclamation point
> appeared next to it, in Device Manager.
> I attempted to update the driver, first from an automatic search through
> the C: drive, this did not solve the problem. I then inserted a Windows
> XP Home Edition disk into the CD drive; I couldn't find a driver on the
> CD, either.
>
> I also checked the BIOS, it is version 3.06. I did not find any listing
> for a COM port in the BIOS, but I did find one for an LPT port. I will
> make a guess that there ought to be the possibility of a virtual COM port
> somewhere in the BIOS, or the operating system, or both, but none appear
> to exist, at least, not correctly configured.
>
> Can you help me? I need to know how to correctly establish a
> communications port.
>
> Thank you.
>
> Ken Newton
> Proprietor, Kema Computer Consulting
> P.O. Box 791
> Harwich Port, MA 02646
>
>
> __________________________________________________ ____
>
> We "chatted" for a while, and the technician advised me that the best
> thing to do is a "non-destructive" re-install, i.e., data will not be
> lost, but problem will be solved. Run from the Recovery Partition.
>
> Don't think for a second that I'm not going to back up all data, and then
> prepare for the worst. But, does anyone out there know of a less invasive
> solution?
>
> Thanks, in advance.
>
> smackedass
>

Steven L Umbach

"Steven L Umbach" <> wrote in message
news:. ..
> Weird. Usually when I see what you do the com/serial ports have been
> disabled in CMOS though you say you can not find any such setting. Maybe
> it would help to configure CMOS to use default settings if that option
> exists to see what happens. Also check the CMOS option for is the
> operating system plug and play capable if that exists.
>
> Steve
>
>
> "smackedass" <> wrote in message
> news:zuvxh.4160$_d4.2432@trndny05...
>> Hello again,
>>
>> I just got done doing an online chat with HP, regarding the absence of a
>> COM port on an HP Pavillion A730N, running Windows XP SP2. What prompted
>> the customer to call me was the inability to use dial-up. Here is my
>> original post to HP:
>>
>> __________________________________________________ ____________
>>
>> Hello, My customer has an HP Pavillion a 730 n. It runs Windows XP Home
>> Edition Service Pack 2. Recently they've been unable to establish a dial
>> up connection.
>>
>> What I have done:
>>
>> 1) checked the phone line: OK
>>
>> 2) tried a different modem: did not solve problem
>>
>> 3) tried the original modem in different PCI slot: did not solve problem
>>
>> Also, my customer attempted to perform a System Restore, to a point
>> previous to the point when the problem arose.
>>
>> In Device Manager, under Ports (COM and LPT), there are no COM ports
>> listed. I attempted to install a COM port, through the Add New Hardware
>> Wizard, and the COM port did install, but a yellow exclamation point
>> appeared next to it, in Device Manager.
>> I attempted to update the driver, first from an automatic search through
>> the C: drive, this did not solve the problem. I then inserted a Windows
>> XP Home Edition disk into the CD drive; I couldn't find a driver on the
>> CD, either.
>>
>> I also checked the BIOS, it is version 3.06. I did not find any listing
>> for a COM port in the BIOS, but I did find one for an LPT port. I will
>> make a guess that there ought to be the possibility of a virtual COM port
>> somewhere in the BIOS, or the operating system, or both, but none appear
>> to exist, at least, not correctly configured.
>>
>> Can you help me? I need to know how to correctly establish a
>> communications port.
>>
>> Thank you.
>>
>> Ken Newton
>> Proprietor, Kema Computer Consulting
>> P.O. Box 791
>> Harwich Port, MA 02646
>>
>>
>> __________________________________________________ ____
>>
>> We "chatted" for a while, and the technician advised me that the best
>> thing to do is a "non-destructive" re-install, i.e., data will not be
>> lost, but problem will be solved. Run from the Recovery Partition.
>>
>> Don't think for a second that I'm not going to back up all data, and then
>> prepare for the worst. But, does anyone out there know of a less
>> invasive solution?
>>
>> Thanks, in advance.
>>
>> smackedass
>>
>
>

Some customer of mine had the same thing with the modem.... He had just
gotten it home from Best Buy, so I told him to march it right back and make
them fix it.



The switched ports or something, anyway, it works.

Pat

Patrick Q

> If you can't get the com ports to work, how about using a USB
> external modem?

That's a possibility, but I'm concerned about fixing the actual problem.
Why these things just dis-configure on their own, is a mystery to me.

Glad to hear you survived the storm, Michael.

sa

smackedass