gmasi
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Modem & Printer Serial Ports
I recently moved my G3 Beigh Tower station around making everything look cleaner and neat. I unplugged everything due to many cables and wiring. I re-hooked everthing up from scratch. I plug my external modem and when I connect, I get a bad noise and Free PPP hangs. I pull out the printer serial cable, then modem works fine and I connect. It seems when both ports are in use, the modem port fails.
-phone line is good
-reseted the ports
-cables are good
-I'm not feeling good
tried everything in the Universe
-phone line is good
-reseted the ports
-cables are good
-I'm not feeling good
tried everything in the Universe
Did you by chance plug or unplug any devices while either the computer or the devices were on?
ASKER
Everything was shut down before starting
Do you happen to have a copy of TechTool Pro around? It will diagnose problems with such ports.
ASKER
We used Tech Tool pro 2, all ports good.
To this day we still can't find the problem. If the 2 ports are in use, one will not work. It must be hardware, but why would something happen like that. It was just a light move. Possible port surge, or is there such a thing.
I know each port works fine individually. Cannot print online docs because then both ports are in use and thats not happening now. I pull out the printer port cable, I get online fine. If i have to print on my Epson(serial) I have to pull out the modem cable, then it works. It's getting real fustrating. I'm a Mac tech and the job was to go to a clients home of ours and do a simple move. He paid us 95.00 hr just to re-organize his computer desk-with peripherals and SCSI devices. A simple move.
My Phrase as a tech "Nothing is simple"
-g
To this day we still can't find the problem. If the 2 ports are in use, one will not work. It must be hardware, but why would something happen like that. It was just a light move. Possible port surge, or is there such a thing.
I know each port works fine individually. Cannot print online docs because then both ports are in use and thats not happening now. I pull out the printer port cable, I get online fine. If i have to print on my Epson(serial) I have to pull out the modem cable, then it works. It's getting real fustrating. I'm a Mac tech and the job was to go to a clients home of ours and do a simple move. He paid us 95.00 hr just to re-organize his computer desk-with peripherals and SCSI devices. A simple move.
My Phrase as a tech "Nothing is simple"
-g
Hmmm....Since you mention the epson things change a bit. This G3 wouldnt happen to be running OS9 would it?
ASKER
No, he has 8.5, He was ready to install it but never did.
This is a real mystery. maybe his phone line zapped the modem and the modem messed up the port. But that is so rare. As a Mac tech for 10 years, if never seen such Mac voodo.
This is a real mystery. maybe his phone line zapped the modem and the modem messed up the port. But that is so rare. As a Mac tech for 10 years, if never seen such Mac voodo.
ASKER
maybe we should ask the wizard on our left.
What about a clean install? Perhaps the serial port arbitrator is fubar...never heard of it being so but then again ive never heard of this problem before either..heh. It would be worth it just to eliminate one more variable.
ASKER
It's kinda weird I didn't even play with the system in the first place.
OR
Maybe it could be a coincidence that his port got damaged before I arrived.
....but he said his connection and printer was fine in the morning. OR MAYBE he's LYING.
He is offering to try to sue us you know. His exuse is because anytime he is off the internet he loses thousands of dollars. Can that be a possible court case? I did nothing wrong!
OR
Maybe it could be a coincidence that his port got damaged before I arrived.
....but he said his connection and printer was fine in the morning. OR MAYBE he's LYING.
He is offering to try to sue us you know. His exuse is because anytime he is off the internet he loses thousands of dollars. Can that be a possible court case? I did nothing wrong!
Hmmm well he could be trying to put one over on you. At this point i would do something like refund him a chunk of his money and get out while you still can. It could be a court case but he would likely loose.
If he has a zip drive put a base OS9 install on it with enough to print and get on the net with. Boot off that and see if the problem exists. If it does work its his issue not yours.
If he has a zip drive put a base OS9 install on it with enough to print and get on the net with. Boot off that and see if the problem exists. If it does work its his issue not yours.
ASKER
Yeah well he go pissed and told us that he will not deal with us anymore. I just didn't want to deal with the system just yet. I wanted to save that issue for last. We never chared him so...
I hope he does not need a new logic board. He'll be PISSED. And blame it all on us.
I hope he does not need a new logic board. He'll be PISSED. And blame it all on us.
Well...i spose thats his perogative..at least its not yer problem anymore.
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rubbish, epson printers are fine. Ive been using one for years and never had a problem with it. Never even had to reinstall drivers.
lucky you
ASKER
Weed is right, I worked with many various EPSON printers and they are fine. I never heard of EPSON software damaging a serial port. Although my 2 issues are that maybe the U.S. Robotics External 56k modem sent a bad surge to one port and so they don't work together. He did have double power supplys all over the place with wires n' **** under his table. Or perhaps he could not work both together in the first place and so he needed us to fix it and blame us. But the guy could buy another G3 tower like pocket change. He seems to be a wealthy known Scientist in Phsycology. He lives in a Penthouse suite in NYC. 67th floor. Thats where I did the job. If it was really bad and he needed his machine to work, He could of just bought a blue/white G3 across the street. The man has a CLK 320 cherry red convertible. I mean can rich people still be cheap like that?
ASKER
Weed is right, I worked with many various EPSON printers and they are fine. I never heard of EPSON software damaging a serial port. Although my 2 issues are that maybe the U.S. Robotics External 56k modem sent a bad surge to one port and so they don't work together. He did have double power supplys all over the place with wires n' **** under his table. Or perhaps he could not work both together in the first place and so he needed us to fix it and blame us. But the guy could buy another G3 tower like pocket change. He seems to be a wealthy known Scientist in Phsycology. He lives in a Penthouse suite in NYC. 67th floor. Thats where I did the job. If it was really bad and he needed his machine to work, He could of just bought a blue/white G3 across the street. The man has a CLK 320 cherry red convertible. I mean can rich people still be cheap like that?
I think youve pretty much finished with this Q so you will want to let the EE staff know to delete it.
rich ppl can be cheap. how do u think they got to be rich in the first place?
ASKER