COM & LPT ports nonexistent in device manager.

or if you need to create and reinstall them

http://www.geocities.com/~budallen/comports.html

Thanx for the quick reply.
Did that and have one com port come now (#7) yet no response when I attach USB device.
Ports 1-6 are marked 'in use' (by what?) which is more than usual.

Can you see them in device manager?

if you see them and they are stated in use, try unistalling them in device manager and then reinstalling them using the link above, also would be owrth shutting down in between uninstalling and reinstalling to try an dclear them

Im out the office now until the monring so will check back with you ion about 15 hours

no, i cannot see them in device manager.
catch you when I do.

Normally, the COM ports in device manager lists 2 blutooth devices, and whatever i plug in will come in after that.
After the reinstallation above, there is only one COM port showing, which posts the error message (code 10) "this device cannot start".
There are no conflicts devices shown under the resources tab.
For some reason, it took COM7 and gave COM 2 in return.

If you have no "real" COM ports (proper old serial ports), your COM ports are software-created (virtual). I'm not too sure about these showing up in the device manager if there has been a glitch of sorts that disturbed the software. You may have to uninstall drivers that are connected with your USB devices (the ones that use a "COM" port) to have the system settle and then re-install whatever devices you have on virtual COM ports.
/RID

There are no real COM ports.
Aside from going thru device manager (which does not show me who the other devices are), the only understanding I have of your reply is to uninstall the managers, which, in my understanding, aren't the drivers themselves. More information?
I have no access to the ROM drive to re/install anything - ' been that way since I received the machine.

The only yellow I have is ! on the com port - uninstalled also. Doing reboot/s now.

This does sound like a driver (software) mess, because there are no real serial ports ("COM"), only USB. I would try with a total uninstall of all related drivers and programs and then reinstall as needed. If, however, there are no install media present that may be a problem, but usually there are such utilities present on the 'net, on the makers' home pages.
/RID

Hmmm.. Thanx for the advice.
I just now got the DVD unit working again via another thread.
A much needed reformat is beginning to sound atractive...

How about tryiong a repair install first as opposed to a reformat, takes half the time and might knock you out of the problem you are in?

I do not wish to enter in to a discussion as to the 'why' of what to do next when I am no closer to an understanding as to HOW to resolving the situation in any other manner as to when I started. The words used were "Beginning to...". Yes, you're right - a repair DOES take half the time WHEN there is a clear course of action or, choice of actions presented.

The step that has been proposed is;
to disinstall all drivers that may be accessing the COM ports - yet, without my posessing any access to the COM ports themselves or, any understanding of how to identify which drivers are trying to use the ports which may be causing all of the problems, where does this story go? If you may furnish me with the practical details of the 'how to' continue with this I will be pleased to perservere towards a solution since I am here primarily because I have absolutely no idea of how to proceed towards resolution of this problem.

Awaiting further instruction...

To be frank we have attempted to create new ports and reinstall the com ports as initially tried, flubbster has given steps to try and reset the usb ports which also failed, the ports dont actually exist so they cannot in essence be uninstalled in device manager as they are virtual.

teh steps we have suggested and taken are in my mind the progressive way to go and they havent resolved therefore the next step for me would be to try teh repair install, it will do no harm to your data files or damage anythig further and may resolve the situation if you arent happy with this then i apologise and wish you luck in resolving, please be aware though sometimes there isnt always a definitve reason why and a defined resolution and this could well be once of those times

Ok.
Yes, I agree with you in choice of action(s) and understand what you are saying.
I personally refer to the unexplainable and unresolvable glitches of the Win OS as; 'Bill Gates Curse' and accept this as being a fact of computer life ;)
I am astounded at the resource this site provides, in both speed and efficacy. Thank you.
I will follow up with closure to this question.

Nothing I attach is of any great deal - external hard drive, graphics tablet, flash drives and a plotter.
I will hunt them down and get back.

as a, possibly, final measure, you could try deleting the windows\infcahe folder. This will also force your system to install each driver as the devices are plugged in. The cache folder will be recreated at next system boot. If you do try this, pls reboot after.

I removed all devices I could think of; plotter, wireless & bluetooth.
The only other device I connect is an ext HDD and flash disk.
I did remove the inf folder - no noticable change.
The yellow ! remains in dev man.

would like to hear if the repair install does resolve it as it may not and then we will have to see where we go from there but i think that will remove the block

You're not gonna beliave this, but I've done a full format and it's still doing the same thing! EEEK!

Oh, and when I reinstall the bluetooth, it's telling me no bluetooth device, and yes, I did try pressing the 'bluetooth on' button... (sigh)

Oops on that last one, false alarm - no launch manager. :embarrassed:

curiouser and curiouser...

ok... you're gonna need a live chicken, some goat horn, 3 quarters, 14 inches of string, and a picture of Bill Gates. Wait for the next 3/4 moon, and....

this is truly strange. A full format.. hmmm

Have you tried resetting the BIOS to factory defaults, or even better, flashing the latest rev if there is one? I would try resetting it to factory defaults first and see if that buys you anything.

Another thing.. wondering if maybe the regulator ic's that power the usb ports might have been damaged somehow, and are no longer able to supply proper current?

ok thanx 4 that... off 2 Bios land to fetch the goat horn... lol

oh yeah, one more thing - whatever has got into it, the bluetooth is really not impressed. Fixing the launch buttons didn't help it, although the wireless is coming on fine. :Start scarey music:

scarey is right... wait till you find out what you have to do with the live chicken.... lol

good luck with the BIOS!

:sigh: live chicken it is then. Soup anyone?

Ok, so we have nothing happening, the dev man says;
"Windows cannot determine the settings for this device. Consult the documentation that came with this device and use the resource tab to set the configuration. (code 34)" (incase you wanted to read it 4 yourself).

:heart falls like a stone into the pit of the stomach:

It's almost as if plug-n-play is messed up. It should still allow you to set the device though. Tell me... when you say you put two devices on one port... just what do you mean?

NOTE: If this seems like a stupid question, then you really don't know me lol  I love stupid questions, because sometimes they provide just the right info you need. So... pardon my question, but just exactly what did you do?

:winces:
I was very freaked out by my deadline and my software insisted upon using com 1-4 to access the plotter.
None of the other devices would move despite restarting when all I did was change rooms to escape the kids. Thus, in dev man, I assigned the plotter to a port that was indicated to be in use. Yes, I saw the warning message regarding accessibility and have (perhaps) wrongly assumed that this would mean software, full stop. It does appear that the ensuing battle for supremacy of COM2 did involve the bluetooth device because it is behaving so poorly (it took 4 attempts to remove it just now) and I am beginning to think that you may be onto something with the burned out ic

Good idea (installs chipset drivers).
No change, well not the one we were after...

While you were away I put Sandra on to it and it came up saying that COM 3 is being used by the modem, yet info on the modem via the ports dialogue was slow in coming and showed a pile of errors. After installing the chipset drivers, this error dialogue went away.

I understand the COMports are only virtual, yet odd they are only found under te 'hardware tab' :shrugs: 'suppose not.

dang it...

Now that the chipset drivers are in, try deleting all the com ports (usb) and such, reboot and see if it gets detected properly. I wouldn't think it would work correctly without the chipset stuff.

it's a shot bud....

Oh yes, t'was a full format (not a quickie) and reinstallation.
the OEM files I have have no installer GUI so you have given me the idea to go thru and redo all from there, one folder at a time - worth a shot.

Disinstalled, restarted, no detection, manual install, no change.

Yeah... first step on a new install is the chipset drivers. It's like the foundation of the structure. Then you build from there. Wouldn't do to build the roof then try to fit a basement under it...

Makes sense.
Out looking for the bios update...

Great idea.

I see that the PCMCIA appears to be okay, tho' nothing to test it with.
Today is a national holiday - I am prepared to get one first thing tomorrow morning.

I've had a good holiday from work and certainly got my head in order and my options prioritized there - which is a much better state of mind than the nervous wreck I was on monday that caused this mess.

Deadline? what deadline? Ha ha ha!

LOL

good luck.. will be watching for updates

Have a pint on me...  ;)

bios flashed>no change>COM uninstalled>restart>COM not detected>manual COM install>no change

life goes on...

... thanx for the pint. Notwithstanding any great ideas, I'll be back in the morning with PCMCIA2USB card in hand :)

This really became some thread, I'm enjoying the read even if I haven't been able to come up with anything useful. I was too slow with the live chicken approach as it seems...
/RID

Lol. You don't know the half of it - if it wasn't for the /RW drive being fixed from another thread just the other day, we would have seen some real excitement!
Some bright spark shipped the thing to me from Australa to Europe in a padded jiffy bag alone!
The poor thing's held together by scotchtape before I even start with it!

Well the PCMCIA2USB card got me moving again.
Thanx to everyone for their input.
Regards,
tru

Thanx for your input on this headburster. We a good time.