modem and com port common understanding

[koko]

hi
p-1 ; 133MHZ ; 32MB RAM; MODEM MOTOROLA SM56-VOICE MODEM
win98 OS
One postteenager made some changes and modem not working
any more.
he told me that modem wos on com4 port but now com4 port
dessapear and there is only com1, com2-with mouse and
com3.
we remove modem from device manager and install it again
on com3 .
but when we try diagnost for com3 there is no modem installed.
so, how can we recover com4 port and why com3 port dont like
modem?
thanks.:rolleyes:

[Budfred]

COM3 and COM4 are virtual ports and are created by software as needed. You probably need to completely Remove all drivers and COM ports in Device Manager and reboot to let Windoze reinstall the standard COM ports and then reinstall the drivers for the modem. You may need to completely remove the modem for a while to make this work. I would also remove the COM ports from Safe Mode to make sure you get everything.

[alex666]

What Budfred said, especially the part about physically removing the modem for a while.

[sleddog]

Here is a setup installation for that modem: http://e-www.motorola.com/collateral/SM56_DRIVERS.html

I'd remove all existing traces of the modem and then run the setup. This should detect the modem and install it on the correct com port. The page has step-by-step instructions.

[Sylvander]

It might be a good idea to check:
“BIOS Setup>Integrated Peripherals Setup Menu”
------------------------------------------------------------
Onboard Serial Port 1 = 3F8/IRQ4
Onboard Serial Port 2 = 2F8/IRQ3

These are my settings and I believe they are fairly standard.

[no-mbr]

One of the "first" things to do when investigating unknown modems setting is to go into the PC bios and disable both com ports.

In the "general BIOS setup" area, disable "fastboot" or enable display all" messages. Whe the PC boots, look for the "ser" or "comm" area of the upper part of the boot screen. Have your finger ready to "pause" the boot by pressing the "pause button"....

If the modem is not plug and play you will have an accurate display of the port setting.. Or else an incorrect setup of modem jumpers. If the modem is plug n play it will not display a comm port, usually..
it will display an IRQ, in the PCI device list most of the time.....

After the modem port value is know you can addin motherboard comm ports as "auto" or alternate values....... I would expect this has has all been written in the PC GUIDE faqs somewhere........