Adding com ports??????

Hey Guys.......

First let me say I have little to no experience with XP as of yet.

A friend of mine called and told me her laptop would not sync her palm through her palm desktop software, also, she tried to install a camera, same thing, no go.

Her error is that it cannot open ports. I looked in Device manager.....there are no com ports installed, only lpt printer port. These devices are both USB and I did then go ahead and try to install a com port. It said it couldn't find a driver and remained opened with yellow exclamation point.

How the heck do I get a couple of com ports in XP and how do I make these two things work. Was fairly simple in 98........hmmm, I wonder how her modem is working if it doesn't have a com port assigned to it?

Thanks in advance,
Sharon

I asked the wrong question and removed it

I think you need to enable them in the bios because I got COM 1 and 2

I don't understand why do you want to add COM ports since the devices are USB :confused:
First, read the manuals, in order to find out if you need to install drivers. Some USB devices require you to install drivers before (not after) pluggin them.
IF that is so, check the device manager and remove drivers already installed for those devices, and re-install the drivers that came with the device., then plug the device.
Palm will install the drivers when you are installing the handhel, and it will tell you when you can connect the palm durin instalation.
Also make sure the HotSinc manager is set to connet thru USB. Probably there lies your problem. Right click on the icon in the system tray (a blue and a red arrow in a circle) and then see which connections have a check mark. Depending on your Palm are going to be the options, but it could go be Local, USB, CoM1 Com2.
If you let me know the model I can tell you more in detail. The USB camera should be easier to fix

I've followed the directions according to the palm software and did not plug it in until directed to do so. The camera is also USB and gives the same com port error on trying to install and run it.

The reason why I was trying to install com ports is because it said it couldn't sync because it couldn't open the port. When trying to investigate what ports may have been opened or used by something else, is when I discovered there were none installed. She'd used the palm on a com port even though it is USB on her desktop in the office. It is marked in the tray to sync via USB and not serial. As I said, I have little experience with XP, and it seemed so easy to check the resources and add com ports if necessary in 98. Since XP is so different in looks and in my opinion, you have to click 5 times to the 2 you used to to get where you want to go, I'm fumbling around in it and don't know where to go. I know I had a heck of a time just trying to add a dial up to it because it looks so different and things are not where they were in 98. Yeah, I know I'm whining.......I'm not used to such a big change, but alas, I must soon embrace it.

I will give the BIOS a try.........didn't think about that. This is a Northgate Laptop if that helps any. Not sure what model of Palm it is........she just bought a new one she wants to use.

I'll keep ya posted........and thanks

Sharon

If you have issues getting the port to work, you can try the Northgate online technical support:

http://support.lan-plus.com/support/tech_form.asp


The com port should be configured when you installed the software for the USB product. In your case something is obviously going wrong. I think the advice given here is heading in the right direction.


One thing else to try, plug the USB device in, then restart the computer immediately and wait till the wizard pops up, the insert the cd when it asks for it, and let it install the necessary drivers beforehand..

Sometimes, for some reason or another, the USB device should be plugged in prior to turning on the PC.

And in other cases plugging in USB devices before booting can cause other issues. :D

Keep at it and let us know how you get on. I think enabling the com port in the BIOS is a definite step in the right direction.

Start>Control Panel>System>Hardware>Device Manager

Right click on Universal Serial Bus controllers and then click on Scan for hardware changes. Also if you have Windows CE USB Devices listed in Device Manager do the same for it if needed..

By doing this it should locate the Palm again...

:D