RIB or PC problem?

[Hey Nurse]

Hey all, got something I would love some advice/direction on:

Recently my RIB stopped working....or maybe it was my laptop. I am not sure which is to blame.

I have a chinabay RIB ~AND~ an RLN4008D OEM RIB and a smattering of older handhelds (HT600, MT1000, Saber II, HT1000, and some MTS2000s). I have an older Pentium II laptop tat I have successfully use to program with over the last 4-5 years. Lately, If I connect either the knockoff or OEM RIBs, I get varying failure messages from the RSS(es) and am unable to read/write/whatever.
* Yes, the laptop has a legit serial port and not some USB---->serial cable crap.
*Checked all the cable connections and switched to a known good cable. NO change.
*Ensured the RIB(s) had good/new 9v batteries. Still no change
*Tried another laptop (also old PII machine). Even more lack of change.

!!!But!!!

If I take the RIBs and connect my MTS2Ks to a newer laptop running win 7 and fire up CPS, they recognize and read/write the MTS's FINE.

I am inclined to believe that there may be some problem with the older laptop and its COM port or with components in the RIBs (I believe there is a resistor that likes to go out over time and creates problems in operating with/on certain older gear?). Can anyone point me in the right direction?

[Andreas]

Disable the cache and try it again!

Andreas

[Hey Nurse]

Disable the cache and try it again!

Andreas

This model (Dell Latitude CPi) is set so that the cache may NOT be disabled.

[gtriever]

Two RIBs and one COM port in common, sound like a COM Port issue. Especially since the RIB(s) work with a different machine. Can you go into Device Manager, uninstall the COM Port and reboot?

[Andreas]

You can us this to disable the cache:
http://www.agh-technik.orgfree.com/archiv/cache.zip
Always boot the PC with real DOS!

Andreas

[Hey Nurse]

First off, thank you for all the suggestions posted!

I tried messing with this a bit more, and after a bit of tinkering per suggestions...

* I uninstalled and reinstalled the COM port in device manager. I Rebooted and now the computer starts to read the radio and then throws a "COM PORT EVENT" error. Probable causes are listed as No RIB, No RIB power, Malfunctioning RIB, and serial card or RIB--PC connection problem...

* I ran the RSS after running the Slow program to turn caches OFF. The result was the same.

[Hey Nurse]

Through a little more tinkering, I have found out that NO DOS based programming will work........but anything windows (IE MTS2000 CPS or Kenwood TK380 CPS) will work just fine...

I have tried all of the aforementioned steps, including the cache disable software and removing/reinstalling the COM port.

Suggestions?

[tdats]

Are you running the dos based software in dos, or in a dos window within windows? From what I understand, you should run the dos software in dos by booting to dos or using a dos boot disk. It had something to do with windows not giving exclusive control of the com port to the software if I remember correctly. I have heard it works fine for some people, and not for others to add to the confusion.