Com Port Busy in XP ?

[SPVFD47]

I'm hoping someone can help me here... I'm a bit stumped. I'm not new to computers or programing, although I haven't done any recently. I use to use an old Toshiba Satelite laptop that orginally had Win 3.11 that I upgrade to 95 and was good to run DOS on also. That laptop died on me and since then I haven't done any programming until today. In the mean time I picked up a Dell Latitude that has a 9 pin serial port. The previous owner installed XP on it. Prior to today I just used the laptop to connect to my OBD Scanner and a Multiplexer used to connect to Mercedes Benz's. I installed the CPS on it and when I tried to read a HT1250 and it won't read it. The software doesn't even see the rib. I then noticed that the busy light is constantly lit on the rib. I shut the rib off and unpluged it and turned it on, when not connected to the laptop only the power light is lit. Shut it off, plugged it in again, turned it on and the busy light lit right back up. Thought the cables might be bad so I swapped both out. Same deal. I restarted the laptop and the busy light went off. The busy light stayed off till Windows began to load... I'm guessing for some reason Win XP is using the port and causing a problem. Anyone seen this happen before or have any insight ?

[SteveC0625]

I'm hoping someone can help me here... I'm a bit stumped. I'm not new to computers or programing, although I haven't done any recently. I use to use an old Toshiba Satelite laptop that orginally had Win 3.11 that I upgrade to 95 and was good to run DOS on also. That laptop died on me and since then I haven't done any programming until today. In the mean time I picked up a Dell Latitude that has a 9 pin serial port. The previous owner installed XP on it. Prior to today I just used the laptop to connect to my OBD Scanner and a Multiplexer used to connect to Mercedes Benz's. I installed the CPS on it and when I tried to read a HT1250 and it won't read it. The software doesn't even see the rib. I then noticed that the busy light is constantly lit on the rib. I shut the rib off and unpluged it and turned it on, when not connected to the laptop only the power light is lit. Shut it off, plugged it in again, turned it on and the busy light lit right back up. Thought the cables might be bad so I swapped both out. Same deal. I restarted the laptop and the busy light went off. The busy light stayed off till Windows began to load... I'm guessing for some reason Win XP is using the port and causing a problem. Anyone seen this happen before or have any insight ?

Poke around in the Device Manager. I am guessing that the OBD and Multiplexer might be hogging the serial port. Or you need to assign the serial port to a different comm port. It could also be a UART problem, speed or such. I haven't had to touch a UART issue since the day I unplugged my last 56k modem so I can't offer any tips there.

[SPVFD47]

The OBD Scanner and Multiplexer use the same serial port. I only have 1 serial port on the laptop and now that I think about it I've never used the multiplexer on this laptop yet. I've only used my OBD 2 USB scanner with this laptop now that I think about it, the other laptop didn't have a USB port. I ended up just using my USB cable to program the HT1250 but that won't work for the MT2000.

I did notice that when I used the "Scan for new devices" option in the Device Manager the busy light went off. Makes me think it has more to do with Windows and some service thats running. Worse can I think I'll delete the Win XP and Install the original factory Windows 95. The DOS apps work better with 95 if you ask me.

[SteveC0625]

The OBD Scanner and Multiplexer use the same serial port. I only have 1 serial port on the laptop and now that I think about it I've never used the multiplexer on this laptop yet. I've only used my OBD 2 USB scanner with this laptop now that I think about it, the other laptop didn't have a USB port. I ended up just using my USB cable to program the HT1250 but that won't work for the MT2000.

I am puzzled that it did not work for the MT2000, however.

I did notice that when I used the "Scan for new devices" option in the Device Manager the busy light went off. Makes me think it has more to do with Windows and some service thats running. Worse can I think I'll delete the Win XP and Install the original factory Windows 95. The DOS apps work better with 95 if you ask me.

XP should be just as stable a platform for programming as 95. I still think there's a misassignment of the comm port and that it can be corrected and work well with your rib.

I bought an inline ABCD serial switch that switches all 9 lines. I have four different Motorola programming cables connected to it. At the turn of the switch, I can use any of the four with no serial port conflicts.

[Bill_G]

What busy light on a RIB?

[wavetar]

What busy light on a RIB?

He's using a Polaris or other 3rd party unit:

http://polarisusa.com/pvi_images/462/1218117352-l.jpg

[Bill_G]

What busy light on a RIB?

He's using a Polaris or other 3rd party unit:

http://polarisusa.com/pvi_images/462/1218117352-l.jpg

Ah. Thanks.

Sounds to me like the com port is being grabbed by an application that loads during startup. Or it could be broken.

[fineshot1]

What busy light on a RIB?

He's using a Polaris or other 3rd party unit:

http://polarisusa.com/pvi_images/462/1218117352-l.jpg

Ah. Thanks.

Sounds to me like the com port is being grabbed by an application that loads during startup. Or it could be broken.

I have seen this before, sometimes an app that uses the comm port fails to let it go and continues to keep it until said app
is removed. Probably his OBD 2 USB scanner app.