Dell Dimension L1000R

"WSZsr" wrote in message
...
The system never shipped with XP so those "idiots" at Dell shouldn't help
you anyway. Call Microsoft for support.

It was there with 2000 as well and there was no indication that this was an
OS problem.

I've been doing a little research and just in case someone is interested in
what caused the problem here's what I've found.
The system reports both ports as being on the Intel 82801AA interface
controller (so much for virtual) which is part of the Intel 82810e chipset.
According to Intel this chipset supports dual serial ports which are
controlled by the system's BIOS but, and this is the important part, unless
the BIOS specifically disables the port it will default to the com2
settings. From the errata sheets which were not exactly clear it may be that
there was some misinformation about this in the original specification. So
while the problem may be a result of either mistaken documentation or a
mistake in the BIOS design it is ultimately a hardware/BIOS issue which can
only be addressed by Dell. The system is using the latest BIOS (A13) so I
don't believe there is much I can do to resolve this without Dell. Given
that this showed up with both a clean 2K and XP install I find it difficult
to believe that I'm the first to notice it. While Dell may or may not have a
fix for it I suspect that at some point in the next week or two the issue
will be escalated to someone who has seen this before. At least that's my
hope.

RC wrote in message m...

"Christopher Muto" wrote in message
...
my new years resolution is to not reply in a helpful way to people that
come
out swinging with complaints.
it is easier to catch bees with honey than vinegar.
happy new year.

Like I'm the only one who's had a problem with Dell's overseas support.
They
used to have the best support, I recommended them to everyone (customers
and
family). Now I just say that normally they are great PCs, but if you have
to
call support be ready for a long process. Fortunately their server support
is better.

My guess is you just don't know the answer.




My guess is you don't either, or you wouldn't be here.

On Wed, 31 Dec 2003 19:56:07 -0500, RC wrote:

Well I tried Dell support, what a bunch of idiots, I'd swear they just
cut
and paste a few irrelevant paragraphs and pronounce the problem solved.

Maybe someone here has seen this.

I've got a Dimension L1000R, it wasn't in use so I can't say if what I'm
seeing is new or was always there. I did a clean install of XP and it
detected all the hardware fine but two serial ports were detected (there
is
only one on this system). The specs and the bios say the same thing, one
serial port. XP shows a com1 and a com2 with the traditional IRQs and
I/Os,
and that they are both working. Event logs are clean.

Normally I'd just ignore it and move on, but in this case I need at
least 2
serial ports and added an additional card. The card also works fine
providing com3 and com4. Again, I wish I could just leave it at that but
I
have a couple application specific communication programs that require
com1
and com2, and com2 isn't "really" there. I can't set one of the expansion
ports to the com2 addresses because they are "in use" by the phantom
com2.
Even if I disable the phantom port, it still reports the resources as in
use. XP absolutely sees this as a physical com port.

Has anyone seen this phantom port? Or am I just lucky?

After a couple emails Dell just says "I wish to inform you that the
second
port is the virtual port." to which I replied "What virtual port?..."

Thanks in advance
RC


I don't know the answer to your question, but I recommend posting in:
alt.windows-xp . Some of the regulars there are extremely knowledgeable
and may be able to either advise you or provide links to solve your
enquiry.

Good luck.

Buck.

--
Using M2, Opera's revolutionary e-mail client: http://www.opera.com/m2/

RC wrote:

"WSZsr" wrote in message
...

The system never shipped with XP so those "idiots" at Dell shouldn't help
you anyway. Call Microsoft for support.

It was there with 2000 as well and there was no indication that this was an
OS problem.

Hmmm, can you disable the 2nd COM port in the BIOS?

"S.Lewis" wrote in message
...
My guess is you don't either, or you wouldn't be here.

Absolutely correct. I never claimed otherwise.

"Gus" wrote in message
et...
Hmmm, can you disable the 2nd COM port in the BIOS?

The BIOS only shows one com port. I think this is the root of the problem,
the chipset is designed to support 2 com ports but the BIOS only deals with
one. The chipset is a standard Intel 82810e, but the BIOS is Dell specific
(although based on a more or less standard). According to Intel's
documentation, unless the BIOS specifically disables the port, it will
default to enabled.

I've done some eeprom (which is all the BIOS chip is) bit level
modifications before but that was on radio equipment. I'm not sure I'm ready
to do it on this, but in theory I could use Intel's documentation to
identify the enable/disable bit and just change that one.

You know, as I write this I was just thinking that maybe the BIOS is
corrupted even though it appears to working OK. A little later today I'll
flash it and see if it clears the erroneously enabled com port.

Thanks for the suggestion.

Thanks Gus it was your post that got me think in the right direction. I
flash the same BIOS in again and the phantom com port is gone. One flipped
bit is all it took. I guess I should consider myself lucky that the corrupt
BIOS only affected the com port and not something critical.

RC wrote in message m...
Thanks Gus it was your post that got me think in the right direction. I
flash the same BIOS in again and the phantom com port is gone. One flipped
bit is all it took. I guess I should consider myself lucky that the
corrupt
BIOS only affected the com port and not something critical.




This resolution is helpful to know. What BIOS version did you use. ?


Stew

This resolution is helpful to know. What BIOS version did you use. ?


Stew

What, no snide remarks this time ;-)

It was the A14 BIOS but I don't believe it was an inherent BIOS problem.
More likely it was just a flipped bit (corruption) and it just happened to
be the one associated with disabling the second com port. Just another
reminder to never forget your basics.

On a somewhat comical note, Dell support got back to me with the below. Now
remember I've corrected the problem and the phantom port is no longer there.

"I would like to inform you that physically there is only one
serial port on the computer but internally the system can assign(share)
it to two devices as Com 1 and Com 2 , so that is perfectly normal."

Anyone who knows PCs can tell this doesn't make any sense. How could you
share it with two devices? There's only one port. And it is by no means
normal. I offered to share the solution with them, just have a manager give
me a call. No call so far.

RC wrote in message m...

This resolution is helpful to know. What BIOS version did you use. ?


Stew

What, no snide remarks this time ;-)



Nope. I'm here to learn as well as help.

That resolution does hint at some sort of CMOS corruption that is now
apparently resolved. It's enough to wonder why it ditzed initially.(?)
Temporary power/environment glitch....or intermittent failure of some sort.
Head scratcher.

Hopefully, never to return.


Stew