Missing COM Port

[clockwork]

My main PC is a 3Ghz machine running XP service Pack 3. I had previously used it to program Picaxes via a AXE027 USB cable working on Com Port 4. (The USB connection is from a USB port on the motherboard via extension board fitted at the front of the PC providing 4 USB ports). All the USB ports appear to be working correctly.

I last used the PC to program Picaxes around 2 months ago. Yesterday I connected the PC
up to a breadboard layout that I know is working. However the PC did not recognise that a AXE027 cable was present. When I checked I found that the Device Manager only lists COM Port 1, no others are present. The Picaxe Programming Manager shows (via Options - Serial Port that Com Port 1 is in use and all other ports are "Not Available", although it shows the AXE027 is present on Com Port 4.

I have not been able to rectify the problem.

Qn 1/. What caused my Com Port 4 to dissapear?

Qn 2/. HOw do I rectify the situation?



Clockwork

 

[clockwork]

Update

After trying everything I could think of I gave up and had lunch.

I then swtiched PC back on to find that it had found New Hardware - the AXE027 Cable.
I had left the cable connected. I have no idea what I did or didn't do as previously the PC found nothing new.

The net result is that I now have a functioning AXE027 cable that will program Picaxes, but is on COM Port 5. COM Port 4 still shows that it is not available but has the AXE027 Driver.

My main problem is solved as I can now program Picaxes via my main PC once again but I am still interested in what caused the problem in the first place and how to correct it.

One thing about playing around with the windows software is that you find bits that you have never seen before such as "Microsoft Serial Ballpoint", I havent a clue what it is or does but will now have a look on Google.

Clockwork

 

[papaof2]

One thing about playing around with the windows software is that you find bits that you have never seen before such as "Microsoft Serial Ballpoint", I havent a clue what it is or does but will now have a look on Google.

Clockwork

That's a mouse-equivalent button in the keyboard. I've seen it on a lot of IBM laptops and a few Dells.

John

 

[John O]

One thing about playing around with the windows software is that you find bits that you have never seen before such as "Microsoft Serial Ballpoint", I havent a clue what it is or does but will now have a look on Google.

Clockwork

The Microsoft Serial Ballpoint caused me no end of trouble with the Picaxe's COM port a month or two ago.

What I discovered was that, if you dare to plug in an unrecognised USB device in (such as my el-cheapo SatNav), for some reason best known to Microsoft, Windows decides it must be a Serial Ballpoint and it automatically installs the appropriate driver. The problem is that, when you unplug the unrecognised device, the Ballpoint driver stays installed. If it's the same COM port as you normally use for the Picaxe cable, it becomes unusable for the Picaxe - or anthing else for that matter.

The problem's aggravated because, if you then try to use your unrecognised device in another USB port, that one becomes "poisoned" as well.

The best option is to Disable it in Device Manager (Mice and Pointing Devices). It's no good uninstalling it because it'll just re-install itself next time you use the unrecognised device.

John.

 

[John West]

Thank you for the information, John O. I have had more difficulties with getting my PC's to program picaxes than I've had with the picaxe circuits and software routines themselves, so this type of info is critical to using the picaxe system.

This is a big problem for me, because PC support is about as bad as picaxe support is good.

I would very much like to see a compilation of all such problems and their solutions (if known.) It would save a great deal of time and frustration.

.

 

[inglewoodpete]

The net result is that I now have a functioning AXE027 cable that will program Picaxes, but is on COM Port 5. COM Port 4 still shows that it is not available but has the AXE027 Driver.

The port number will change if you plug the AXE027 into a different port. This is especially noticable (and annoying) if you use a USB hub, as I do on my laptop.

 

[John O]

The net result is that I now have a functioning AXE027 cable that will program Picaxes, but is on COM Port 5. COM Port 4 still shows that it is not available but has the AXE027 Driver.

Another point I forgot to mention in my other post is that, when you look at the Driver Properties of the "rogue" Serial Ballpoint, it does in fact use the AXE027 driver. So, it will appear in the PE's Serial Port list (Options | Serial Port) as AXE027 Available, but will produce an error (Port is in use by another application) if you try to use it.

The 'other application' being the phantom Serial Ballpoint.

John.

 

[inglewoodpete]

From time to time the USB ports on my PC get into a tangle. Things like USB flash drives become unrecognised or unreliable.

After doing some research, I found the solution was to go into hardware manager and disable all USB devices and hubs. Rebooting the PC gets it all excited as it "discovers" all this new hardware and it installs the basic drivers. Just like new.

 

[John O]

From time to time the USB ports on my PC get into a tangle. Things like USB flash drives become unrecognised or unreliable.

After doing some research, I found the solution was to go into hardware manager and disable all USB devices and hubs. Rebooting the PC gets it all excited as it "discovers" all this new hardware and it installs the basic drivers. Just like new.

It's worth trying the "Scan for new hardware" option first. If you disable all USB devices & hubs one at a time (I don't think you can do them all at once), you can disable the mouse before you've disabled all the others, if you're unlucky.

The root cause of the problem is that some devices don't uninstall their driver properly when you unplug them unless you use the "Safely Remove USB Hardware" icon in the SysTray (and nobody remembers to use that!). That USB port can then become unusable for anything else. So you move on to another USB port until that one becomes unusable as well.

John.

 

[john2051]

re: problem regarding serial ball point

Hi,
I had alot of problems with the axe027 and the "microsoft ballpoint".
What I found was, if you plug in your axe027, but with the project power OFF, wait while windows says your hardware is ready to use etc. Then switch on the project. This has worked every time for me. Maybe windows sees the picaxe chip as a serial device, and gets the driver wrong.
Hope this helps...
regards....John