PIC serial ok on W98 not on XP - Is there any config required on XP?

[Taipan]

Hi,

built a 16C84 PIC serial i/f as per the accompaning documentation and Vitaly's original firmware (N.B. there is a circuit error, needs a pull up on RTCC pin 3 on the 16C84).

Works perfectly on an old W98 box. Then tried on a Dell 8400 XP sp2 desktop a Dell Lattitude D600 laptop WP sp2 without success. Suspected that neither liked the +/- 5V signal levels, added a MAX 232 level shifter and a lab supply to eliminate supply issues. Scoped the RS-232 signals and they look fine, but absolutely no response when attempting to calibrate. Anybody had any similar experiences?

Is there a document that deals with WP setup & troubleshooting?

[Taipan]

Hi all,

pretty embarrasing to own up to this, but the problem was simply that the com port was in use. The problem was a hotsync daemon for a PDA. So the moral of the story is to check that the com port is not locked by another process, FMS does not report the conflict.

My only excuse is that I am not a windows person, much more comfortable in unix.

Enjoying flying FMS, thanks for a great project.

[Spoon]

did you uninstall the pda software or did you just reconfig it?

[Taipan]

Hi,

by default the Palm desktop installs hotsync to start when you login, you can reconfigure by launching the palm desktop app then select menu option Hotsync->Setup and under the General tab, set the hotsync manager to be available only when the Palm desktop is running or Manual (you start it).

Obviously if you experience symptoms similar to this, have a good look around for anything else that might have the serial port tied up e.g. fax modem software on auto answer.

I do not know if there is a way to find out if an application is using a com port in XP.