[ct-user] WinNT experts: Quatech QSP-100 quad serial port PCMCIA difficulties

[Bob Mandeville]

I've used the Quatech QSP-100.  One item has me confused.  You say that the Quatech ports are COM3-6.  I believe that the software only
allows them to load as COM5-8.  Was anything done to reconfigure these to COM3-6?  If so, you might try to reconfigure them again, only
as COM5-8.  In all my experience with the Quatech, it always loaded above COM4 (once, it even loaded as COM6-9)

I hope this might give you a clue to use.

Bob, N1EDM


Eric Scace wrote:

> Howdy folks --
>
>    I'm having difficulty getting some additional serial ports running on my machine in order to support radio communications.
> Perhaps someone with WinNT administrator experience will have a couple of ideas to help.
>
>    Here are the details:
> machine:  Dell Inspiron 7500 laptop.
> operating system:  WinNT 4.0 SP5 workstation.
> latest Quatech drivers for NT are loaded & running.
> COM port configuration:
>    COM1 - rear panel serial port.
>    COM2 - built in modem
>    COM3-6 - Quatech ports.
> IRQ and base address rundown (from WinNT Diagnostics):
>    1: i8042prt - bus 0 ISA - 0060, 0064.  [I think this is the keyboard and mouse port driver.]
>    4: serial - bus 0 ISA - 03F8-03FF.  This is COM1 (works fine).
>    5: LTmodem - bus 0 PCI - 1080-1086 & 1800-1807.  This modem is on COM2 (works fine).
>    5: maestro - bus 0 PCI - 1400-14FF.  [This is the soundcard controller.  See note below.]
>    6: floppy - bus 0 ISA - 03F0-03F5, 03F7.
>    7: WinNT Diagnostics doesn't list this, but the hardware boot setup process shows the parallel port configured for IRQ 7, base
> 0378.
>    9: CBENT - bus 0 PCI - F500-F57F.  This is a Xircom Ethernet PCMCIA card, which works fine.
>    10: assigned to COM3-6, the Quatech COM ports.  Doesn't show up in the WinNT Diagnostics listing, but see the Event Log report
> later.
>    12: i8042prt - bus 0 ISA.
>    14: atapi - bus 0 ISA - 0170-0177, 01F0-01F7, 0376, 03F6, 1050-1057, and 1058-105F.
>    15: atapi.
>
>    In addition WinNT Diagnostics shows other I/O port addresses assigned as follows:
>    VGASave - bus 0 PCI - 01CE-01CF, 03B0-03BB.
>    ParPort - bus 0 ISA - 0378-037A.
>    ati2mpab - bus 1 PCI - 03B0-03BB, 03C0-03Df, 2000-20FF.  This is the display driver.
>
>    And a bunch of very low address I/O ports are used by PC compatible EISA/ISA HAL device.
>
> On this Dell laptop, the PCMCIA cards are not really managed by the WinNT PCMCIA applet, but by a Softex PC Card Controller.  The
> Softex PC Card Controller shows the Quatech card as "available for use (Point Enable)", IRQ=10 and base I/O at x300-31F.
>
> It does seem odd that the "maestro" driver shares IRQ5 with the LTmodem.  However, they've done this since the day the laptop
> arrived without apparent problems so far.
>
> The Control Panel/Port applet shows:
>    COM1 - IRQ 4, I/O base address x3F8.
>    COM2 - defined, but the "advanced" button is grayed out so the applet doesn't report on IRQ or base address values.  RegEdit
> shows a key in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\ltmodem named "ModemIsr" with a value of 5.  The key "ModemIo"
> has a value of x100.
>    COM3 thru 6 are defined as per the Quatech documented default, which appears not to conflict on this machine: IRQ=10, and base
> addresses of x300, x308, x310, and x318 respectively.
>
> Upon startup, the Event Logger reports an error: "The status port for COM3 overlaps the control registers for the device."  I
> suspect the Quatech device is not operating, despite what the Softex PC Card controller reports -- nothing resembling the device is
> listed in WinNT diagnostics 'devices'... WinNT diagnostics does not show IRQ10 in use... nor does it show I/O port addresses 300-31F
> in use.
>
> Although the PC Card Controller shows the Quatech card installed, and the Control Panel/Port applet shows everything is in order, in
> fact no application is able to communicate with COM3 through 6.  WriteLog, for example, reports that COM3 or 4 is unavailable when
> one attempts to configure a radio on it; WriteLog works fine on COM1 (the back panel serial port).  The Kachina software works fine
> on COM1 but doesn't see the radio or tuning knob when configured to use COM3 thru 6.
>
> The registry keys for the card appear correct according to the manufacturer's documentation, except for one:
>    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\Pcmcia\Database\Quatech Inc\PCMCIA Quad RS-232 Serial Port
> Card\AttributeMemorySize is in the registry with value x8100 (33,024) when the documentation shows a value of 4096.  But this is a
> database entry so I'm skeptical that this really is doing anything.  And I am loathe to edit the registry without someone looking
> over my shoulder.
>
> The drivers and installer software is the most current version from the manufacturer's website and, other than noted above,
> everything aligns with the manufacturer's specs.
>
> Any ideas?
>
> -- Eric R3/K3NA
>
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