[TRLog] TRLog & serial ports 3

rpb w9zv@attbi.com
Sat, 14 Dec 2002 11:24:47 -0600


Hi Rick & All who responded,

Since my original post ( read the included post at the bottom for context )
I have made quite a lot of progress.

Although not perfect yet, I thought I would share what actions I took so
others may experiment.  All the COM ports now work (mostly) with TR with my
radio interface on COM1 as well as the Packet interface on COM2 (jumped via
cable to COM3 for Telnet spots c/o WinTelnetX).  I still am having some
strange behavior which I need to explore, but this is MUCH farther than what
I initially had which was squat.  Lots of brain farting involved, but
eventually it is working.

If this info corrects the problem for someone who is having problems, I'd
like to know, otherwise I have no idea if this set of solutions is unique to
my install/board or shared.

Line Printer Port/Keying problems :
For those of you who have had difficulty using using the Parallel port for
keying I can share with you what I found to be the problem with my setup
when I tried to use it.  Initially, TR did not work with the Parallel port,
I could not get the keying to work.  However, once I went into the BIOS and
configured the Parallel port from "EPP" mode to "LPT" (or "Normal" on some
BIOS') mode it began to work.  Apparently, the way in which the driver
behaves with the "Enhanced Parallel Port" is different than when the older
"Line Printer" port device is employed. So, navigate to your BIOS settings,
and change the type of parallel port you have (and which is advertised to
the OS) from "EPP" to "LPT".  See if that works.....

COM Port issues in 98ME, and the DOS penalty box :
Don't ask me how got going down this path but....
What I discovered is that the problem seems to mostly come from the Advanced
Power management (ACPI or APM) that is now built into virtually all
contemporary motherboards.  I came to this conclusion after thinking through
what has been added to the hardware environment that was not there when
these DOS programs were originally conceived. There is a long story to why
this is, but the short answer is it's related to how the OS Boot/BIOS
initially configure the COM ports, then the OS comes along and turns the
power off on them until use, then turns them back on, and the related
sequencing of the hardware initialization.  What you need to do is disable
the power management on the OS. This can be done via a registry entry in 98
(all flavors).

DANGER WILL ROBINSON - Vast is thy way to destruction using the registry
editor !
One small slip of the finger here will render your machine useless, so if
you haven't done this before pse don't blame me if your box is
transmogrified into toast.  If this helps someone else, I will create a
couple of registry files  available which will automatically make the proper
registry changes without risk. They will allow the toggling on/off of the
APM for the COM port driver.

  1.. Use Registry Editor (Regedit.exe) to locate the EnablePowerManagement
value in the following registry key:

  HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\VxD\VCOMM
  2.. On the Edit menu, click Modify, change 01 to 00, and then click OK.
  3.. Quit Registry Editor.

I still have some anomalous behavior when changing bands (have to hit it
multiple times), but for all intents and purposes, it now works.

APM/BIOS :
After tickled by this little tidbit above, I also went back into the BIOS
and disabled the power management for the motherboard.  Since how one does
this is specific to a particular BIOS/MB combination, I cannot describe for
you how you would have to do this on your specific board.

After changing these kibbles and bits my radio magically appeared in TR and
spots and the spot log began working.....  Miller Time (actually Hacker
Pshorr weiss beer time) was officially declared !

The Bottom Ball on the Snowman here is that APM/ACPI never existed in the
days when DOS programs were created,  or for that matter DOS itself.  Turn
it off.   This likely applies to all versions of 95/98.

Serial drivers:
 there are a couple of updates to the serial driver (serenum.vxd) that one
should be aware of. The version of the file originally shipped by MS on ME
is v4.90.3000, and I have installed 4.90.3001... I am aware that there is a
4.90.3002 version of this driver, but I cannot find where it can be obtained
(cant find it on the MS site, even though they say it's there). Who knows if
this will fix anything.  The .3001 version that one of the TRLog guys sent
me (tnx Bernie) did not seem to make any difference after it was installed,
but this info is here FYI.

Date       Time     Version     Size     File name
   ----------------------------------------------------
   01/17/01   9:09pm   4.90.3001   13,047   Serenum.vxd

Similar updates to the serial driver have been made to versions of 95, 98,
98SE as well (different versions than that above).

General:
Additionally, I setup the configuration of the COM ports in the Device
manager to the settings that I expect that my Radio and packet interfaces to
be.  Again, if you are not comfortable using device manager, be careful.



This couple of hours of diddling resulted in ALMOST perfect operation... I'm
still working on getting it ALL right, but maybe this will help some of you
out there.

As always, YMMV...

Feedback is welcome, let me know if this helps anyone out there.... I will
continue to putz as I have time....

Cheers,
-bob


> If you resolve this problem, please publish the result. I have similar
> difficulty with my Win 98 system. In fact, it used to work just fine. As
> they say "I didn't change anything," but now trlog can't see the COM
> port OR the parallel port.
>
> GL & 73,
>
> /Rick N6XI
>
> rpb wrote:
>
> >I bow to all you TRLog/PC gods out there..... hear my case....
> >
> >Ok i have in interesting dilemma that im sure someone will have a simple
answer for.
> >Please do not respond if all you can add is "boot to DOS"....... been
there done that....
> >
> >I have been running TRLog for years via a DOS window with no problems.
Unfortunately, that PC upchucked so i built another and loaded/formatted the
disk with WinME, all exactly like before the crash.
> >
> >BTW, I use WinTelnetX (K1TTT tnx) to connect to internet cluster and tie
com3 to com2 to feed spots into TRLog so it thinks it's talking to a TNC....
it's a real slick way of getting your spots fed into TRLog from the
internet.  Likely this is suitable only to the casual contester as myself,
the real serious die hards will probably always run DOS.
> >
> >But now, everything is toast, since TRLog went deaf on the COM ports, and
i'm running out of ideas to try....
> >
> >Situation:
> >
> >Running TRLog on WinME, lots of memory lots of cpu, fresh
machine/disk/install....
> >standard com ports for 1,2,
> >SIIG PCI serial card for com 3/4
> >COM1 = Radio
> >COM2 = PACKET (via jumper cable to COM3, WinTelnetx to internet)
> >COM ports have RTS/CTS jumped (just in case, but I havent tried jumping
DSR/DTR yet)
> >
> >baud rates/com port settings and TRLog config files as they were on my
old machine where everything worked  Yet on this new machine, TRLog is deaf
to the COM ports.
> >
> >When I use Hyperterminal on COM1, i can see all the radio responses...
tune around and watch the radio spit back fine... all is well
> >
> >kill hyperterminal, run TRLog.. TRLog cannot see the radio... I setup
TRLog debugging, and the debug log is zero length indicating squat is coming
from the radio
> >
> >TRLog cannot see packet either, strange unprintable characters pop
out..... like it cant "see" the ports.
> >
> >so, i assume the same issue is occurring with both ports....   since
debugging the packet port is a little easier (because i can see it with the
packet command in trlog) i persue debugging on the packet port.
> >
> >kill off trlog and the dos window, setup hyperterminal on com2 and com3,
talks to each other fine..... ports are fine (no handshake, same baudrates
and stop bit settings etc).
> >
> >take WinTelnetX out of the picture by using HyperTerminal on COM3 to
simulate it... still toast....
> >
> >Now, here is the really strange thing..... bumbled into this by
accident....
> >trlog running, bring up hyperterminal at the same time on the same com
port as TRLog, and all of a sudden the radio can be seen, so something
started working....
> >
> >HTerm -> Hyterm - all is well
> >Hterm->TRLog - toast, garble on trlog
> >hTerm AND TRLOG on same port ->radio -  radio is seen
> >
> >I have spectulated a log on what is going on here, but does anyone have
an out for this predicament or other debugging hints ??
> >
> >This is really getting frustrating.... something peculiar about the OS
environment between the DOS box and true windows app.... but i dont want to
have to write some code to debug this, it's gotta be something simple....
> >
> >ohh.. i have tried uninstalling the SIIG serial controller, no
difference...
> >i had this setup for years, and now it doesnt work.... arrrrrghhh...
> >
> >likely i have forgotten some magic cookie that is necessary that i did on
the old box but cant recall
> >now because of BrainFart-Itis......
> >
> >any help out there ?
> >
> >Cheers,
> >
> >-bob,w9zv
> >