[WriteLog] Missing Comm 2

[Ed]

Dick Dievendorff wrote: ( I think )

I'm surprised to hear that a keyboard or mouse occupies a COM port.
But I've never owned an e-machines computer.  I think a number of
modern motherboards have chips that support COM1 and COM2 on the
motherboard but some fail to wire up COM2 to the back.
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Most modern ( last 5 years ) motherboards no longer use a com port
for either the keyboard or the mouse. For example, this machine uses
a Gigabyte board with 4 memory slots ( I have 2 gigs install ) and
USB ports for the keyboard and mouse. ( wireless in my case )

Nice thing about this board is that it has 2 built in com ports and
5 PCI slots, built in audio, ( which scores a 7F ) and built in
DSL connectors, + about 5 USB ports. Never have had trouble adding
cards or any type.

Actually, I doubt the 1000+ comports mentioned, but I do have a
program which, when used with a "loopback plug", can test any port
on the machine. There are about 150 on the screen, but be aware some
of them do not take it likely if you interrogate OR send a command to
the port. ( Learned that the hard way...and lost the C drive. ) With
XP, I just program a short .exe file which allows me to probe the
ports. 

I'm not very familiar with Laptops, but this board has a BIOS which
enables you to "enable/disable" just about anything on the board.

Fortunately for me, it also has a "restore defaults" for when I 
screw it up beyond belief.

I also have a 8 port Gigabyte PCI card, and it practically installs
itself. Some of the ports allow you to reconfigure the address, but
most don't.

Let's face it. Comm and LPT ports are being phased out. That's why
I bought a spare board. ( Even the LPT port on this one is USB )

In XP, if you goto Control Panel, System, Hardware Devices, you can
see what ever is present.

If the machine in question does indeed have a Comm 2, that will show
it to you.

73
Ed