"Can't open port"

I've seen the messages "Can't open port" and "The modem is in use by another application. Shut down the other application..." about 100 times today.

Bought a new motherboard: Gigabyte GA-7DXR. Bought PCI modem: USR 56k Int v.90 P2977. Win95 installs the modem but when I try to dial out Win95 complains that the modem is already in use and when I check the Diagnostics/Info the port can't be opened.

I've stripped the system down to nothing but the video card and re-installed Win95 and removed the modem time and again. No progress. I've rebooted so many times I don' think I have too many boots left.

The question: In the BIOS (Award) there is a PnP/PCI configuration section. There is something about "Reset PnP configuration data in order to re-initialize ESCD for PnP device." I either enable this or leave it at its default disable. Should I try this? Does it matter?

What I would do, is to disable any program that may use the modem, such as a FAX-receiver or a voice-answering machine, which might be installed and then see what's going on. If the problem still persists, check the modem on another machine if possible.

If nothing else is using the modem....

Methinks 'tis just the wrong driver, almost right but not quite.

The entry in bios enables the clearing of NVRam, this can contain irq and memory info that bios extrapolates to make your machine boot. So if two devices use the same i/o ranges NVRAM 'knows' and sorts it out. If you clear it you give the machine chance to re-sort itself with the current hardware, not all the stuff that may have been there once upon a time.

As for boots just ask around there's lots of members here who seem to have ones that are too big!!!!! :D :D :D

Is that modem HCF or HSF?

[quote]Originally posted by confus-ed:
[QB]
As for boots just ask around there's lots of members here who seem to have ones that are too big!!!!! :D :D :D
QB]<hr></blockquote>

See what I mean Confus-ed?? Sarcasm is a universal thing!!! ;) :D :D

Re AlienDyne's post.

Indeed! A Shinning Wit.

Now that's a spoonerism!!! :D :D :D ;)

OOooooh how I used to love this error. Working phone support for modems I used to get this one like 20+ times a day.....Unfortunately now that over 3 years have passed since that time, I can't really remember the exact fixes for it, but you may be able to find it on 3Com's website, in case my following suggestions don't work. So you know, as AlienDyne said, this could be result of Fax or other communication software on the computer. I have also seen this if you have a multifunction printer installed in your system, (a particular MF Brother printer stands out in my mind).

First off I would check your SYSTEM.INI file for the LOAD= and RUN= lines and see what is listed there. If you have a device or program being loaded there, it May be part of the problem. You can put a ';' in front of the line and make a new LOAD/RUN= line that has nothing loading to test to see if modem works after reinstallation.

Now the cleaning and reinstallation procedures. I would disable COM2 in your BIOS Setup and reboot into Safe Mode. Once in Safe Mode, go into Device Manager and make sure you have nothing listed under modems. While there I would also check your COM port listings and make sure the only one listed is COM1. Then, open Windows Explorer and look in your WINDOWS/INF/OTHER folder and make sure there are no listings for any communication devices, although NIC listings shouldnt be a problem and you can leave those. Then go back to your WINDOWS/INF folder and delete the 2 BIN files there (named DRVDATA.BIN and DRVIDX.BIN). You could also delete any MDMUSR*.INF (USR modem installation info) files as well. If you had any other modems installed before this, you could try finding it's installation info files too and remove them. At this point you can reboot the computer normally. Once rebooted, your system should autodetect the modem and request the drivers, go ahead and point Windows to the CD/Floppy you have the drivers on. Once installed, since it's Win95, I believe you'll need to reboot the system. Once back in Windows, go to Control Panels and open the Modem applet. Click on the Diagnostics tab, select the COM port the modem is showing on, and click on More Info. Hopefully you will get your modem response of information rather than the "Port in Use" error.

Now, just a little explanation of what the BIN files are just so you know. Those 2 files are created by Windows when you see the window pop up saying "Windows is creating file driver database.....". What they do is remember device settings from previous installations in order to try making future installations easier. What they can inadvertantly do is cause the OS to install the wrong drivers for a device or just set it up wrong. I'm not sure why they do this, but I know from the month of crashcourse training I had straight from 3Com employees and the from the next 10 months on the phones that my procedure above fixed probly a good 80-90% of modem installation problems, including the very error you are having. I also believe there was another fix for your error in case above didn't work, but at the moment I can't remember what it was.

Also, for the record, this solution is for Hardware based modems. If your modem is a Winmodem, it's likely that the cleaning procedure up until rebooting out of Safe Mode will help, but the installation may very well be different.

I hope this post helps. If you still have the problem after trying this, let us know and I'll see if I can find another solution. Mebbe it be a good enough reason to get me to try getting back in contact with some of the guys I used to work with there or go digging among my old notes from cases I solved(Im a packrat) for fixes.

Note: These instructions don't include registry cleaning which while not often necessary (and preferred not to try with the non-PC literate), was in the direst of circumstances necessary.

OMG, I wrote another novel. I shuld save these somewhere :D

[quote]Originally posted by DSTech:
<strong>OMG, I wrote another novel. I shuld save these somewhere :D </strong><hr></blockquote>

Like not here, when you are in waffle mode.

So you were saying remove old drivers and re-install and mess with a load of files you don't understand?

I understand what you are doing, but a 'brain dump' is in-appropriate here, it just complicates matters.

His com ports are nothing to do with the price of fish else if the ennumerated port failed to open (com3) then how does the modem say its already in use?

If its a software modem, i would generally disable com 2, and put the modem on that, providing it isnt being used. Good Luck.

Okay, I'll try a few of the suggestions so far. I don't know how much farther I want to take this. My alternative is to buy WinXP (a nice, clean, virgin install) and dual boot it with Win95 and go through the process of migrating software and other stuff from 95 to XP and then finally tossing 95 altogether. And good riddance to it.

I will try some fixes later today (Tues.).

Can't open port.

Quick rundown of what I've done. Huge Thanks! to DSTech for going above and beyond.

Checked SYSTEM.INI. No Load= or RUN=.

No COM2 in BIOS (Award 6.00PG). Onboard Serial Port 1 and Onboard Serial Port 2, yes. Disabled both. Disabled on-board sound chip. Disabled USB Controller 1 and USB Controller 2. Disabled AC97 Audio and AC97 Modem. At this point, computer is so disabled it qualifies for handicapped parking.

Booted into Safe Mode. Nothing listed under Modems. COM1 and COM2 are missing. COM3 and COM4 are present. Checked WINDOWS/INF/OTHER. Deleted three files all related to USR. Deleted both BIN files--DRVDATA.BIN, DRVIDX.BIN. Also deleted some MDMUSR files. Found many other MDM files. Left them alone.

Rebooted. At no point, during this or at any other time, has Win95 told me that it has found a new device and wants to molest it thoroughly before starting Win95. In every case I have had to manually install the modem using the Modems icon in Control Panel.

Can't open port.

Earlier today ordered WinXP Home Edition Full Version OEM from Allstarshop.com for $98.95 pronto. The catch is that you also have to order a hunk of hardware. Also ordered ATI Radeon, Fureon, Rageon, whatever video card for $67.

And in case you're curious, the reason I'm wasting this much of my life on Win95 is because it is dearest mother's computer and I am upgrading it for her Christmas present. I originally wanted to just do a hardware upgrade only. New modem was the result of a motherboard that has no ISA slots (Gigabyte GA-7DXR). I wanted to keep Win95 because it is the only OS she has used and she is not computer savvy.

As of Thursday, she'll have XP, like it or not. I'm an NT user myself.

Anyway, if anyone has anything else to add, feel free. After all this topic may help someone else to decide to just trash Win95 and upgrade to another OS instead of fighting it over a $39 modem.

And again, thanks to all who cared enough to reply.

[quote]Originally posted by curtcee:
<strong>
she is not computer savvy.
</strong><hr></blockquote>

Hee hee, are you SURE? That little tweak before you took the computer, she's got a USB modem, XP, and a Radeon (or maybe that's your Christmas present?)... Smart Mum... :D

[quote]Originally posted by Platypus:
<strong>

Hee hee, are you SURE? That little tweak before you took the computer, she's got a USB modem, XP, and a Radeon (or maybe that's your Christmas present?)... Smart Mum... :D </strong><hr></blockquote>

Yeah, you're right. A couple more days and she would have an 18 inch flat panel monitor.

Hehe confus-ed sorry :)

curtcee, I haven't seen very many modems every work when installed manually thru Add Modem. If the modem is not being detected (and is a PnP modem) there's only 2 things that I can think of to be the cause. Either something is still ghosted ghosted in your device manager making Windows think the modem is already installed, or the modem is defective. I would reboot into Safe Mode and look for any device listings that you know are not in the machine, or listings that are doubled up. Also you said that it listed COM3 and COM4, you should remove those as well if you haven't already, one of them might be the ghosting I'm referring to. Then see if the 2 BIN files or the INF files came back, etc. If you got all the ghosted listings removed, Window's should autodetect the modem on reboot.

At the risk of repeating myself, are you sure its the right driver???????????

Between us all especially DSTech, we've done it all.

Delete everything in device manager remotely to do with modems, so comm ports, modems, and any ennumerated devices there like HCFmodem, or HCSmodem or WINmodem, make sure you delete any duplicate modem entries in contol panel, modems as well.

Take out the modem. Let it restart and find what it wants.Shutdown.

Put the modem back in, restart, if its a software modem it should autodetect something like PCI communication device, then ask for the driver.

If it ain't finding a pci communication device, then you will need a driver that contains the setup.exe for that otherwise you'll just keep doing what we already have.... going round & round & round & round......