Modem fighting with mouse.

[jonny b]

Got a pc that either the mouse don't work or the modem won't.
Using a serial mouse. What changes can be made to make them both work?

[DanceMan]

Get into Device Manager and check properties for both, in particular for IRQ conflicts. If that's so, change one.

[athi]

what kind of modem is it? some modems have jumpers to set irq. on some of my older system (which don't share resources well), the modem seems to work better with pre-set irq instead of pnp. you might also have to disable some ports in the bios to free up resources.

[jonny b]

First of all it is a software modem. No jumpers.
Second, hummmmmmmmmmm what was second?
Oh,,, how do you change an IRQ?
Third but I still want an answer to the IRQ answer.
Third is:
I fixed it.
I used a PS/2 mouse
I removed Com 1 and 2 from Dev Mrg.
Then removed modem from there.
Then went into bios and disabled Serial 1 and 2 and parallel port to free up resources.
Then restarted. I figured that I could trick the computer to giving me new addresses.
I did one more thing before I tried the modem connection,
I rebuilt the network by removing dial up adapter, tcpip and Microsoft Client and added them back in.
I guess they call that rebuilding the network isn't it? I had my cd rom in for 98 of course.
After a second restart with disabled serial and parallel ports, the modem kicked into gear and my customer handing me a $20 Andrew Jackson certificate. This all took 10 minutes.

Oh, by the way, I learned this trick from Hardware Central.
Is that what website I am on, hummmmmmmm
Yes it is.
So thanks again for the archive files for HCF.
And I hope that this discussion will go down in history for others to use too.
Now answer me the ???????? about IRQs or how to change com ports for devices.
Please.

[DanceMan]

Thanks for posting back with the results.

To change com ports, you may be able to do it in Settings/Control Panel/Modem in Propeties. But beware. Software modems can be tricky to install and sometimes like to have a Com port that doesn't even exist until the modem installs. PCtel modems like to end up on Com 5 in 98SE, if you can ever get them installed. Motorolas seem to install easily.

[athi]

bios setup allows you to manually set irq assignments for your ports. you can also enable/diable ports to free up resources. this is useful on older mobo's which tend not to share resources as well as newer hardwares. many oem's boxes also have problems with resources when adding new hardware due to bios limitations.

i have had to disable serial ports in the bios to free up resources for modems and nic's for many socket7 and oem boxes.

[keepitrunning]

You can change the com port settings. Use the modem under a different com port setting.

[SexyMF]

There are exceptionally few times that Windows will allow you to modify the IRQ of anything. A modem does not fall under that exception. I know that all Windows tells you to do is uncheck a box and everything will work but that is a lie - a big fat whopper of a lie born of Win95.

The best thing ever to happen to IRQs was the change to legacy free motherboards. Now they are not limited to 15 IRQs (of which really only a handful are actually available to use).

EDIT// As far as I am aware Windows virtualises the ports anyway so the BIOS and Windows allocation tables do not match.