Mark,
If your mouse is on COM1 and your modem is on COM3 you do have an
interrupt conflict. Interrupt lines are a function of the motherboard (not
the operating system as I saw mentioned in another posting), and there are a
physically limited number of interrupts available on the motherboard, hence
the sharing.
I don't know if moving the mouse to COM2 is viable or not. Usually COM1
is hard configured, i.e. whatever you plug in "here" is COM1. There is
usually a COM2 preexisting to complicate matters. Your motherboard CMOS
will give you the answer about whether those physical ports can be flipped or
logically reassigned. I don't think that this is going to be a simple swap,
but I've never needed to reassign the mouse and this is beyond my experience.
If you do move the mouse, you may also have software configuration problems
because the mouse is NOT on COM1. A like reason is why some programs will
not operate with nonstandard soundcards. Tell us what your results are if
you try.
What's stopping you from using COM2 for the modem? Assuming that your
modem will assign there, which it should if it is now on COM3 (but it
actually may or may not), to change the modem to COM2 you may first have to
eliminate the address conflicts by disabling COM2 in CMOS. Maybe the COM2
address being occupied is what was stopping the modem from assigning to COM2
in the first place (assuming the modem is not jumpered). If the modem is
jumpered the jumper configuration is usually printed on the circuit card and
it's just a matter of whether it will take the COM2 address space, which they
usually will. Jumpering to COM2 will work in this case even if there is an
address conflict, though the conflict could stop the POST requiring you to
fix it immediately to boot into any o/s -- the conflict would need to be
eliminated in CMOS for the modem to work in any case.
Another option, if you cannot change the modem to COM2, and COM2 is not
otherwise in use, might be to change the modem to COM4, which uses the same
interrupt as COM2 but a different logical address. This should work "as is",
but in some cases you might need to disable COM2 in CMOS. If you have a free
interrupt available, and either COM2 or COM4* is already in use tying up that
interrupt, you might assign the modem to COM5 and then assign the free
interrupt to COM5. Once you get past the first four COM ports things get
easier, though they eat additional resources (interrupts). Configure
software as necessary in all cases. * in which case moving the mouse to COM2
will create another interrupt conflict, this time with COM4.
Sorry, but a modem on COM3 is an unusual problem. As a former computer
technician I've never seen it set up this way, presumably because of the
mouse conflict issue. It is going to take a little fixing. Does the modem
on COM3 work without errors in NT? Then it should in Linux. What I'm saying
is that something doesn't seem right in this equasion.
-Gary-
I<< Mark Thurston wrote:
>
> I do have a serial mouse, it is connected right next to the printer and
> under the keyboard. I have a PIII and the motherboard is an ABit BH6.
> According to the manual, the mouse is on COM1 the keyboard is connected
> using the PS/2 connection. I am dual booting Linux and WindowsNT, is there
> going to be a problem if I do move the mouse to COM2? Thanks for the help.
>
> Mark
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Cc: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Sent: Monday, September 11, 2000 10:02 AM
> Subject: Re: [newbie] I am having problems with my modem
>
> > I haven't checked the latest mail, so if this has been covered
already
> > please pardon my duplication, but:
> > Do you have a serial mouse on COM1 [the
> typical
> > hookup uses the 9-pin D-shell connector on the back of your computer] (or
> > anything else on COM1)? If so you have an IRQ conflict. COM 1 AND COM 3
> > share the same interrupt (IRQ4), as COM2 and COM4 likewise share another
> > (IRQ3). I don't know whether this is alterable in the CMOS (the
> motherboard
> > BIOS configuration), but the standard fix is to put the modem on COM2 so
> that
> > it uses a different interrupt, assuming that COM2 is available for you to
> use
> > and that you know how to change the modem settings. If your motherboard
> is
> > set up for it you could also change to a ps/2 mouse [a round connector
> about
> > the size of your little finger], which uses a different interrupt (IRQ
> 12?)
> > but the mouse may need configuration in your o/s.
> > The suggestions that others have made for your problem may well
(also)
> be
> > necessary, and they might even get your modem dialing and on-line even if
> you
> > do have an IRQ conflict, but if you do have an IRQ conflict modem
> operation
> > will not be reliable until it is corrected. -Gary-
> > >>
