BE6-II: "Unable to open port". Is this a motherboard problem?

[pclatino]

I have an Abit BE6-II motherboard and I am having com port problems. I have installed a 56K USRobotics modem on PCI slot 2. When I try to dial out, I get an error message that "the modem is off, or not installed properly". When I run modem diagnostics, the modem is on COM 5, and I get a message "unable to open port".

Here are added details:
To free up IRQs, I originally disabled serial port 1, 2, and parallel ports (I am not using these ports).
Formatted the hard drive and installed Windows 98 SE.
Windows 98 recognizes the modem and asks for the drivers.
The drivers are installed and there are no conflicts under device manager.
I am not able to change the port. When installed, Windows assigns COM 5 to the modem.
I enabled serial ports 1 and 2 to see if it would help, but no luck.
I have changed the modem to a different PCI slot but get the same problem.
Running the Windows 98 troubleshooter, it recommends to contact the computer vendor if Windows 98 does not recognize the com port.


Do you have any suggestions as to how to fix, change the com port?

[TOAD6147]

I assume this is not harware jumperable and stricktly a pnp Winmonem. I would suggest that you try disabling PNP OS in the BIOS and see what happens. In otherwords, don't let Windows manage your devices. Let the BIOS do it. Of course, as before, uninstall ALL ports and disable the on-board ports in the BIOS before you exit it.

[J1Q]

in my opinion this is definately not a mobo problem. go with the above advice first... i believe this is a com port issue (5 is an odd number for a modem). if that advice fails and you have a jumperless modem, try entering a generic init string. if you don't know how to get there, it is as follows:

control panel->modems-> properties-> connection (tab)-> advanced (button)-> and in the 'extra settings' field enter one of the following strings:

atz
*OR*
at&f

if you can get more info on the model of the modem it would help. a great resource for init strings and other info on modems is http://modemhelp.org

good luck.

[This message has been edited by J1Q (edited 08-21-2000).]

[De Joker]

I have the same MoBo and modem, my modem also uses com 5 and i also can't change that. But i have mine installed in pci slot 5, also com 2 and hpt 66 are disabled in the bios. Try the modem in a different slot and if none of them work try the modem in another pc.

[NDC]

Here is a simple and effective way. Just remove the modem from device manager and uninstall all modem drivers. And then, connect the modem to a different PCI port and it should work fine with new COM PORT settings. I've had simlar problems with certain dial-up modems, but that has solved the problems for me when it came to the last resort of solving the port problem. Tell me what happens after you try this. Hope it helps.