LPT3 should be LPT1

[Guest Jeff]

Here's the scoop: I have a new computer with an ASUS P5N32-SLI motherboard.

This motherboard has no physical parallel ports at all. It seems to be a new

trend. XP Pro was installed. I now need an LPT1 to interface to some

speciallized IC programming equipment, so I added a MosChip Technoloy

SY-PIO9835-2S1P PCI card which has 2 COM ports and 1 LPT port. When

installation was complete,

the parallel port was added as LPT3. The specialized hardware cannot

communicate on LPT3, so I need this physical parallel port to be reinstalled

as LPT1. In the Device Manager under Ports (COM & LPT), only COM1, LPT3,

COM3, and COM4 exist. The latter 3 are from the MosChip Technology PCI card.

LPT3 cannot be changed to LPT1 on the resources tab because the "Setting

Based ON", "Use Automatic Settings", and "Change Settings" controls are all

greyed out and inoperative. Is this because all 3 LPT ports are though to

exist already, so you can't change one? Under Printers and FAXs, the

properties for any given printer allows assignement to any of the 3 parallel

ports LPT1, LPT2, and LPT3. This suggests Windows thinks they exist. A

regedit search of the registry keys shows that all 3 LPT ports are listed

under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE >> Software >> Microsoft >> Windows NT >> Current

Version >> Ports. I do not know why LPT1 and LPT2 are listed here if they do

not exist. Is this why the fisrt real LPT port installed itself as LPT3?

How should I correct this? Should I uninstall LPT3, then delete the LPT1 and

LPT2 registry keys from the registry location above, and lastly reinstall the

new physical LPT port? Will this make it come up as LPT1? Are there any

downside risks or considerations to doing this? Thanks.

[Guest Ghostrider]

Re: LPT3 should be LPT1

 

 

Jeff wrote:

> Here's the scoop: I have a new computer with an ASUS P5N32-SLI motherboard.

> This motherboard has no physical parallel ports at all. It seems to be a new

> trend. XP Pro was installed. I now need an LPT1 to interface to some

> speciallized IC programming equipment, so I added a MosChip Technoloy

> SY-PIO9835-2S1P PCI card which has 2 COM ports and 1 LPT port. When

> installation was complete,

> the parallel port was added as LPT3. The specialized hardware cannot

> communicate on LPT3, so I need this physical parallel port to be reinstalled

> as LPT1. In the Device Manager under Ports (COM & LPT), only COM1, LPT3,

> COM3, and COM4 exist. The latter 3 are from the MosChip Technology PCI card.

> LPT3 cannot be changed to LPT1 on the resources tab because the "Setting

> Based ON", "Use Automatic Settings", and "Change Settings" controls are all

> greyed out and inoperative. Is this because all 3 LPT ports are though to

> exist already, so you can't change one? Under Printers and FAXs, the

> properties for any given printer allows assignement to any of the 3 parallel

> ports LPT1, LPT2, and LPT3. This suggests Windows thinks they exist. A

> regedit search of the registry keys shows that all 3 LPT ports are listed

> under HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE >> Software >> Microsoft >> Windows NT >> Current

> Version >> Ports. I do not know why LPT1 and LPT2 are listed here if they do

> not exist. Is this why the fisrt real LPT port installed itself as LPT3?

> How should I correct this? Should I uninstall LPT3, then delete the LPT1 and

> LPT2 registry keys from the registry location above, and lastly reinstall the

> new physical LPT port? Will this make it come up as LPT1? Are there any

> downside risks or considerations to doing this? Thanks.'

 

This is supposedly a gaming board so a parallel port could have been

omitted from the I/O backplane. However, this does not necessarily mean

that there isn't a [default] bios setting for LPT1 and/or LPT2. There

could also be headers on the motherboard for LPT1 and a bracket for the

connector...check the manual.

 

In any event, check whether or not LPT1 and LPT2 are enabled, by default,

in bios setup. If they are, then disable them. This might allow one to

assign LPT1 to the parallel port on the PCI card.

[Guest Uncle Grumpy]

Re: LPT3 should be LPT1

 

Jeff <Jeff@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:

>Here's the scoop: I have a new computer with an ASUS P5N32-SLI motherboard.

>This motherboard has no physical parallel ports at all. It seems to be a new

>trend.

 

You are having a hardware problem, NOT an OS problem.

 

Take this "scoop" elsewhere.

[Guest Jeff]

Re: LPT3 should be LPT1

 

You are wrong. The hardware is correct. It is Windows that is

misconfigured. The supporting context was only included so intelligent

people can better understand the questions about Windows configuration issues.

 

Ghostrider, Thanks for your help. The motherboard manual does not list LPT

ports, and no such brackets or cables came with it. I will try to compensate

for Windows assumptions using BIOS configuration.

 

 

"Uncle Grumpy" wrote:

> Jeff <Jeff@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:

>

> >Here's the scoop: I have a new computer with an ASUS P5N32-SLI motherboard.

> >This motherboard has no physical parallel ports at all. It seems to be a new

> >trend.

>

> You are having a hardware problem, NOT an OS problem.

>

> Take this "scoop" elsewhere.

>

[Guest Peter Foldes]

Re: LPT3 should be LPT1

 

You should be posting this to the xp hardware newsgroup

 

http://www.microsoft.com/communities/newsgroups/list/en-us/default.aspx?dg=microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware

 

--

Peter

 

Please Reply to Newsgroup for the benefit of others

Requests for assistance by email can not and will not be acknowledged.

 

"Jeff" <Jeff@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message news:92CCC354-AF30-4B15-83A2-12C7E334402E@microsoft.com...

> You are wrong. The hardware is correct. It is Windows that is

> misconfigured. The supporting context was only included so intelligent

> people can better understand the questions about Windows configuration issues.

>

> Ghostrider, Thanks for your help. The motherboard manual does not list LPT

> ports, and no such brackets or cables came with it. I will try to compensate

> for Windows assumptions using BIOS configuration.

>

>

> "Uncle Grumpy" wrote:

>

>> Jeff <Jeff@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote:

>>

>> >Here's the scoop: I have a new computer with an ASUS P5N32-SLI motherboard.

>> >This motherboard has no physical parallel ports at all. It seems to be a new

>> >trend.

>>

>> You are having a hardware problem, NOT an OS problem.

>>

>> Take this "scoop" elsewhere.

>>

[Guest Tim Rude]

Re: LPT3 should be LPT1

 

Try this:

 

Go into Device Manager and find the LPT3 port in the list under Ports. Right

click it and select Properties. On the Port Settings tab, there should be a

drop-down box that lets you choose which LPT number you want this port to

respond as. Change it to LPT1, save your changes, and then be sure to

reboot. See if that helps.

 

--

Tim Rude

 

timrude@NOSPAM.hotmail.com

(remove NOSPAM. for correct email address)

 

"Jeff" <Jeff@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message

news:B98EEDCE-1A0E-4638-A0A7-E64C22600FF9@microsoft.com...

> ... I need this physical parallel port to be reinstalled as LPT1.

[Guest Jeff]

Re: LPT3 should be LPT1

 

Thanks Tim. Yes, I did this but it didn't help at all.

 

After I and my Friends tried several with no success, I checked with a

number of manufacturers who have the most configurability (including tech

support at http://www.lavalink.com and and http://www.cablemax.com (sold thru USBGear and

SerialGear) (LPT-1284-LP, 159548, 158343, etc.)). They infomed me that as

far as they know it is impossible due to the OS.

 

Since the time I posted this I have found that as of XP, Microsoft no longer

supports fully featured LPT or COM ports. According to Microsoft's article:

"Legacy I/O Removal to Advance the PC Architecture", (and a number of others

I might add) the ability to have IRQs, DMAs, and I/O address ranges is part

of the intentional abandonment of anything having to do with ISA

architecture. This is for the embetterment of humanity by "Removal of

obsolete, slow, complicated, and often poorly understood interfaces

offer[ing] obvious benefits toward this end: simpler, more robust machines,

and a lower cost of goods." From what I can gather, the plan is for

abandonment to become more guaranteed by Vista and its progeny.

 

My hypothesis is this: When COM and LPT ports are built into the

motherboard, the designers have the ability (at least for now) to add special

hardware and software in the BIOS that may still allow these ports to operate

in a relatively fully featured way. However, if you happen to have a

motherboard without them and try to add them with a PCI card, it will no

longer be possible (as of XP) to have any fully featured ones on your

computer, so just get over it. It takes about 2 person-months of labor to

reconstruct my development environment on a new machine.

 

Of course, this leaves me with very expensive development systems for

electronics and ICs which I can no longer support with Microsoft. I'm hoping

some creative soul has come up with some viable alternative, but judging from

what I've seen in many days of internet searches, there is no commercially

available solution.

 

I hope and pray someone truly proves me wrong, but after nearly a dozen

people who deal with things like this as their daily job have come up

enpty-handed, a solution does not seem likely.

 

PS: While this is clearly an operating system caused problem, I will also

try the hardware group to see if they have any conceivable work arounds for

Microsoft's abandonment of OS support for legacy I/O requirements as of XP.

[Guest John Xia]

Re: LPT3 should be LPT1

 

Actually I have almost exact same problem, except for the LPT number is

already LPT1, I don't need to change it. However, the software can not

operate it.

In the Device property/Resources, it says "Input/Output Range DD00 - DD07

not available." and "Input/Output Range DC00 - DC07 not available." and put a

inhibited mark on each icon. Ironically, in the Device property/General page,

it does say "This device is working properly." I don't no how to solve the

problem either.

[Guest Unknown]

Re: LPT3 should be LPT1

 

Since you didn't include the message with your reply, we don't know what the

problem is.

"John Xia" <John Xia@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message

news:9B433F8E-A974-4EEC-8607-0B01A12A0E6A@microsoft.com...

> Actually I have almost exact same problem, except for the LPT number is

> already LPT1, I don't need to change it. However, the software can not

> operate it.

> In the Device property/Resources, it says "Input/Output Range DD00 - DD07

> not available." and "Input/Output Range DC00 - DC07 not available." and

> put a

> inhibited mark on each icon. Ironically, in the Device property/General

> page,

> it does say "This device is working properly." I don't no how to solve the

> problem either.