Copyright: Copyright ©  Sealevel Systems, Inc. 1998


Adding COM Ports

Adding ISA COM Ports

Adding PCI COM Ports

Adding PCMCIA COM Ports


Adding ISA COM Ports

Windows 2000 Add/Remove Hardware Wizard allows the user to quickly and simply install from one to eight ISA COM ports under Windows  2000.

I. Running Windows 2000 Add/Remove Hardware Wizard

1. 	Run the Add/Remove Hardware utility located in Control Panel. Double click the icon to launch the Wizard . When the Choose Hardware Task appears choose Add/Troubleshoot a device. At that point Windows will search for Plug and Play devices. Since the ISA board is not Plug and Play it will not be found. If Windows finds something you were not expecting, cancel that install and click Next. When Choose a Hardware Device appears select Add a new device. Windows will then ask if you want it to search and you select No, I want to select the hardware from a list. Then click Next. After choosing Next you will see Hardware Type. If you are installing a single port serial card select Ports (COM & LPT). If you are installing a multiport serial card, ( two or more ports), choose Multi-port serial adapters. Click Next. The Select a Device Driver window will appear. On the left side find Sealevel Systems, Inc. and on the right side of the window select the card type you are installing. Example: COMM+8: 8 Port RS-232(3420).

2. 	Windows will now show a warning message that it could not detect the settings of the device and that you must enter the settings manually. Click OK. The Add New Hardware Wizard Properties window will appear. This window will show the default settings for the I/O address and one IRQ. The one IRQ will mean that you will be sharing one IRQ for all ports on the board for a multi port card. You will only need one IRQ if installing a single port card. Since Windows cannot detect the settings there my be a conflict with another device or the settings shown may be not the settings you wish to use. To change the settings choose Basic configuration 0001 next to the heading Setting based on:. When this configuration is chosen the Resources window will appear with all question marks. Simply choose each Input/Output Range and IRQ and change the settings to match the board settings. Make sure there are no conflicts with other devices which would appear at the bottom of the window under Conflicting device list. After you have either accepted the default settings or changed the settings, the Start Hardware Installation window will appear. Click Next.

3.   The next window to appear will be the Digital Signature Not Found. Do not search for digitally signed software and continue with the installation. The Completing the Add/Remove Hardware Wizard window will appear. You will be given a chance to change the resource settings again at this point if necessary. Choose Finish. At this point you will need to restart your computer. After restarting the Found New Hardware window will appear for each port that you are installing. To confirm that the drivers installed you can now look in Device Manager under Ports (COM &LPT) and each of the ports should show with their corresponding COM number.

II. Installing the adapter

1.	Refer to the manual for your board for proper configuration procedures. Make sure to configure the board's resources to the same as Windows has configured them.

2.	Install your adapter into the PC following the steps outlined in the accompanying manual.

3.	Restart Windows 2000.

4.	Your adapter is now properly installed and configured. Refer to Verifying COM Port Settings.


Adding PCI COM Ports

PCI COM ports are configured automatically by the system BIOS and the included Windows 2000 serial driver. After running the Setup.exe program on the included software, shut the system down and install PCI COM adapter according to the procedure in the included documentation. The serial driver will automatically configure the adapter and assign COM identifiers during the next boot of Windows 2000. Windows Device Manager located in Control Panel  will display PCI resource assignments but will not allow them to be modified.

Refer to Verifying COM Port Settings.


Adding PCMCIA COM Ports

PC Card (PCMCIA) COM ports are configured automatically by the  Windows 2000 PCMCIA service and the included serial driver. After running the Setup.exe program on the included software, shut the system down and install the PCMCIA COM adapter according to the procedure in the included documentation. The serial driver will automatically configure the adapter and assign COM identifiers during the next boot of 2000. Use Windows Device Manger located in Control Panel to verify that the adapter installed.

You may also change the default settings, if necessary,  for the adapter in Device Manager as well.

Refer to Verifying COM Port Settings.


Advanced FIFO Settings

FIFO are on-chip buffers used by the UART. They enable the port to communicate at higher data rates, and also reduce CPU overhead and the chances of communication errors.

The following table lists FIFO sizes, default trigger settings, and allowed trigger settings for each UART type supported by the enhanced NT serial driver. Use the Advanced Port Utility to modify these settings.

UART	FIFO Size	Def. Tx Trig	Tx Trigs.	Def. Rx Trig	Rx Trigs
8250	1	1	N/A	1	1
16450	2	1	N/A	1	1
16550	16	1	N/A	1	1,4,8,14
16554	16	1	N/A	1	1,4,8,14
16650	32	16	16,8,24,30	8	8,16,24,28
16654	64	8	8,16,32,56	16	8,16,56,60
16750	64	16	N/A	16	1,16,32,56
16850	128	16	1-128	16	1-128
16854	128	16	1-128	16	1-128
16950	128	1	1	16	1-128
16954	128	1	1	16	1-128

NOTE: To access the UART settings go to Device Manager and choose Ports(COM and 	  LPT) and highlight the COM  port you wish to make changes. Choose the Advanced page   and change your setting there.

Refer to Property Pages for more information.


Contents

Version Number: 2.5.26

The Windows 2000 Device Manager utility in Control Panel, displays information about all COM ports currently installed in your Microsoft Windows 2000 system. Ports may be reconfigured and removed using this utility. Many multi-port serial adapters from Sealevel Systems feature an interrupt status port. These adapters are capable of sharing a single interrupt request (IRQ) for all ports on the adapter. The interrupt status port enables the Windows 2000 serial driver to efficiently service multiple COM ports sharing a single IRQ. Device Manager can also be used to configure single and multi-port adapters to a unique interrupt for each port as well. Once the Add/Remove Hardware utility has configured the Windows 2000 serial ports, the communication parameters can be printed out along with a description of how to set the card’s jumpers and DIP-switches to match the Windows 2000 settings.

Adding COM Ports

Advanced FIFO Settings

Jumper and Switch Settings

Enhanced Serial Driver

Model and Port Information

Removing COM Ports

Sharing Interrupts

Verifying COM Port Settings

      Sample Code

Tech Support.

Property Pages


Enhanced Serial Driver
Enhanced 2000 Serial Driver

The enhanced Windows 2000 driver incorporates a number of very useful additions that can help simplify setup, maximize communications and allow for custom data rates and protocols not normally found in serial drivers. These features include support for advanced UARTS with larger FIFO's, RTS 485 control, 9 bit word protocol as well as support for custom data rates without the need for special oscillators. Please refer to Property Pages for information on the  configuration of these options


Model and Port Information

Windows 2000 Device Manager will display the Model and Port number for each port on a PCI or ISA adapter. Since PCI ports are installed and assigned COM identifiers automatically, this information is helpful in pairing COM identifiers with physical connectors on the PCI cards as well as multi-port ISA adapters.

For single or multi-port adapters view the information under PORTS (COM & LPT). Remember that a multi-port adapter will also show under Multi-Port Serial Adapters. Under this heading you can view information about your adapter as well.

In Windows 2000 you can also use the installed utility Port Manager. Please refer to Port Manager for more information.


Removing COM Ports

Removing ISA COM Ports

Removing PCI COM Ports

Removing PCMCIA COM Ports


Removing ISA COM Ports

Device Manager supports quickly removing single or multiple COM ports in Windows 2000.

I. Removing Ports

1.	If you have a single port adapter you will need to remove this from the heading PORTS (COM & LPT) in Device Manger. Simply highlight the adapter and choose Remove.

2.   If you have a mulit-port adapter, ( 2 or more ports), you will need to remove this from the heading MultiPort Serial Devices in Device Manager. Simple highlight the adapter and click Remove. This action will also remove all listings under PORTS (COM & LPT). Although the ports show under the PORTS (COM & LPT) listing the adapter cannot be removed from this location. It must be removed from the Multi Port Serial Devices section.

3.   After removing the adapter in software, power the machine down and remove the serial adapter. On reboot all registry entries related to the board are removed.


Removing PCI COM Ports

Device Manager supports quickly removing single or multiple PCI COM ports in Windows 2000.

I. Removing Ports

1.	If you have a single port adapter you will need to remove this from the heading PORTS (COM & LPT) in Device Manger. Simply highlight the adapter and choose Remove.

2.   If you have a mulit-port adapter, ( 2 or more ports), you will need to remove this from the heading MultiPort Serial Devices in Device Manager. Simple highlight the adapter and click Remove. This action will also remove all listings under PORTS (COM & LPT). Although the ports show under the PORTS (COM & LPT) listing the adapter cannot be removed from this location. It must be removed from the Multi Port Serial Devices section.

3.   After removing the adapter in software, power the machine down and remove the serial adapter. On reboot all registery entries related to the board are removed.

4.   Since a PCI device is plug and play it is possible to simply remove the adapter from the system and it will no longer show in Device Manager. However, this is not a good solution to removing the ports because registery entries will be left behind. If you want to remove the ports it is suggested that you follow the above procedure.


Removing PCMCIA COM Ports

PCMCIA ports are automatically detected by the 2000 Serial Driver. To remove a PCMCIA port(s) remove the card in Device Manager under PORTS (COM & LPT). When you do this make sure the card is still in its slot. Then power the system down and remove the card. Windows 2000 will automatically remove the port's registry entries during the next boot of Windows 2000.


Sharing Interrupts on 4 and 8 Port Adapters

Note that a PCI adapter will use one IRQ regardless of the number of ports on that adapter. For ISA 4 port adapters consult the user's manual for your product to determine if the adapter contains an Interrupt Status Port. If it does then you can share one interrupt on all ports or share two interrupts among four ports. You will need to set this according to your needs during the installation process. Refer to Adding ISA COM Ports for detailed information. All eight port adapters offered by Sealevel Systems  have an interrupt status port and may share an interrupt for all ports. Windows 2000 supports the use of an interrupt status port and therefore no special driver is needed to share interrupts.

Any four port adapter that does not contain an interupt status ports requires unique IRQ's for each port and are not used by any other system device.

Refer to Device Manager for assistance in locating conflict free interrupts.


Technical Support

Please refer to your user's manual for contacting technical support.


Verifying COM Port Settings

To verify the port setting of your serial adaptor use Windows 2000 Device Manager. Device Manager will report assigned resources and report any conflicts that may exist.  Device Manager is also helpful in pairing COM identifiers with physical connectors on the serial adaptor.

Device Manager also has a feature to change the COM identifier if necessary. If your serial adaptor installs as COM 5, 6, 7, 8, it is possible to change these, for example, to 3, 4, 5, 6.

Single port adapters will show up under PORTS  (COM & LPT) and multi-port serial adapters will show up under PORTS (COM & LPT) as well as Multi Port Serial Devices. To change any settings for a multi-port serial device you must change under Multi Port Serial Devices. This is the parent device. All the ports for a multi-port serial device that show under PORTS (COM & LPT) are child devices. Child devices cannot be changed, only parent devices.

In Device Manager locate the port you wish to change under Ports (COM & LPT) and click Properties and Advanced. You can change the COM number there with a drop down box. Simply choose the number you wish, as long as it is not used by any other device, including modems, and click OK.

The included serial software also includes a utility for viewing COM identifiers and the ability to change COM numbers. This utility also has the feature to alias data rates to standard data rates for our USB products. Refer to Port Manager for more information.


Jumper and Switch Settings

After installing the serial adaptor in Windows 2000 make a note of the resources assigned to the card. These resources will be found in Device Manager in Windows 2000. They will also be displayed during the installation process. Consult Adding COM Ports and select the type adapter you have for detailed information for the installation process.

After making notes of the resources assigned to the adapter you will need to configure the adapter to match the resources reported by Windows 2000. Consult the manual for your board to determine the correct configuration.


Sample Code

SeaCOM ports are accessed through standard Win32 calls, such as WriteFile(), ReadFile, CloseHandle or CreateFile().  Three examples, with source and executables, are included in the Samples subdirectory under the main SeaCOM directory.  (defaults to C:\Program Files\SeaCOM\Samples)

A number of programmers need to write applications that have to access COM ports above COM9. There is a different line of code necessary to do this. In the UARTtst program we have an example of opening any COM number. When the source is viewed pay attention to the open statement. It is written like:

"\\\\.\\COM12" The 12 can be any COM number up to the maximum on your system.


Property Pages

The Property Pages are accessed through Device Manager, Ports(COM and LPT).  When Ports(COM and LPT) is opened and one of the added adapters is highlighted choose Properties. This will bring up the Properties Page. The serial driver will add an additional page, Advanced. This is where the advanced features of the serial driver can be accessed.

Advanced UART Options

The UART type installed on the serial adapter will be displayed along with the FIFO size. Here the FIFO can be enabled or disabled and you can set the trigger level. If there is a 16550 UART installed and the FIFO is enabled the valid options for the FIFO settings will be highlighted for selection. If the Receive FIFO is set to 8 this means that after 8 characters are received an interrupt will be generated. The Transmit FIFO may or may not be grayed out depending on the UART installed. Some UARTS do not allow this setting to be modified.

Under this heading is also an option for suppressing modem control interrupts. This is very handy if no modem control signals are used. In the past it was recommended to tie complementary modem control signals together if not used. Example of this would be tying RTS to CTS to RI and DCD to DSR to DTR. By checking this option it is no longer necessary to do this. This can increase performance greatly and is recommended when modem control signals are not used.

RS-422/485 Control Options

Most serial RS-422/485 adapters have the Auto 485 feature. Consult your user's manual to learn about this option if available on your adapter. This enables the adapter to handle tristating of the transmitter and receiver at the board level without software intervention. However, there are some cases where Auto RTS RS-485 is either necessary or a better option. On some older adapters RTS control is the only option for two wire RS-485. If you have an adapter that does not support Auto 485 and plan on using two wire RS-485 choose the Auto RTS RS-485 option. On adapters that do have the Auto feature they also support RTS control. This may be a benefit when very fast turn around times are needed. Otherwise, it is best to leave all options unchecked and use the Auto feature of the adapter. If your Adapter is fitted with a 16C950 the driver supports the use of the UARTS' ability to control the tristating. This, again, would be benificial if very fast turn around times are needed. Otherwise, use the adapter's Auto feature.

If a PCMCIA card is installed the driver options apply only to that card and the other check boxes will be grayed out. Under PCMCIA Hardware Control choose RS-422 if RS-422 or four wire RS-485 is to be used. If two wire RS-485 is to be used the options are RS-485 Mode and RS-485 Echo Off. Most applications do not like echo and therefore both check boxes would need to be checked.

16950 ISOSynchronous

If your adapter is fitted with a 16950 UART and Isosynchronous communications is desired check the Enable Isosynchronous Mode. If 9 bit protocol is desired choose 9 Bit Protocol.

Oscillator Options

A number of serial adapters use a divide by circuit to determine the data rate. Consult your user's manual to learn about this option if available on your adapter. If the Divide jumper on your adapter is set to1 and  the Effective Frequency is set to match the oscillator on the adapter then the data rate chosen will be the actual data rate. The software will handle the division for you. Please consult your user's manual to determine the oscillator on your adapter. If the Divide by 4 option is chosen on the adapter this software feature is not valid. You will need to consult your user's manual to help in determining your data rate. An example of this is many  serial adapters ship with a 7.3728Mhz oscillator. This frequency is four times the normal COM port oscillator frequency and allows data rates up to 460.8Kbps. In the Divide by 4 option on the adapter the frequency is dropped to the standard 1.8432Mhz which allows data rates up to 115.2Kbps. By setting the Divide by jumper to 1 and setting the Effective Frequency to 7.3728 then when you choose 9600Bps you get 9600bps. Without the software option you would get 4 times 9600 in the above case. Which would be 38.4Kbps


Port Manager

Port Manager is a utility installed in the SeaCOM program group during installation. Port Manager can be accessed by choosiing Start, Programs, SeaCOM, Port Manager. Once opened you should see the COM ports that you have added. In the lower left is a box that allows you to choose a different COM number for a certain port. For example, if port one of your card is COM 5 and you wish it to be COM 3 highlight COM5 and choose COM3 from the drop down box. When changing COM numbers make sure the COM port is closed and that the number you wish to use is not in use by another device such as a modem. If a number does not show in the drop down box it means that COM number is in use by another device and cannot be used. Once you change the COM number and close Port Manager the change will take affect at that time with no need to reboot.

Data Rate Aliasing

For USB devices it is possible to obtain non-standard data rates by aliasing the needed data rate to a standard data rate. In Port Manager choose Configure Data Rates. You should notice two fields. The top one is a drop down box with standard data rates and the lower one is an open field. Choose any standard data rate from the first drop down box. It really does not matter which one is chosen. In the lower window type in your needed data rate. Port Manager will then alias the closest matching data rate that you have choosen to the standard data rate above. For example. From the drop down menu you choose 300Bps. In the open field you type 300,000. For this example you get an exact match. The data rate is a function of the oscillator value so some data rates will not be able to match exactly. For example. Choose 300Bps from the drop down menu. Then type in 76800 for your data rate. It will display a rate of 76677. That is the closest match based on the oscillator value.