Product Registration | Knowledge Base | Software Downloads | Support Documents

Knowledge Base

Search Keywords | Search Text | Index by Description | Index by Tip ID

Softex Card and Socket Services for Windows NT

PROBLEM DESCRIPTION

On startup, FTS displays the message, "Could not gain control of COM X. Possible reasons: 1) A program that uses the serial driver is running. 2) The COM port does not use the standard serial driver."

When you click OK to acknowledge the message, FTS starts, but starts in View Mode and will not allow you to capture data. This happens on every COM port on the PC.

SUMMARY

Softex provides Card Services for laptops with Windows NT, and is shipped on several brands of laptops, including Dell, Digital, Micron, Hitachi, Fujitsu, Acer and TI laptops. Softex uses a custom version of the serial driver called pccom.sys in order to provide Card Services for serial PCMCIA cards. It also modifies the registry so that the serial service on NT uses pccom.sys instead of serial.sys, which means that every serial device, including built-in ports, uses pccom.sys. 

Serialtest relies on the serial driver being called serial.sys. When Serialtest starts, it stops the serial service, swaps out the original serial.sys driver with Frontline's serial.sys driver, and restarts the serial service; however, the serial service is still using pccom.sys instead of serial.sys, and the result is that when Serialtest tries to get control of the COM port, it finds that it can't and displays an error message.

If you are not sure if your PC has Softex, see if you have a C:\Program Files\Softex directory on your PC. If so, you are running Softex.

SOLUTION

If you need to use Serialtest with serial PC cards or modem cards, you will need to uninstall Softex and use the PC card support built into NT. Softex features include power management and hot swapping, which are not supported by NT's native PC card support. If you uninstall Softex, you will need to power down your laptop before inserting or removing PC cards. Check to be sure you have the Softex program files so you can reinstall Softex if necessary. These files may have been included with your laptop, or may be available on your laptop manufacturer's web site.

1. To uninstall Softex, go to the Program Files\Softex directory. There will be two directories here, one for Softex Power Management and the other for the PC Card Controller, and you will need to uninstall each separately. Double-click on the Uninstall icon in both directories. When the uninstall is finished, the files in both directories will be deleted. Delete the Softex directory.

2. The uninstall does not clean up the registry changes made to support serial PC cards, so you will need to do this manually. From the Start button, choose Run. 

3. Type "regedit" (minus the quotation marks) in the Open box. This will open the registry editor. NOTE: Changing the registry can be very dangerous and can cause your computer to stop working correctly. Always make a backup of the registry before altering it in any way. There are programs that can back up the registry for you, or you can make an NT repair disk. See your user's manual for more information on making a repair disk.

4. From the Edit menu, choose Find. In the Find box, type "pccom.sys".

5. When the Find stops, check to see what the path is of the key it has found. You want to be in HKEY_Local_Machine\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Serial or HKEY_Local_Machine\System\ControlSet00X\Services\Serial (where X represents a number, usually 1 or 2.)

6. Find the key called ImagePath. If the value of ImagePath is \SystemRoot\System32\Drivers\pccom.sys, delete the ImagePath key. If you prefer, you can also modify the key so that it reads \SystemRoot\System32\Drivers\serial.sys.

7. Press F3 to find the next occurrence of pccom.sys. You want to delete or modify the ImagePath key for each control set as well as the current control set.

8. Close the registry when finished.

9. Reboot.

10. You may need to reinstall PC card support provided by NT. See your NT user's manual for information on how to do this. Otherwise, if you have a PC Card control panel icon and it opens, PCMCIA support should be present.

Softex Card and Socket Services for Windows NT

PROBLEM DESCRIPTION

On startup, FTS displays the message, "Could not gain control of COM X. Possible reasons: 1) A program that uses the serial driver is running. 2) The COM port does not use the standard serial driver."

When you click OK to acknowledge the message, FTS starts, but starts in View Mode and will not allow you to capture data. This happens on every COM port on the PC.

SUMMARY

Softex provides Card Services for laptops with Windows NT, and is shipped on several brands of laptops according to Softex's web site (<http://www.softexinc.com/>), including Dell, Digital, Micron, Hitachi, Fujitsu, Acer and TI laptops. Softex uses a custom version of the serial driver called pccom.sys in order to provide Card Services for serial PCMCIA cards. It also modifies the registry so that the serial service on NT uses pccom.sys instead of serial.sys, which means that every serial device, including built-in ports, uses pccom.sys. 

Serialtest relies on the serial driver being called serial.sys. When Serialtest starts, it stops the serial service, swaps out the original serial.sys driver with Frontline's serial.sys driver, and restarts the serial service; however, the serial service is still using pccom.sys instead of serial.sys, and the result is that when Serialtest tries to get control of the COM port, it finds that it can't and displays an error message.

If you are not sure if your PC has Softex, see if you have a C:\Program Files\Softex directory on your PC. If so, you are running Softex.

SOLUTION

If you need to use Serialtest with serial PC cards or modem cards, you will need to uninstall Softex and use the PC card support built into NT. Softex features include power management and hot swapping, which are not supported by NT's native PC card support. If you uninstall Softex, you will need to power down your laptop before inserting or removing PC cards. Check to be sure you have the Softex program files so you can reinstall Softex if necessary. These files may have been included with your laptop, or may be available on your laptop manufacturer's web site.

1. To uninstall Softex, go to the Program Files\Softex directory. There will be two directories here, one for Softex Power Management and the other for the PC Card Controller, and you will need to uninstall each separately. Double-click on the Uninstall icon in both directories. When the uninstall is finished, the files in both directories will be deleted. Delete the Softex directory.

2. The uninstall does not clean up the registry changes made to support serial PC cards, so you will need to do this manually. From the Start button, choose Run. 

3. Type "regedit" (minus the quotation marks) in the Open box. This will open the registry editor. NOTE: Changing the registry can be very dangerous and can cause your computer to stop working correctly. Always make a backup of the registry before altering it in any way. There are programs that can back up the registry for you, or you can make an NT repair disk. See your user's manual for more information on making a repair disk.

4. From the Edit menu, choose Find. In the Find box, type "pccom.sys".

5. When the Find stops, check to see what the path is of the key it has found. You want to be in HKEY_Local_Machine\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Serial or HKEY_Local_Machine\System\ControlSet00X\Services\Serial (where X represents a number, usually 1 or 2.)

6. Find the key called ImagePath. If the value of ImagePath is \SystemRoot\System32\Drivers\pccom.sys, delete the ImagePath key. If you prefer, you can also modify the key so that it reads \SystemRoot\System32\Drivers\serial.sys.

7. Press F3 to find the next occurrence of pccom.sys. You want to delete or modify the ImagePath key for each control set as well as the current control set.

8. Close the registry when finished.

9. Reboot.

10. You may need to reinstall PC card support provided by NT. See your NT user's manual for information on how to do this. Otherwise, if you have a PC Card control panel icon and it opens, PCMCIA support should be present