MORE INFORMATION
- Serial Ports and OS/2 Serial Port Device Drivers
Under OS/2 1.3, serial ports cannot be accessed without serial device
drivers. Each serial driver/COM-port combination has its own hardware
requirements and limitations, so they are discussed separately below.
At least one serial port must be available and properly configured,
but remember that COM ports have specific and sometimes unique OS/2
serial device driver requirements. Third party serial boards or
proprietary built-in ports usually require their own device drivers.
For example: Digiboards require XALL.SYS.
You must install an OS/2 serial port device driver through the CONFIG.SYS
file. Depending on the serial port hardware, you may also have to install
proprietary device drivers.
Serial Port/Driver Combinations
1.1 ISA and EISA (but not certain HP machines and 3COM 3Servers)
machines: use COM01.SYS.
COM01.SYS must be loaded in the CONFIG.SYS file. It supports ONLY
serial ports COM1 and COM2 on ISA and EISA machines, NOT COM3 and
COM4.
SERIAL 1 COM1: I/O Address = 3F8h IRQ = 4
SERIAL 2 COM2: I/O Address = 2F8h IRQ = 3
Note: RAS requires that the serial port in use be configured as above.
COM01.SYS does not perform a DosOpen call to the serial port until the
serial port is actually used, so COM01.SYS loads during CONFIG.SYS
time even if the port is misconfigured or there is an IRQ or I/O
conflict between one of the COM ports and another device. For example:
if a network card is configured for IRQ3, COM01.SYS loads but a
system error "SYS 1620" occurs when a MODE COM2: command is issued.
1.2 Hewlett-Packard EISA machines: use COMHP01.SYS. (Note: Find out
your HP model number--this may NOT apply to all models.)
COMHP01.SYS supports COM1-COM4 with COM1 and COM2 configured as above,
but you need to set up COM3 and COM4 with the following I/O addresses
and IRQ settings:
SERIAL 3 COM3 I/O Address = 3E8h, IRQ = 10
SERIAL 4 COM4 I/O Address = 2E8h, IRQ = 11
These are discussed (as is COMHP01.SYS) in the README.TXT file in
C:\OS2\SUPPORT.
1.3 MCA machines: use COM02.SYS (COM01.SYS CANNOT be used):
COM02.SYS must be used on Micro Channel machines and loaded in the
CONFIG.SYS file. COM02.SYS supports serial ports COM1, COM2, and COM3.
IRQ3 is shared by COM2 and COM3.
COM1: I/O Address = 3F8h IRQ = 4
COM2: I/O Address = 2F8h IRQ = 3
COM3: I/O Address = 2F8h, IRQ = 3
On Micro Channel machines, COM2-8 are shared at IRQ3, and I/O ports
2F8, 3220 (hex), 3228, 4220, 4228, 5220, and 5228. In OS/2 1.3,
however, COM02.SYS can support only COM1-COM3.
Some add-in serial boards are supported so that you can get ports COM2
and/or COM3 on, for example, an IBM PS/2 Model 80. One supported add-in
board is the IBM DUAL ASYNC adapter, which has two 9-pin serial ports
built into it.
1.4 Computers with Digiboards (Micro Channel, ISA, or EISA): use
XALL.SYS. For older products, use DGX.SYS.
The information in the rest of this section was verified in April 1993:
The OS/2 XALL.SYS device driver supports the entire line of Digichannel
intelligent asynchronous serial communication controllers and must be
loaded in the OS/2 Config.sys file. You can adjust its functionality
with device line parameters.
The OS/2 DGX.SYS device driver supports older non-intelligent serial
Digiboards such as the PC4 board, and is also configured with the help
of device line parameters.
Note: Digiboard does NOT ship the XALL.SYS OS/2 driver with their
hardware. You must order it by calling (612) 943-9020 or obtain it
from their BBS at (612) 943-0812.
(Communication settings: N,8,1; baud 300, 1200, 2400, 9600; V.32, V.42
and V.42bis standards are supported.)
Note: On EISA bus machines with EISA Digiboards you must verify that
the XALL.SYS parameter: /p:xxxx has a 4-digit I/O address, the first
digit of which is the EISA Digiboard card's bus slot number. This
first digit is often forgotten, which prevents the driver from loading
properly.
1.5 AST 4-port serial board: use COM01A.SYS.
This board is NOT supported by Microsoft, but no problems have been
reported with it and we provide this information as a convenience. The
driver is available on the Microsoft BBS at (425) 936-MSDL in the LAN
Manager area. Load it just as you would COM01.SYS. Microsoft has not
tested this driver with OS/2 1.3 and therefore does NOT guarantee proper
performance.
1.6 3COM 3Servers:
- 3S400 servers: use COM01S.400
- 3S500 AND 3S600 servers: use COM01S.500
The CONFIG.SYS file loaded by the LAN Manager installation tape has
the appropriate 3COM serial port driver already referenced but still
REMarked out so that it does NOT allow the serial port to be used. To
make it usable, simply remove the REM on that line, save the file,
shutdown and reboot your server.
Note: On 3COM servers, only COM1 and COM3 are available--the COM2 port
is reserved for the built-in Localtalk port. A 3Com RAS server can use
only COM1 and COM3 unless a third party driver and serial port
hardware (such as Digiboard) is installed to make COM ports above COM3
available.
COM01S.400 and COM01S.500 expect the serial ports to be configured as
follows (these are the defaults):
COM1: I/O Address = 3F8h, IRQ = 4
COM3: I/O Address = 2F8h, IRQ = 3
Note: The 3Com upgrade toolkits for LAN Manager 2.1 and 2.2 contain a
disk for installing RAS on 3servers. For 2.1, insert this disk once you
start RemSetup (Remote Setup for 3 Servers--located in the LAN Manager
directory on the 3server).
Follow the same procedure for the 3COM upgrade toolkit for LAN Manager
2.2, but when you install RAS, insert the disk labeled "Services for
Macintosh Remote Installation for 3Server"--the labels for the RAS and
the Macintosh services are mixed up.
Note: The "LAN Manager Installation and Configuration Guide" for
3Servers incorrectly assumes that a REMarked outline in the STARTUP.CMD
file exists for the RAS. Please add the following line to the STARTUP.CMD
file just below the group of similar lines:
Call c:\lanman\3startms.cmd remoteaccess remoteaccess
Note: If you configure RAS for more ports than are physically present
(for example, you request a COM4 on a standard 3s500 system where only
COM1 and COM3 exist) then the 3Server might hang when RAS is initialized.
To cure such a problem, you must edit the STARTUP.CMD file and REMark
out the RAS "Call" line. For information on how to do this, refer to the
LAN Manager for 3Com servers documentation explaining the CONSOLE mode
of 3Servers.
1.7 X.25 drivers and cards: use the vendor's X.25 card and driver.
If your server is running RAS over an X.25 network, then in addition
to the X.25 card driver RAS needs a COM01.SYS or other driver in order
to function and recognize COM ports present on the server. For example:
the X.25 card from Eicon, Inc. emulates a maximum of 13 COM ports (COM4-
COM16) if there are three regular serial ports on the server already.
Note: If more than 13 COM ports are configured, the RAS service
terminates upon startup with a TRAP D during NET START REMOTEACCESS.
The number of COM ports configurable also depends on other programs
running simultaneously and competing for the same resources needed by
the Eicon driver software, so if software of this type is running, RAS
probably has to be configured for fewer ports before it can start
successfully. Start out with 9 or 10 ports configured and then work
your way up towards 13.
Eicon software version 2 release 2 (v2r2) is out of date as of April
- Please upgrade to the latest version: version 3 release 1 (v3r1).
For support with the Eicon driver installation or to upgrade to the
latest version, please contact Eicon Customer Support Services at
(514) 631-2592 (EST).
For more information on debugging X.25 problems with RAS, refer to the
RAS 1.1 Release Notes in the RAS retail package.
For details on RAS requirements other than serial ports and device
drivers, please see "Part 2 (of 2)-- Troubleshooting RAS on an OS/2
1.x Server."
End of Part 1 of 2.