On  8 Jul 98 at 11:41, Elizabeth Boston wrote:

>         Modem Doctor, however, gave me the following message
> "Warning, Com port 1 is using com port 2's address. You
> should re-configure your serial card to the correct address,
> otherwise, communication programs won't properly operate"
>         This is not something that I have much experience with.
> How do I re-configure my serial card?

  Because of the way that the BIOS assigns COM port numbers to
physical devices, this *probably* means that you have no device set
for COM1, and so your device configured as if it was COM2 is being
seen as the first serial device.  This is probably not a very serious
problem, although some (older) communications software could find it
confusing.

  Before the Pentium era, few motherboards provided serial and
parallel ports; these were available on add-on "I/O" cards.
Typically, the card would come with a manual illustrating the proper
jumper settings for various configuration options, and you'd need the
manual for your specific card.  Internal modems use a serial port,
and many of them are still configured this way.
  But with serial ports integrated on most Pentium motherboards,
configuration of those ports is often available through the CMOS
setup when you boot the machine.  There are some boards where jumpers
must still be set, but they're generally the older ones.

  Bottom line:  You need to know what serial devices you have
installed, what COM ports you want them to be[*], and where they are
physically within your machine.  You may need the manuals for one or
more components of your system.

[*] Members of this list may have some suggestions, based on your
list of devices....

David G