From my failing (biological, not silicon) memory:

COM1 and COM3 are the same physical device (as are COM2 and COM4).  You
can't use both at the same time.  If your modem is internal, it's always
on, even if offline, so you can't use another device on COM1.  The
brute-force workaround is:  change your modem to COM4 --if you have another
device on COM2 or COM4 (e.g., a serial mouse), you'll still have the same
problem.

I'm using a serial mouse and a PalmPilot cradle on COM1 by connecting
through a data switch --disconnecting the mouse and connecting the cradle
when I need to HotSync the PalmPilot (I have MouseKeys enabled).

I hope somone else has a better solution for you (and me).  Of course,
there's always USB!

At 08:53 PM 01/04/1999 -0500, you wrote:
>I was not using my COM1 port until just recently when I acquired a H/PC
with a
>docking cradle, which comes with a desk top sync program. (CE2 operating
system)
>I found that my COM1 was disabled in my BIOS / PERIPHERALS setup, so I
enabled
>it, and immediately started to get conflicts with my modem on COM3. I have
tried
>to work around it, without success. I first started this process under
W95, and
>then upgraded to W98. Same problem with both platforms.
>
>Here are my vital statistics;
>
>
>COM3       MODEM
>Can set to COM3 or COM 4
>IRQ 3, 4, 5, or 7
>
>COM1
>Can be set to IRQ 3 or 4
>
>My system properties are reporting the following IRQ usage.
>
>
>0=SYSTEM TIMER
>1=KEYBOARD
>2=PROGRAMABLE INTERRUPT CONTROLLER
>3=COM2
>4=COM4
>4=COM1
>5=AWE64 16 BIT AUDIO
>6=FLOPPY
>7=PRINTER PORT
>8=SYSTEM CMOS RTC
>10=IRQ HOLDER FOR PCI STEERING
>10=RAGE II + (ENGLISH) DIRECT X
>11=IRQ HOLDER FOR PCI STEERING
>11=INTEL PCI BUS UNIVERSAL HOST CONTROLLER
>13=NUMERIC DATA PROCESSOR
>14=INTEL BUS MASTER IDE CONTROLLER
>14=PRIMARY IDE CONTROLLER
>15=INTEL BUS MASTER IDE CONTROLLER
>15=SECONDARY IDE CONTROLLER
>
>For the moment, I am going into System Properties, and disabling one to
get the
>other working. Obviously this is a pain and I would like to have both of them
>working seamlessly.
>
>I would appreciate any suggestions on what I can do to be able to achieve
this.
>
>
>Thank you in advance for any help offered.
>
>
>Doug Collins
>
>                         PCBUILD's List Owner's:
>                      Bob Wright<[log in to unmask]>
>                        Drew Dunn<[log in to unmask]>
>
>
Larry Gurley
[log in to unmask],
[log in to unmask]

                         PCBUILD's List Owner's:
                      Bob Wright<[log in to unmask]>
                        Drew Dunn<[log in to unmask]>