Microsoft KB Archive/43895

= &quot;Device Unavailable&quot;; PS/2 SETUP Doesn't Recognize COM2 Port =

Article ID: 43895

Article Last Modified on 11/21/2006



This article was previously published under Q43895



SUMMARY
A &quot;Device unavailable&quot; error may occur when a QuickBasic program attempts to OPEN &quot;COM2:&quot; and the IBM PS/2 system SETUP utility hasn't been configured or can't be configured to recognize COM2.

This problem has been reported with the IBM PS/2 Model 30 computer. The SETUP utility doesn't make provisions for a second communications port. Therefore, the BIOS data area RS232_BASE does not contain the proper information that QuickBasic is looking for. A good example is an internal modem card configured as COM2 that is put in the PS/2 but not recognized as an actual communications port. QuickBasic looks in the BIOS data area to see if there is a COM2 port to use and doesn't find the proper information. This problem is caused by the PS/2 Model 30 (and possibly other models) and is not a problem with QuickBasic.

The RS232_BASE area can be set with the proper COM2 information using a simple QuickBasic program. This program can be found in this Knowledge Base by querying on the following words:

COM2 and Bad Filename and QuickBasic

This information applies to Microsoft QuickBasic Versions 4.00, 4.00b, and 4.50, Microsoft Basic Compiler Versions 6.00 and 6.00b, and Microsoft Basic PDS Version 7.00.

Additional query words: QuickBas BasicCom

Keywords: KB43895

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