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General discussion

PLEASE HELP- my laptop can't find my COM3 port

Feb 15, 2005 6:36AM PST

Ok- this may be a weird question, but my laptop cannot find my Com3 port to connect to the internet. I use dial up (was using a wireless LAN system before- don't know if that matters) and no my laptop cannot find the com3 port to connect to the internet. I have a Toshiba satellite A15-127- less than 2 years old. I use an XP platform and earthlink to connect to the internet.
When I try to connect, I get an error message that says my com port is not available. My modem is tied to a com3 port. I have queried the modem (which is working properly) and i get a message that the com port may be in use by something else? When I go to the Device Manager, i don't have a COM port listed at all!! I've tried to do a hardware scan for the com port, but nothing comes up. When I tell the computer to add a com port, it tells me that it doesn't know the specifications for a com port.

Should i use the recovery CD to reinstall the port and would this eat everything on my hard drive? Or is this a clever virus or worm that is hiding my com port? I'm very confused and any help is greatly appreciated. Thanks.

Discussion is locked

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COM3 port not detected
Feb 17, 2005 8:33PM PST

On my Toshiba Satellite M30-604 I cannot find COM3 port and the internal modem cannot be installed. In device manager there is not COM port at all, and the folder "modems" doesn?t exist. I've tried to re-instal the drivers but the instalation process ends without feedback (positive or negative) and without visible results.

I'm trying to avoid the recovery CD use.
Can somebody help me ?

Regards,
teko

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I have the same problem, did you fix it?
Mar 22, 2005 3:24PM PST

Hi so Im having the exact same problem, I was wondering if you had managed to fix it, if so can you tell me how too?

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This sounds as if some ISPs.....
Feb 17, 2005 8:59PM PST

software has gone awry. COM3 is a virtual port used by Windows to dial out, thus it is unseen in Device Manager. Try running the Internet Connection Wizard to test the modems ability to dial out. If you succeed, I would then reinstall your ISPs software or look for an updated version.

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Missing Com3
Mar 27, 2005 1:45PM PST

Could you kindly expand on "..I have queried the modem (which is working properly) and i get a message that the com port may be in use by something else..."

If the modem is on Com3 and Com3 is in use by another prog, how did you query the modem? And how do you say it's working fine?

I had a laptop which had a recovery CD. I had the problem of the "recovery" formatting the HD and force reinstallation of all other progs. BUT, repeat BUT, I could also reinstall only the drivers I wanted to from the same CD. If you can install only the modem drivers from the recovery CD, it is likely to solve the problem.