listing of ports on laptop

What software are you using that can't find the port ? Some software enables you to change the port it is looking for. Try and change from say port1 to port2.
The place you can check to see what ports you have depends on your operating system. For example on XP you go to Control Panel. System, hardware,Device Manager.
Good luck

Steve,

Good luck mate!

What brand of Laptop?
What brand of USB to Serial adapter?

I have given up trying to get consistency out of my Dell Laptop and Targus USB to Serial adapter.

As far as the ports on your computer, you should be able to check your computer settings thus:-
(assuming you are running Windows 98/XP)

Start > Control Panel > System > Hardware > Device Manager > Ports > Communications Port to see what assignment the Comms Port has been given (Com 1, 2, 3, 4, etc.)

On a PC with a serial port, the Comm port is usually assigned as Com1.
On a PC with a USB/Serial adapter, the software may assin the Comm port as Com4. (This is the case with the Targus adapter)

Now, if the Magellan 310 has an auto detect feature, like my Magellan Meridian does) it shouldn't matter what port assignment the Laptop's Comm port has been given. If however, you are using something like Franson GPSGate to allow multiple applications to share the Comm port at the same time, you will need to manually configure the Port number into the application.

Hope the above makes sense and I haven't confused you even more Steve.

If your using XP then it should find the hardware by itself, connect your GPS turn it on then perform a restart on the computer and see if that works , if it don't ...?? have you got a hammer in your shed , they work wonders

goodday all
traced the ports thing thru device manager serial port not showing so i dug up the cd unloaded the existing progeram and reloaded i can see the program where you remove programs (its in the list ) the computor makes a ding dong noise when i remove the lead from the laptop to gps (toshiba) but still cant see thhe program at the port point so obviosly they see one another they just dont want to talk i think i will ring oziexplorer tomorrow they supplied the lead and the software ahhh well if its not 1 damn thing its another
only good point i have a new ELECTRONIC STREET DIRECTORY because the 310 was playing up so now i have 2

steve

Me again!

I have just researched and arrived at the ultimate solution.

A Serial I/O PC Card. Connects into a PC card slot in the laptop and provides a high speed Serial Port.

Just one little problem to overcome, they are $268.00 each. Bugga.

One of the problems with USB connected devices, (including serial adaptors) is that at times the PC's Operating System "loses" the interface.
Sometimes the PC needs to be booted with the USB device plugged in and at other times we have needed to boot the PC before connecting the USB device.

All mystifying mumbo jumbo, but it helps keep some of us humans employed in the Industry.

Also remember to plug the USB to Serial adapter in the same USB port each time. Windows XP will assign a different COM port number if you plug it in a different USB port. This can get confusing sometimes.....

Will the Magellan software auto search beyond COM4? The USB adapter may have been assigned COM6 for example. I use one from Jaycar with a 315 and it only seems to work when I use it and NEVER when my wife does (why do we need all of this junk.....etc etc)! Have tried starting the laptop (HP TC4200) with and without the cable and/or gps but results are random.

Not much help to you unfortunately but I can at least empathise.

Adrian

IF all else fails Install a comm Checker, Plug in your GPS , Run the Comm checker, you can download a comm checker from Oziexplorer.

Moser