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From: rmg@ultra.com (Rich Geiger)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac
Subject: Re: "The communications port is busy...???"
Message-ID: <1990Mar19.065047.6897@ultra.com>
Date: 19 Mar 90 06:50:47 GMT
References: <1990Mar18.233326.29903@Neon.Stanford.EDU>
Distribution: usa
Organization: Ultra Network Technologies
Lines: 44

commons@Sunburn.Stanford.EDU (Peter Commons) writes:

>I tried running Versaterm from my Mac SE at home the other day- to
>connect via modem to the campus network and got a "sorry- the
>communications port is busy" error. No matter what I tried, Versaterm
>refused to try to dial out. The same problem occurred when I ran
>another piece of communications software.  Not knowing what was
>wrong, I tried all the typical things- restarting the mac, then
>booting off of a floppy... I even reset the PRAM. Nothing worked,
>though.

>What does this mean and how do I clear the communications port? My
>most typical modem port functions are modem communications and MIDI,
>but recently I got Prodigy. Does anyone know what might have caused
>this?

I saw the same thing for the first (and so far, only) time last
Thursday. First showed up with a beta-test version of communications
program I am testing; then Red Ryder: same thing, though slightly
different message. I, too, did all the usual recovery stuff- pulled
all INITs, new copy of the system file, nothing. Finally, just
piddling around, I tried yet another comms program (UW), and *it*
connected to the modem... after that, the other comms programs worked
fine.  Coincidentally (?), I also use the modem port for modem & MIDI,
selactable via an "A B" switch box. I have recently started using
OpCode Galaxy, and had at first thought it had something to do with
the problem, but now am discounting that possibility. The comms
program I first saw this with recently had the following bug reported,
which shifted my suspicion back to it:

    - Bug fix: Files weren't closed if Quit chosen on Serial port unavailable
               situation. This would cause them to be corrupted and abort
               MacXxxxxx next time they were used.

But since you saw it with VersaTerm, I have to wonder whether
MacXxxxxx really had anything to do with triggering the problem. I'm
left with that awful "I'm not sure what caused it- or fixed it"
feeling...


-- 
 - Rich Geiger
Ultra Network Technologies / 101 Daggett Drive / San Jose CA 95134
rmg@ultra.com  ...!ames!ultra!rmg  (408) 922-0100 [w]  (408) 739-7911 [h]