Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!cs.utexas.edu!swrinde!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!usc!ucsd!pacbell.com!att!linac!midway!chsun1!lee From: lee@chsun1.uchicago.edu (Dwight A Lee) Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware Subject: ATI VGA Wonder MOUSE + Two Serial Ports: Possible? Keywords: ATI Mouse Serial Message-ID: Date: 31 Jan 91 02:07:24 GMT Sender: news@midway.uchicago.edu (News Administrator) Organization: University of Chicago Lines: 58 Can two serial ports and an ATI VGA Wonder bus mouse coexist in the same system? I have a 386/20MHz-AT running MS-DOS 3.30. I have two AT serial ports as COM1 and COM2. COM1 works fine, but COM2 is flaky, and I'm not sure why. Could it have something to do with the mouse port on the ATI VGA Wonder, even though it's currently DISABLED (or so says VSETUP)? When I plug the mouse in and activate it, one of the serial ports seems to go dead. Why does this happen? I've tried various "Primary" and "Secondary" addresses which are settable from 2 to 5 (I suppose that these are IRQ numbers) - but to no avail. Other information about my environment (shown at coldstart): ATI VGA Wonder Bios, Version V3M-1.02 Phoenix 80386 ROM BIOS PLUS Version 1.10 01 Copyright (C) 1985-1988 Phoenix Technologies Ltd. PC BRAND 386 The ATI manual shows a table of IRQs and how they are commonly used, but makes no mention of which I should choose, what the difference between a primary and a secondary address is, or whether having more than one serial port is going to affect the VGA card's operation. Table as listed in manual: IRQ Lvl Used by 2 IBM AT 5 IBM PC w/fixed disk 5 IBM PC/XT 4 Async Comm Adapt (com1) 4 or 3 Binary Sync Comm Adap (com1) 4 or 3 Sync Data Link Ctrl Comm Adap 3 Async Comm Adapt (com2) 2 IBM EGA 2 IBM Network Adapt A summary of what I'd like to know: - can I have both serial ports working, and use the mouse as well? -- if so, can I do it with my existing setup? or will I need a ROM update or something like that? - is the VGA card interfering with the operation of the COM2 serial port? Please post replies if you feel that many readers will benefit. Email replies will be summarized to this group if there are more than two. Thank you all for any assistance you can render. -- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Dwight A Lee / lee@chsun1.uchicago.edu / T904107@niucs.BITNET / tCS/BB / Font I speak only for myself. / "I am not the only dust my mother raised" - TMBG