I'm getting error when trying to run demo Serial code

[Obelix]

I'm trying to test out the demo of labview to see if we are going to upgrade. I am trying to access the serial ports since we used to do that before, but I'm having no luck with any of the demo code. When I run Serial Communication.vi, it keeps giving me an error. All other demo's I have tried give errors as well, although I don't know if it is the same one. I do not have any conflicts with my com ports, yet I get a -1073807202 err code. Here is the text I get in the error box.
Property Node in VISA Configure Serial Port (Instr).vi->Serial Communication.vi

Any help to get me started? I haven't used labview seriously for about 4-5 years with vers 5.0.

I have win2k in case that makes a difference.
Thank
s

[JoshuaP]

Make sure that NI-VISA or the NI-VISA Run-Time Engine is installed on the computer. This error suggests that NI-VISA is not installed, or there is a problem with the installation. To remedy this, uninstall any existing versions of NI-VISA on the machine. Then, either reinstall the same version of NI-VISA, or upgrade to the latest version of NI-VISA (linked below).

http://digital.ni.com/softlib.nsf/webcategories/85256410006C055586256BBB002C0E91?opendocument&node=132060_US

I hope this helps out. Please let me know if you continue to get the error after upgrading NI-VISA.

-Josh

[Obelix]

Well, that changed the error I was getting. I am now getting an err# -1073807339. The msg associated with this is - VISA Read in Serial Read with Timeout.vi->Serial Communication.vi. Any Idea why this might be happening? I'v got 2 com ports set up with no hardware problems according to the hardware manager. I selected com1 from the resources name drop down menu before I ran the demo. Any suggestions?

Chris

[JoshuaP]

What is connected to the serial port? If you are trying to perform a loopback (read what you write), make sure you at least have pins 2 and 3 connected. I would also suggest setting the handshaking to none.

http://zone.ni.com/devzone/conceptd.nsf/webmain/D48BA43C59B60277862569EE000501FD?opendocument

-Josh

[Obelix]

Doh! Of course. Its been so long(~5 yrs) since I've dealt with direct hardware programming/manipulation that I'm not even thinking straight. I'm sure thats the problem. I'm just shooting that message out to the port and expecting it to magically jump from one pin to the other and then come back in for me to pick up. Thanks for pointing out the obvious for me.

Chris