Any idea on what is causing my serial ports to lock up?

[JPhillips]

I recently purchased the NI serial-usb 4 serial port interface box because I was having a problem of my serial ports locking up, and I thought the problem might be with my serial port card. Well, after a few days with the NI boxes 2 of my serial ports locked up. This is a big problem that I need to get resolved. If anyone has any ideas on what might be causing this please let me know.

I am running Lookout 5.0 (build 7) and Logos 4.4.0.17 on a Dell Windows XP machine with 1GB RAM and a 2 GHz processor. I have already tried recompiling my Lookout file and clearing out my database but the problem still occurs. If I restart the file then the ports start working fine again, but I need to know what is causing this since this
wasn't a problem until about 2 months ago.

Any responses would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

Jason

[BenGray]

Do you have ANY other programs running in bkgrnd like,
pcAnywhere or any PDA desktops like ActiveSync or Palm. What about communication programs for PLC's like RSLinx (Allen-Bradley) or Telepace (SCADAPack) programming s/w??. What about a telephone modem vying for the same Com port. Are you using Com1 or Com2. It may be necessary for you to obtain a Serial Port Card like "Blue Heat" www.connecttech.com/sub/Products/BlueHeatPCI_RS232.asp

Hope this helps!
Ben Gray

[JPhillips]

Thanks for the response, Ben.

I have Laplink running on the computer all the time, and we do have 2 SCADA packs in the field at this time, but I don't run the Telepace program on this computer. This computer does not have a modem. As far as the serial port card, I was using a "Byterunner" 4 serial port card but I purchased the NI 4 serial port -usb interface because I thought the byterunner card might be the problem.

Do you think Laplink could be causing the problem?

Jason