I recently had to change the configuration of a workstation: The ISA
expansion card holding 2 DB-9 serial ports went bad. One of these ports was
used for the serial connection to the HP3000. I removed the card, removed
all the COM ports in Windows Device Manager, and re-started the computer.
Windows successfully detected the remaining 2 COM ports (one built-in DB-9
serial port and 1 modem connection). COM1 is the DB-9 serial port and it is
now used on that workstation for the serial connection to the HP3000. COM2,
of course, is the modem. All seemed well until the next day (yesterday).
When Reflections was started (It is now set-up to initialize COM1 at 9600
baud) it shows an error message, "The selected port is already open or in
use by another program". My workaround to this was to AGAIN remove the COM
port and re-start Windows. Windows detects the COM port, and then
Reflections starts with no problems (no more error message). Is there a
permanent fix to this, so that I no longer have to remove COM1 and restart
every morning? What could be causing the COM1 port to be "already open"?
I tried Ctrl+Alt+Del and closing all open programs except Systray and
Explorer.

Help!!!

Michael T. Adams
Network Administrator
DuPont Beaumont Federal Credit Union
[log in to unmask]