This is more of a hardware question but I'm desperate if anyone has dealt
with this before.
We had a client crash so we rebuilt their d3/nt server (windows 2000).
Problem is they have a digiboard with some serial printers attached to it.
So I loaded the driver for the digi and attempted to start my printer.

I typed this command:
DEV-MAKE -T SERIAL -N 20 -A \\.\COM20,9600,8,1,N
and successfully created the pib
But then when I go to start the printer such as
STARTPTR 1,1,0,S20
It replies [535] Line specified is unavailable - try another

I don't really deal with digiboards but the client has notes which include
setting up a pib in the device manager.
Of course I tried it this way but it didn't work.
They also have notes that begin with DEV-REMOV S20 so I'm wondering if the
device manager and tcl are just two different methods of doing the same
thing.

Anyway any help would be very appreciated. I'm wondering if it's even just
that we have the wrong driver but I'm not getting anything to indicate that
to me. Windows identifies the board as Digi AccelePort C/X PCI but I'm
working on this remotely so I can't physically open the machine to properly
identify the card. I'm thinking I will need to ask them to do that tomorrow.
It has C/CON-16 concentrator. It once had 5 of these but only one is needed
so I asked them to remove the others and put the terminator on this one. The
other port is not being used but aslo is not terminated.

Thanks in advance for any help you may give.

Hi
This type of thing can happen if the line has had a failed attempt to open
it. The easiest thing to do is use another line number until you can reboot
D3. It is possible to sometimes RESET-PORT sorry I can't remember exact
syntax but I have normally resorted to shutdown and reboot - removing any
auto start items from user-coldstart so that you dont lose the line again,
just put them back later.
Peter McMurray
"bob" <bgf66 (AT) comcast (DOT) net> wrote

Thanks for the suggestion. I wish it were that simple.
I've tried different port #'s and reset-user but the dev-make does work.
It's just that the startptr seems to think the line is already used like it
belongs to a terminal. I wonder if this is an indication that the digi board
is not working or has an incorrect driver.
Could that be it?


"Excalibur" <excalibur21 (AT) bigpond (DOT) com> wrote

A long past dead memory cell remembers the "COM" numbers beign two higher
that the port number.
For what it's worth.....

"bob" <bgf66 (AT) comcast (DOT) net> wrote

Sorry Bob
Our digis always worked great but we moved the major client to Citrix and
the rest to Windows Pc links quite a long time ago so no more ideas.
Spooling back through my memories I recall that the thing used to say
"Invalid Entity ID" when it happened to me.
A quick thought though , do you setup windows printers on the digi lines ie
printers that Windows can use if this is the case you would want to tie the
STARTPTR to the shared windows printer not to the digi.
Good Luck
Peter McMurray
"bob" <bgf66 (AT) comcast (DOT) net> wrote

Thanks for the help. I think this is a case of lack of documentation and my
failing memory.
I won't know until tomorrow if the printers work but seems I was using the
dev-make command when I didn't need to.
I just needed to add the com ports using the device manager and then do
simple startptrs.
Man I wish I remembered that before I got so far off track.
Anyway thanks for the help.



"Peter McMurray" <excalibur21 (AT) bigpond (DOT) com> wrote

Hi
It was just one of those weeks mate. I logged in to a very remote client to
do a miniscule job for them 2 minutes tops. I thought system is a bit slow
I'll just do a POVF - 2000. Oops! have you had any power failures lately?
Have the prints been going slow? Yes to both. Then the internet died, not
their fault the actual ISP had died. Two nervous days later in conjunction
with a young support lady who has English as a second language all restored
with POVF - 55000.
Survival it's the name of the game.
Peter McMurray
"bob" <bgf66 (AT) comcast (DOT) net> wrote

Take D3 out of the equation. Configure the printer under windows,
test/confirm operation (a local windows guy should be able to do this),
and then have D3 refer to the NT printer device --> has the added
"bonus" (?2 edged sword) that jobs can be managed from windows spooler
if things get "stuck" in the future


bob wrote:

Ok one last post to this thread to explain what the problem really was.
I found out what my problem was by accident.
First to recap...
D3/NT 7.5, I was having trouble getting serial ports set up in the device
mgr to work with startptr so I started using dev-make.
Then my problem became that telnet tried to use those same ports since the
device mgr didn't know I took them so I had to go back to using the device
manager.
In the end it turns out the real problem was that startptr was not working
from DM. It returned the error:
[535] Line specified is unavailable - try another
But what I found by accident is that if you log to an FSI account, then
startptr works.
So that was the real problem all along. I did report this to Raining Data
and they are looking into it but just thought I'd pass that along in case
someone else runs into this.





"bob" <bgf66 (AT) comcast (DOT) net> wrote