support | troubleshooting

Making and External COM Port Available

If you have all of your external ports connected to serial devices, to make an external port available, you have a number of options:

1. Unplug one of the other serial devices. Once unplugged, you can then plug in your eBeam hardware.
2. Use an inexpensive serial switch box to switch between multiple external devices connected to a COM port.
3. If you have a mouse on COM1, depending on your PC, you may be able to switch to a Bus mouse, thereby making COM1 available for the eBeam hardware. Basically, a Bus mouse has a round connector that connects directly to the motherboard and doesn't use a serial port. Check your PC documentation to see if there is a Bus mouse port on the back of your PC.
4. Add an I/O card with another serial port to your PC .

Return to Managing COM Ports