I had installed 10.40j on a ThinkPad 755CD running Windows
98, with Com 1 controlling the Icom 775 and LPT1 keying
circuit, and Telnet over my Lan for a Packet connection.
All has been working just fine (after Ron told me to
run COMREG to make the packet work last weekend, during
the WPXSSB - great support at 1pm on Saturday!).
But I wanted to use the larger screen Dell Insprion 8100,
which has Windows 2000 installed, once I saw the instructions
a www.writelog.com to download UserPort.
I first connected Com 1 and had radio control, and made the
telnet connection and that worked fine.
I then downloaded User Port, deleted all entries, and
entered 378-37B, and all seemed okay.
I then connected the LPT1 Keying Circuit, which was
connected to the radio.
I immediately got a warning on the screen about
"low battery - connect power", but the AC power
was connected and in use
(both batteries are old, and the orange "change battery"
light has been on for weeks, and I've been meaning to
order replacements, but the computer worked just fine on
AC power, which is UPS'd when I'm on the ham rig)
About 10 seconds after I plugged in the LPT1 circuit,
I heard a small pop, smelled smoke, and the computer went dead.
Removed the LPT1 keying circuit, but the Dell Inspiron computer
remains dead, and will not power up; even the light that indicates
ac power is connected does not light
(its now a D-E-D - a Dark Emitting Diode).
I reconnected the LPT1 keying circuit, Com 1, and LAN
back to the Win 98 ThinkPad, and everything works fine
again.
Of course there is no technical support at User Port's
freeware distributor, and the Knowlege Base at Dell has no
entry for UserPort (but 2600+ hits on "User Port").
Has anyone had any similar problems with User Port?
Has anyone had success with the commercial alternative
Direct I/O product on a Dell Inspiron?
P.S. I had previoiusly connected the LPT1 Keying circuit
to the Dell Inspiron without a hardware failure; Write
Log had greyed out the LPT1 so it could not be used,
but the physical connection did not cause a failure,
until I had installed User Port, and the failure was
before I had even started WriteLog
Barry, W5GN
Herbert W. Barry Merrill, PhD
President-Programmer
MXG Software
Merrill Consultants
MXG Software
10717 Cromwell Drive
Dallas, Texas, USA 75229-5112
www.mxg.com
tel 214 351 1966 - then press 7
fax 214 350 3694
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