comm and lpt ports

[credulous]

G72-b63NR, XG997UA notebook

comm and lpt ports disappeared from device manager on reinstallation of Win7. They were present when I bought the computer. How do I restore them?

[Advance23]

Hi credulous, and welcome to the HP Support Forums! 

I understand that your Comm and LPT ports appear to be missing after reinstalling Windows 7 on your HP G72-b63NR Notebook PC. I will try my best to help you with this problem. These devices may be just hidden.

To check for hidden devices.

1. Go to Device Manager

2. Click on View

3. Click Show hidden devices

4. Then expand all the items under Device Manager

5. There will be grayed out devices, uninstall all of those that are grayed out.

6. Restart the computer and then plug the external devices to the computer.

If this does not work, then make sure that the Com ports are enabled and set to 'auto' in the BIOS.

*NOTE: IOS DISCLAIMER: Modifying BIOS/complementary metal oxide semiconductor (CMOS) settings incorrectly can cause serious problems that may prevent your computer from booting properly. Microsoft cannot guarantee that any problems resulting from the configuring of BIOS/CMOS settings can be solved. Modifications of the settings are at your own risk.

If this does not work, then you may have to manually install the drivers. Here are the HP G72-b63NR Notebook PC Drivers download page. I am also including this document for Installing new hardware: recommended links by Microsoft.

I hope this information helps, please let me know how it goes.

Good luck and have a great day!

[credulous]

Thank you for the welcome!

Going down your list:

no hidden devices in Control Panel

There is no option in the BIOS to enable or disable ports, at least not that I can find.

I've looked through the drivers supplied by HP: no go.

I can add a printer manually, and specify a com or lpt port, but it (the port) doesn't show up in Device Manager.

I manually added a com port through hdwwiz. Here's the message I get:

Windows cannot determine the settings for this device.  Consult the documentation that came with this device and use the Resource tab to set the configuration. (Code 34)

When I attempt to manually set resources, there are no open I/O ranges or interrupts.

Microsoft didn't appear to have anything on this.

[Advance23]

Hi credulous,

I am sorry that you have not got this issue resolved and now there is another error code. So, from Microsoft their explanation of this Error Code 34:

Code 34

Windows cannot determine the settings for this device. Consult the documentation that came with this device and use the Resource tab to set the configuration. (Code 34)

Recommended resolution

Manually configure the device
The device requires manual configuration. See the hardware documentation or contact the hardware vendor for instructions on manually configuring the device. After you configure the device itself, you can use the Resources tab in Device Manager to configure the resource settings in Windows.

I understand that the device that you are trying to use will need to be manually configured before you can use the Resources tab in Device Manager in order for it to be recognized.

I hope this information helps, keep me posted on how it goes.

Good luck and I hope you have a great day!

[credulous]

As I said, there are no open addresses or interrupts available, so I am not able to manually configure resources.

[Advance23]

Hi credulous,

Since you are unable to manually set up the device's, I suggest Performing an HP System Recovery (Windows 7), using the Recovery from Windows 7 to see if you can recover the original software and drivers on your computer.

If you continue to have the issue, then please call our technical support at 800-474-6836. If you live outside the US/Canada Region please click the link below to get the support number for your region. Contact HP Worldwide As I have exhausted all information available to me.

Best of luck, and please let me know how it goes.

Have a great day!

[credulous]

Total hard drive wipe and restore did not bring back the ports.

HP support wants $50 up front and $15 a month to even speak to me, so I'll just keep working on this myself, at the moment.

[credulous · Accepted solution]

Solved:

Driver identifier d*t c*m ran a scan, and suggested a file. It's a Radio Shack driver for their usb - serial cable.

The file name is 85945bef528cc752e6a7d6654e0b93c7.exe