no more available com ports

[thosecars82]

Hello
I am facing this problem. I am trying to set up a TM-T88IV Epson Thermal Printer under Windows Vista SP1. I have downloaded most updates, even those which are only recommended but not important.

When I try to install the driver I downloaded from epson website, I get to a screen in which I have to choose among the possible connections (USB, COM, Ethernet,...). Since this thermal printer is linked to the computer through the COM port, I select COM as connection.

The problem comes up after selecting COM because the installer program shows up a window with a message like "No more available COM ports..."

After some research I thought this might have to do with COM ports being busy by other devices. Nonetheless I do not use a serial (COM) mouse but a USB one.
Apparently, there are only two external COM ports on the back of this HP desktop computer and just one of them is used with this printer, the other is free. Anyways, I read somewhere that serial COM ports sometimes should be freed up by disabling them at BIOS level. I looked this COM port in all the BIOS options, the advance tab included and there is no COM port option at the bios displayed for this computer. Well, this might be because new computers do not show their COM ports in the BIOS.


The problem is that this printer was working so far but something happened to windows Vista which did not let it boot anymore. Therefore I had to restore windows vista with the typical HP restore software.

After doing that the printer does not work.
If I go to control panel->printers then I do not even see the printer because I could not finish the installation process, as I told you, I got stuck with the step of choosing the connection (COM).

Other approach I tried was buying a USB to serial cable and trying to set usb as connection type in the corresponding step of the install software. It seems that this did install the printer because control panel->printers showed the printer. However, it showed it as no connected even when it is plugged.

Eventually, I tried one more thing with this USB to serial converting cable: installing the special software that epson put in their website to make this TM-T88IV thermal printer work under a USB interface. But, this did not work either because the printer shows up in controlpanel->printers as no connected.

Moreover, hopefully the printer is not damaged since it has been protected from high currents with one of this typical multiple outlet extension cord specifically designed for this purpose.

For the time being, I cannot think of any other idea to make this printer work.

I greatly appreciate any kind of suggestions to solve this problem which is driving me nuts.

Thanks a lot in advance.

[jdc2000]

The COM ports should show in the BIOS somewhere. When you reinstalled Windows, did you also install the chipset drivers and/or COM port drivers for the computer? Also, did you install the printer before installing any software that might try to take over the COM ports. Some screen captures of what is showing for the COM ports in Device Manager might be helpful.

[thosecars82]

As for " The COM ports should show in the BIOS somewhere. ", I found USB ports, SATA, and something more but nothing about COM ports. Moreover, I read somewhere that new motherboards might not mention COM ports in the BIOS.

As for "When you reinstalled Windows, did you also install the chipset drivers and/or COM port drivers for the computer? ",
I used the HP restore funtction which is loaded at boot time without any kind of CDROM. I just restored the computer to the manufacturer state. But I did installed neither windows nor chipset drivers, I thought that might be done just by restoring the computer to the original settings.

As for "Also, did you install the printer before installing any software that might try to take over the COM ports.",
I just might have installed an OKI printer which uses USB port before installing the TM-T88IV Epson Thermal printer.

As for "Some screen captures of what is showing for the COM ports in Device Manager might be helpful. ", I did not see any COM port line in the device manager. Moreover, the only time when I saw a line with a COM port in the device manager was when I installed this 3,5MB driver from Epson which apparently is useful to use this printer through a USB port. The description give for this small driver in the Epson's website is:

"TM Virtual Port Driver
This driver is a serial/parallel-USB conversion driver to make an EPSON TM/BA/EU printer and DM-D Customer display connected via USB accessible from a POS application through virtual COM/LPT ports."

The problem is that this driver I saw might just be a simulated COM port. Anyways, I tested the printer with the USB-SERIAL cable and this driver installed and it did not work either as I said in my first post.

Any other ideas?
Thanks for the try

[jdc2000]

Post the exact make and model information for the HP computer.

Also, post the make and model of the USB to Serial converter. Some of those adapters work well, others do not.

If you are not seeing any COM ports in Device Manager, then it is not surprising that you can't connect a printer to them successfully. That usually means that either they are not enabled in the BIOS, or the drivers for them are not loaded.

[thosecars82]

Post the exact make and model information for the HP computer.

Also, post the make and model of the USB to Serial converter. Some of those adapters work well, others do not.

If you are not seeing any COM ports in Device Manager, then it is not surprising that you can't connect a printer to them successfully. That usually means that either they are not enabled in the BIOS, or the drivers for them are not loaded.

Hello
For the time being I am going to give you the make and model of the USB converter:
VALUE USB - Serial Converter, DB9, 1.8 m
http://shop.rotronic.co.uk/shop/arti...-Nr=12.99.1085

As for the make and model of the HP desktop PC I will give them to you soon when I have the chance to get them.

Thanks

[thosecars82]

Hello
For the time being I am going to give you the make and model of the USB converter:
VALUE USB - Serial Converter, DB9, 1.8 m
http://shop.rotronic.co.uk/shop/arti...-Nr=12.99.1085

As for the make and model of the HP desktop PC I will give them to you soon when I have the chance to get them.

Thanks

What I did see in the device manager was a line called something like "serial PCI" but I do not think this has to do with the COM port, right?

[jdc2000]

Serial PCI would not have anything to do with a Serial COM port.

The USB to Serial converter is one of the less expensive ones. Those sometimes work with a given PC, sometimes not.

[thosecars82]

Serial PCI would not have anything to do with a Serial COM port.

The USB to Serial converter is one of the less expensive ones. Those sometimes work with a given PC, sometimes not.

Eventually,
I got to see the COM ports in the device manager. This is what I did to be able to see them. The two COM ports are not in the motherbaord but in a SUNIX expansion PCI card with two COM ports. So I asked SUNIX for the drivers, downloaded them and installed them. Then I installed the EPSON TM-T88IV thermal printer with the printer unplugged. In the installation process there is a step where you have to choose among a list of possible connections: USB, serial, ethernet,... I chose serial and then it shows up a window with the two COM ports that I see in the device manager: COM3 and COM4 so that I select one of them to install the printer with it. I do not know why but I do not see COM1 and COM2. Anyways there are only two physical COM ports on this PCI card so I guess I should not bother with the name of the COM ports as long as I see two COM ports in the device manager.
Anyways,after selecting COM3 as the port that the printer is going to use, the installation process of the printer's drivers finishes. Then I turn on the printer and plug it to the computer. Then I still see the printer in the controlpanel->printers as no available instead of as ready. So what I try now is this: I reboot the computer. But this does not fix the problem either. So I change the cable to the other COM port. This does not work either. Then I reboot the computer. But this does not work either. Then I decide to install the printer's drivers also on the second COM port available, that is to say, COM4. Then repeat the same steps as I just detailed but it does not work either. Basically the printer should work now no matter the COM port I plugged it of the two available COM ports because the printer's drivers are installed on both COM ports just in case that worked.

Anyways, now I do not know what I can do to make this printer work. It was working until two days ago, but now it does not get the ready state in control panel->printers and instead it stays as not available for both COM ports.

Any idea to make this EPSON thermal printer TM-T88IV work?

Thanks in advance

[jdc2000]

Well, you have made some progress. Now you know why I wanted the make and model of the PC - to check to see if it even had any serial ports. As you discovered, it does not. Now that you have the (hopefully correct) drivers for the add-in serial port card installed and the ports are showing in Device Manager, it is time to check to make sure that the ports are actually working, and that the printer is set to use a serial connection.

Does the printer have other ways to connect to a computer, like a parallel port, a USB port, etc.? If yes, then there may be a printer setting that tells the printer what connection to use. If such a setting exists, you want to make sure it is set correctly.


To test the serial ports, the link below has info:

http://zone.ni.com/devzone/cda/tut/p/id/3450

[Train]

TM-T88IV Receipt Printer
Interface RS-232C, IEEE 1284; RS-485; USB; 10/100Base-T/TX; wireless
Paper dimensions 3.13" ± 0.02" x 3.27" diameter (79.5 ± 0.5(W) x 83.0mm)
Reliability MTBF 360,000 hours
MCBF 52,000,000 lines
Overall dimensions 5.71 x 7.68 x 5.83" (W x D x H) (145 x 195 x 148mm)
Case Color: Epson Cool White, Epson Dark Gray
http://pos.epson.com/products/TM-T88IV.htm

Use USB.

[thosecars82]

TM-T88IV Receipt Printer
Interface RS-232C, IEEE 1284; RS-485; USB; 10/100Base-T/TX; wireless
Paper dimensions 3.13" ± 0.02" x 3.27" diameter (79.5 ± 0.5(W) x 83.0mm)
Reliability MTBF 360,000 hours
MCBF 52,000,000 lines
Overall dimensions 5.71 x 7.68 x 5.83" (W x D x H) (145 x 195 x 148mm)
Case Color: Epson Cool White, Epson Dark Gray
http://pos.epson.com/products/TM-T88IV.htm

Use USB.

Thanks for the suggestion. Well that surprises me because I think I checked that there no more ports at the printer besides the serial port used to plug the computer and the ethernet port used to plug the drawer. So, having seen this, I will take a look at the printer again when I have the chance to do so and I will keep you updated. Meanwhile, I am wondering whether there might be different models of this EPSON TM-T88IV which might explain why mine might not have USB port. Anyways, I will check it again just in case.

I am wondering as well whether I chose the proper drivers since I saw two possible options when I searched this driver in epson website:
- drivers for TM-T88IV receipt
- drivers for TM-T88IV sticker

I am not sure about which one I should use. For the time being I tried with the driver for TM-T88IV receipt .

I wish I knew what model my printer is to select the proper drivers.

May be giving you these details about this TM-T88IV printer which I have wrote down
model M129H
serial No. J56F012544

might help in order to guess which driver I should use.

Thanks

[jdc2000]

Some of the different interfaces for that printer may be optional. Yours may only have a serial interface, although would seem unlikely if it is a fairly new model. If it does have more than one interface, you may need to tell it which one you are using.

[thosecars82]

Some of the different interfaces for that printer may be optional. Yours may only have a serial interface, although would seem unlikely if it is a fairly new model. If it does have more than one interface, you may need to tell it which one you are using.

I have another doubt. Might the modem which seems to be installed on this computer according to its specs (http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport...OID=2096#11319) be the one causing all the problems to get the printer in ready state?
I have seen in http://www.team-ninja.com/vbulletin/...hp/t-5080.html that modem might use serial interface as well. Well, I do not know what interface this modem uses. Is there any way to know with and without opening the case? I think both keyboard and mouse use usb interface so that could not cause a conflict with IRQs.
Thanks

[Train]

Does the back look like this?

[Train]

See if this manual helps.
http://docs.google.com/viewer?a=v&q=...M2mGUc2h-ofEZg

I think I would go this route.
http://www.tigerdirect.com/applicati...llel%20Adapter