Dear friends,
My serial port problem did not exactly generate a groundswell of
interest, so I thought I'd reply to myself and the archives in case
anyone is interested.
Yesterday, it did not work again but then did work after I restarted the
computer, and it works today. Now, I'm pretty sure I restarted it
several times last week while testing it. Does anyone know of an
intermittent software problem which will cause the serial port to not
work at high speeds when it is "bad"?
Jerry
This is in reply to the message (quoted below) from Duolist:
>From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Sender: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>Reply-to: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Multiple recipients of DuoList)
>Dear friends,
>
>I believe the serial port on my Powerbook 2400 has failed - but not quite
>completely. It's under AppleCare, but I'd very much appreciate some
>second-opinions/experience before I call them.
>
>I did tests on it as described below. In all cases, I was trying to find
>out whether it was a bad connector; i.e. whether wiggling the connector
>made it go good and bad. Unfortunately, the answer is "maybe".
>Sometimes wiggling seems to start or stop data transfers; other times it
>changed from good to bad and back without me touching it.
>
>Generally, it does seems that higher speed data transfers are more prone
>to failure.
>
>Here are the tests and results:
>
>AppleTalk via LocalTalk (230.4 Kb/s?). My PB2400 cannot find any
>printers or servers; nothing ever shows up in the right side of the
>Chooser dialog box. I tried this on two days in two different networks,
>one using a known-good LocalTalk adapter. I usually synchronize files
>via my Ethernet PC card, but I went to the AppleTalk control panel and
>changed "Connect via:" to Modem/Printer port, and turned AppleTalk on,
>and waited and confirmed the dialog box. (For the record, it says that I
>am running Open Transport 1.3, AppleTalk 1.3 and AppleTalk driver 60.3.)
>
>Printing via Serial Port. No good either. I went to the Chooser panel
>and changed to the serial driver for our HP Deskwriter 600, and connected
>directly to it with a serial cable. When attempting to print a page from
>SimpleText, it was "Unable to Print". When attempting to print from
>ClarisWorks, I consistently get "An unexpected error occurred, #1027".
>
>MIDI (Musical Instrument Digital Interface) is intermittent. At first,
>it will play/record from a keyboard OK, but then it starts skipping
>notes, leaving notes stuck, changing sounds, etc., sounding like modern
>classical music. Also, it seemed at first that this was due to the rate
>of events, because it got worse when I increased the tempo of the music,
>but later it "went good" and worked fine at an even higher tempo.
>
>File Transfer to/from another computer using Serial Port, specifically
>using a program called Star Gate at 115.4 Kb/sec, and a null cable. I am
>sometimes able to get a small file (several lines of text) through to the
>PB2400, but not from it. A large file will either never complete
>handshaking, or hang up after a while.
>
>Terminal Emulation, using ClarisWorks Communication, Serial Tool, at 9.6
>Kb/sec. Still connected to another computer using the null cable, I
>"opened connection". What should then happen is that keys typed on
>either computer will show up on the screen of the other. The result is
>that the other computer can type to the PB2400 but transmission from the
>PB2400 to the other computer is intermittent; it works for awhile, then
>quits, then starts working again.
>
>Well, that's all I know! The big question: Is it hardware or software?
>In November I had MCE install a Intraware G3 upgrade card, and I
>synchronized files every day using LocalTalk for about 6 weeks before I
>got my Ethernet card, and it worked; so the problem is apparently
>probably not related to the G3.
>
>Any bets that Apple will find a problem and fix this?
>
>Thanks for all ideas,
>
>Jerry Krinock, San Jose, CA
>via Claris Emailer for Macintosh
>
>
>----------
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>Date: Sun, 5 Mar 2000 17:46:35 EST
>From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
>To: Multiple recipients of DuoList <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Subject: [Duo] Serial Port on PB2400 gone bad?
>
Jerry Krinock, San Jose, CA
via Claris Emailer for Macintosh
----------
Duo/2400 List, The friendliest place on the Net!
A listserv for users and fans of Mac subportables.
FAQ at <http://www.themacintoshguy.com/lists/DuoListFAQ.shtml>
Be sure to visit Mac2400! <http://www.sineware.com/mac2400>
X-Router | Share your DSL or cable modem between multiple computers!
Dr. Bott | <http://www.drbott.com/prod/MIH120.html>
PowerBook Guy is | Click here!
Everything PowerBook! | http://www.powerbookguy.com
Midwest Mac Parts ][ <http://www.midwestmac.com>
After-market parts for Macs. ][ 888-356-1104 ][
MacResQ Reader Specials: 2.5GB Seagate SCSI: $119, 4GB IBM SCSI: $199,
Norton Util. 4.0: $29, Mac Parts, Systems & Repairs <http://www.macresq.com>
