I had this problem a long while ago. I found that the
culprit was route planning software (MSAutoroute) with
the GPS function enabled. It grabbed a com port and
hung onto it even when the software was not running,
well that it what it seemed to do but in reality Windows
assumed that if the software was installed then the
com port was in use. The only solution was to uninstall
the software and re-install without the GPS function.
It is not unknown for active sync to do the same thing
although it is fair to say that I have never had the
problem with the current version of Active Sync.

At 04:30 19 April 2005, Kevin Christner wrote:
Ted,

You need to disable whatever software is locking up
those comm
ports.... its probably a digital camera or PDA.

Kevin

Ted Wagner wrote:
I was familiar with how to check the properties of
currently
connected
devices. My question was how to examine/reassign the
com port
assignments
for the devices *besides* the one(s) I have currently
connected.

For example, the properties page for my USB-serial
adapter says it's
assigned to COM7 and all other ports (from COM1 to
COM8) are taken by

various other devices. It's those various other devices
I want to
manipulate, free up or reassign, so I can move my
USB-serial adapter
from
COM7 to, say, COM2.

ted/2NO

'Ted Wagner' wrote in message
news:1113576898.f841eb51103e0acf8a52f6f971eb1bfb@t eranews...
Can anyone tell me how to tell Windows XP (SP2) to
reassign devices
to
comm ports, or move assignments?

I'm using LX Nav's new version of LXe (posted yesterday)
and I
cannot get
it to open the comm port my USB-Serial adapter uses,
and LXe won't
let me
select one ...

Ted/2NO
Chandler, AZ