Mouse and Memory Problems in Windows ME

[Maethalion]

Hello,

I've got a strange hardware configuration, and I'm looking for assistance. I'm using a Single-Board Computer with a couple of VGA PCI cards and a D/A PCI card. It's running on a 850Mhz Intel Celeron.

So here's what happens:
The PC boots, up until the memory check. The memory check cycles from 1kB to 262kB and then flips back to 1kB. I can Press 'Esc' to skip the memory check and then the booting process continues.

Then, Windows ME boots OK but the mouse never moves. It's not detected under System/ Device Manager. I'm using a Serial Mouse that connects via ribbon cable to the Motherboard (its inside a medical device).

I can't reformat the computer or install a different version of Windows. I'm assuming something is wrong with the BIOS settings or Windows' Plug-and-Play settings. Unfortunately, those topics are out of my league.

Any help is appreciated,

Cheers,

-Stephen Furlani

 

[Maethalion]

Alright,

After very carefully messing with the BIOS settings, I've found that COM2 wasn't Enabled. So I set both COM1 and COM2 to "Auto" and then on reboot, Windows ME found the RS232 COM2 and the Mouse works only on COM2 now.

So, I guess a better question is this: What would cause a COM port failure? If I send this machine back out, what are the chances it would happen again?

Also, WinME says that there is 256MB of RAM. How do I get the memcheck at the startup to recognize it?

-Stephen

 

[Tedster]

your cmos battery is dying. I still can't believe people are using computers with windows ME on it still...

 

[Maethalion]

It's part of a medical device, so you have limited opportunity to change the system itself.

Honestly I would have preferred CE or NT, but as I wasn't part of the company back then, meh.

Thanks for the tip.

-S