I sure hope some computer guru can help me get things back again. After using G2 for a long time, I decided to try FMS again. I plugged in my Futaba controller into the parrellel (printer) port and nothing worked. That is, the FMS did not respond to any input from the controller, including the calibration set-up. Later, I tried to print out some troubleshooting instructions only to find that my printer is down as well. This appeared strange because the printer (HP 890c) had been working well up till then. The HP troubleshooting software says it cannot establish two way communication with the printer. The printer and cable is OK, because I plugged it into my laptop and it printed as normal. So, I went into device manager and next to the "LPT1" there is an "exclamation" mark, and it is indicating that the LPT1 is either not there, or the driver(s) are corrupt, etc. I went to HP website to get the driver and reinstall it, but each attempt ends with a message..."installation ended prematurely, restart computer and try again. " Well, that failed on repeated attempts, and so now I'm out here...lost in space...looking for a clue. If LPT1 is not there...where did it go, and how do I get it back. I aslo tried using "Go Back" and resetting the computer back to a time where it was known to be OK, but still the printer problem persists. All that succeeded in doing is losing my most recent email. I haven't even bothered to retry FMS. I just need my printer back. Any suggestions?
Thanks for your help.

What operating system are you using ?
Does the LPT port appear in the list of ports which is displayed by the BIOS at startup (on many systems) ?
If you enter the BIOS (CMOS) setup program is the LPT port enabled in the "Integrated Peripherals" section (on many systems) ?

Ingmar

It appears by "goback" you are using XP. Are you sure you tried to load the drivers/interface for FMS for Windows XP. There is a difference, I understand, and that could be your problem. If you have the windows cd you should be able to find a driver to get started with your printer once more.

????

Used to bill time out at $80/hour but I don't anymore, so the suggestions will be worth what you paid, and I will not be responsible for the results, unless they are positive.

:idea:

The LPT1 is no good to you now. Can you remove it like I could in Win 98. If so, do it. If you reboot with the printer attached, I would hope that plug and play kicks in and you will get somewhere.

Well?

Well, I am running <Win98se,plus>, and the "Go Back" is a program by a company called Roxio. I guess it is supposed to do the same thing, but in this case it has not helped. I did as you suggested...removed LPT1 in the device manager, and then with the printer attached, rebooted the computer. The result was that the computer came back up, but with the parallel port named "LPT" instead of the old "LPT1", and otherwise there was no improvement in performance. The computer is still unable to establish communication with the printer. Another strange thing that must be related to the overall problem, is that when I tried to download my digital camera, the computer no longer sees the camera either. And that goes to a serial port. Would it help or hurt to reinstall Win98 right over the current win98...which may have become corrupt for some strange reason? I appreciate your help.

Reinstalling over top I believe would lose your registry settings. I don't think you want that. You haven't regularly backed up the system including the registry, I assume, just like most haven't.
If you go to control panel, add new hardware and let Windows try to install new plug and play. That may work... to re-establish your serial and parallel ports.

You still have a modem??? Or are you connected with cable??

Anybody else. Jump in here.

Yes I am on line via the local cable TV ISP. I am trying to remember what happened last time I installed windows over top of itself. I think it just went in and did its thing but maintained all my data. Memory is not my strong suit these days. heh heh. I'll try to reestablish plug and play first, and let you know how that goes.

using the "add hardware" function in control panel, it came up with LPT to be installed, but in attempting the installation, it then comes up saying the device is installed, try updating the drivers...and it lists
C:\windows\system\VMM32.VXD (vcomm.vxd) and also
C:\windows\system\LPT.VXD
Ok, now how do I accomplish that?

Can you check C:\windows\system\VMM32.VXD (vcomm.vxd) and also
C:\windows\system\LPT.VXD and see if they exist in that directory? If not, do they exist in your laptop directory? Can you copy them if they do?

Those drivers do exist in that directory on my win98 machine.

Yes, both of these files are still in my system folder....so why does it not function as it should. This stuff is way over my head and I feel quite lost.

Do you have a current up to date wizz bang anti-virus package on your machine? Does it say everything is okay ?

If you have been infected by one of the numerous bugs of recent times then the following may not fix your problems.

This is the standard "dirty" windows 98 reinstall I have used more times then I can recall, on my machines, department machines and clients system.

(1) Make absolutely sure that your pc will boot from your windows 98 cd.
(2) If it can not boot from that cd then manually copy the folder called WIN98 from the CD onto your hard disk, leaving the directory called WIN98. (about 95mb).
(3) Now restart the PC and boot to a command prompt. I.e. you have C:> whatever and windows is not running.
(4) Change to the Windows directory, CD C:\WINDOWS
(5) Rename win.com to something silly, e.g. REN WIN.COM WIN.POO
(6) Now, if your PC does boot okay from your win98 cd then just restart the machine with the disk in the cd rom drive. If it does not boot from cd and you copied the WIN98 folder as per step 2 then just restart the PC and you will end up at a C:> prompt again. Change to the WIN98 directory CD C:\WIN98 and run SETUP.
(7) If you did (6) or the machine booted off the cd then just follow the bouncing ball. Windows setup will ask you where to install windows and it will possibly default to WINDOWS.000 make sure you select or type in C:\WINDOWS.
(8) When all the Bill Gates magic finishes then your system may be happy again. It WILL retain all it's normal settings and none of your user files should be lost during this process.

If this does not fix things then we'll need to look a little deeper!

Can you give me a run down of the hardware etc that you are using. Processor, ram etc etc.. Feel free to PM or email me.

Regards,

Ingmar

You did disconnect the Futaba controller and connect your printer and rebooted, having no luck??
I'm sorry bu it's difficult not being there.
Did you have a purchased FMS interface cable for your radio/controller? or what were yo installing/testing?

INGMAR: It's all yours. I believe the time difference is 13 hours, so it's time for a snooze here!

aprox' two years old, Genuine Intel motherboard, about 667 Mhz, 127 Mb RAM, OS is WIN98SEplus. The printer is a HP 890C, and It works well from my laptop. The desktop machine doesn't recognize the printer, and it thinks all floppy disks are write protected, and the Norton anti virus has prevented me from reinstalling WIN98, although Norton says it finds no virus in the machine. I have the after market program called "go back" by Roxio, but it has done no good at all. It only succeeded in losing my most recent email. As for the procedure you have outlined. I am kinda fuzzy on executing steps 1 and 2. Can you give me a little more detain there before I proceed. I guess I don't really understand the difference between folder, and directory, and how to manipulate them. I'm more of a drag and drop guy, but I can follow specific instructions. I'm sure happy to have someone knowlegeable to counsel me on this, because otherwise, it'd be a dead end street for me. Thanks again
Jim

Folder/directory - same thing different words

Thanks for the guidance....with perseverance, and helpful friends, I just may beat this mystery.

I tried to follow the steps to do a reinstall, and is spite of being in over my head, my luck held out just long enough to get to where setup began to prepare the setup wizard...and then I get message SU0409, saying that an anti virus program is preventing me from updating system files. Exit setup was the only option. I then uninstalled all of Norton, and went through the sequence again, but still, some anti virus program is preventing an update of the system files. So, here I am, right back where I started from, only without Norton, which I dont care about anyway. I have no clue as to what to do next. It amazes me that such an incredibly complex technical item as a computer can confound so many people, so often, and yet remain a wanted, and almost required item in daily life.

Restart the PC. Go into the startup menu (before the first windows splash screen) by pressing F8 until a boring old text menu appears. Then enter the SAFE mode Command Prompt. Try it again from there. I.E. goto c:\win98 and run setup.

Patience is a virtue!

something new to attempt. Thanks again...I'm off to give it a try.

I must be missing something here. I have tried to follow the step by step instructions, and still, the win98 setup wizard begins to run and....that same old message #SU0409, saying that some anti virus program is preventing anything further. Exit setup is the only option. I have uninstalled Norton, and I have deleted any McAfee files I can find, but to no avail. So.....what now?
If I opted to lose everything in my computer and reformat the hard drive, how can I then install the operating system?
Thanks to all for help and advise.

I used to have Norton installed, but Yech!

Anyway if you can open your autoexec.bat file which is in C:\ using notepad, you might have something like this

C:\PROGRA~1\NORTON~1\NAVDX.EXE /Startup or a Mcafee reference

Change any line with those references to have a rem and space at the front. This remarks it out. Some antivirus stuff must be being loaded right at the start.

example:
rem C:\PROGRA~1\NORTON~1\NAVDX.EXE /Startup

Do you know how to get into your BIOS (CMOS) setup program ? Typically it's something like press DEL as the memory test starts or a ctrl F? combo. In the bios I suspect someone has turned on the anti-virus protection "feature". This will stop any software from accessing the boot area of the hard disk. Disable that (assuming it's enabled) and try again. In Safe mode with a command prompt I don't think autoexec or config.sys are processed so it's down to something like this.

We will get you there but heck it's hard by remote control !!

Ingmar

I found a group of three autoexec files, and a REM exists to remove the norton, etc, but there are so many other things there, whose names mean nothing to me.... I am so overwhelmed by what I know nothing about as I look at these things, I think I may just make matters worse. Right now, even though my printer, and floppy drive, and serial port do not function, at least I can still go online. I think that I have come to the inescapeable conclusion, that I will not be able to correct this problem. I must now try to learn how to use the HP CD burner so that I may retrieve all of my photos stored in the system. After that, the rest of the machine can go into total melt down. I'd like to reformat the hard drive and put in a newer operating system. Maybe XP would be a better way to go. Again, many thanks for the assistance.

Jim,

It would be rather wise to back up first !

I think it is unlikely to be in the autoexec file. More likely to be the BIOS "protection" stuff turned on.

Ingmar

after a bit of fumbling, with ctrl/f upon restart, I have managed to get into some sort of screens that only operate with the curser arrows. They make reference to bios, but I am unable to understand what to do with any of it. Nothing here is intuitive, and of course file names, etc, are meaningless to me.

This is well before Windows starts right ? Does it have areas for setting disk drive types, integrated peripherals any thing like that would be a good hint as to where you are. This would be the place to check that your parallel port / floppy drive etc are all still enabled at the hardware level. You will also (likely) find an entry under "Advanced (maybe)" that refers to virus or boot sector protection ? Look first, don't change anything just for the heck of it !!

Ingmar