Hi there...

I'm having quite a dilemma and I'm hoping some you experts can help me out here.

Here's the deal, I installed Microsoft Streets and Trips 2008 this past week. Had no problems detecting my GPS receiver the 1st couple of times. Had no use for the MSN receiver at the time. However, when I tried to hook it up today, I had problems activating the service. And, it would NO longer detect my GPS receiver. I tried everything to have it detect my GPS, but nothing worked. I tried un-installing S&T '08 and then installing once again. Tried to activate the MSN receiver, but it didn't work. I also tried just the GPS alone and once again, it worked the 1st time and then quit working all together. Now, I'm pulling the rest of my hair out trying to figure out what is wrong. So, I go and install S&T '08 on my desktop and have NO problems what so ever!! The GPS and MSN receivers work just fine. I was able to active the MSN receiver as well. This works great on my desktop, but that does me no good if I need to travel somewhere.

On my laptop, it says the COM port is active, but no signal is being received.

When I scan the COM ports, it says 'no GPS is found'.

When I try the connected services, it looks like it's detecting the MSN receiver, but obviously, with no GPS it can't do anything else.

When I look in My Computer, and go to hardware, it shows my COM port is active and working properly.

I have some screen shots of all this info, but I guess I'm not computer savvy enough to get them down to the correct size for this Forum.

Any help would be GREATLY appreciated! I've done all that I know to rectify this situation. If anyone could help me out, I would be in your debt

What size were the pictures? Current settings allow for upload of picture files of up to 200 KB, 700 pixels width by 600 pixels height. I can easily increase the upload limits. Just let me know.

When it says: "the COM port is active, but no signal is being received", is it possible that all is working just fine, just the signal is not being received because you are testing this indoor?

Marvin,

Thanks for the reply. I have 6 screenshots that I just did a printscreen and the cut them down for just the info needed. The 6 .bmp files are over 1200kb each. If I knew how to scale them down, I would post them.

And yes, I'm inside when I tried it, but I also went out on my balcony and tried it there as well with no luck. And, like I said, I can take the MSN and GPS receivers in to where my desktop is and it works just fine, which is also inside.

Also, I mis-stated, it says 'COM port is available, but no signal is being received'.

It sounds like you might be running something that is interfering with the virtual COM port that S&T needs to talk to to read the GPS data. I had a very similar problem and discovered it was being caused by the Palm Hotsync program. I exit from it and the COM port works just fine. Perhaps you have something similar running on your laptop?

...ken...

That sounded like it could be a possibility. I looked at my running tasks and tried to determine what, if anything, was conflicting with the COM port. Unfortunately, I couldn't see anything that could be doing that. I don't have a hot sync program for my laptop, and the only thing that does sync is iTunes. I even tried ending tasks that I though could be causing the problem, and I still can't detect the GPS unit. The MSN receiver is still being detected...

Thanks for the input, any more ideas?

Sorry, that was my one shot at it.

...ken...

And I think it was a good suggestion, as often someone is affected by such conflict.

I just would like to know, if you go to Streets & Trips, GPS Task pane, and click "Configure", and then "Search", does Streets & Trips find "Microsoft GPS device"?

I think it was a good suggestion too, it's just that I could find no conflict. I ended quite a few tasks in taskmanager and it still didn't clear the problem up.

When I go to the GPS pane, and configure GPS, then do a scan, I find 2 COM ports. There is COM04 and COM13, and in both ports, it states no GPS reciever found.

What's really weird, is when I disconnect the receivers, I go to Device Manager and there are NO COM ports in the list. When receiver is connected, there is ONLY 1 listing for COM13. Don't have any idea where COM04 is and what it does.

Try this to see what will happen:

* Unplug the GPS from your laptop;

* Restart the laptop;

* Plug the GPS unit to a different USB port than before;

* Windows may at this point discover a new device and attempt to install driver;

* When that is done, start Microsoft Streets and Trips;

* If you are using MSN Direct receiver (along with the GPS receiver) give enough time (a few seconds) for Streets & Trips to automatically detect MSN Direct unit;

* Open GPS Task pane, go to "Configure", and press "Scan";

* Does it at this point find "Microsoft GPS device"?

Do you have an internal modem? If so, it will be using one or two com ports (typically COM3 and/or COM4) and they will not show up in the Device Manager listing for Ports. You would have to look for Modems in Device Manager and check the Properties, or something like that.

...ken...

Marvin,

After following your instructions, it was still unable to find a GPS unit on either COM port.

There has to be some kind of conflict with the port (COM 13) it is assigned to. However, I'm at a loss as to find a way to solve the conflict.

Ken,

Yes, I do have a internal modem on the laptop, must have had a brain fart to not think about that...sorry!

This whole situation is very frustrating, but, I will continue to try and find a solution. Thatnsk for ALL your responses and help in this matter!!

When you have the receiver plugged in and you can see the port in Device Manager > Ports, have you looked at the Properties > Resources tab to see if there are conflicts (bottom section of the Resources tab window)? I know it's pretty elementary but I have to ask (I worked, and managed, tech support for years, so I'm one of those clowns who just has to ask if it's plugged in ... because sometimes it's not ).

...ken...

Ken,

There is no resources tab on the properties for the Microsoft GPS Device in COM 13. But, you're right, I didn't notice that when I was checking. I just checked to see and that's when I found out. That would have made things easier, huh?

Ted

Ted, the following Microsoft Knowledge Base article may help: http://support.microsoft.com/kb/894511/en-us

Marvin,

Thanks for the link! I could have sworn I searched Microsoft KB before I submitted my post. Maybe I just 'Googled' it and didn't go into MSFT. Anyway, some great info in that article. I found another one as well, and some more options to try.

I've done everything in the link you provided besides updating driver for the GPS unit and doing a 'clean boot' of my laptop. I've already downloaded the lastest driver on the Pharos site and I'll try that when I get home this evening.

On the other article, it says something about IR ports. Does anybody have any idea why an infrared port would be needed on a laptop and what kind of software would be used for IR? If I don't need it, or use it, I could get rid of any software that would use IR and disable it in the BIOS.

Also, I read something that internal modems could cause conflicts. I plan to disable the modem in Device Manager and if that doesn't work, uninstall the modem software.

Got a lot to do this evening, hope SOMETHING works!!

Thanks again for all your help and support...

Ted

Ted, let us know how it works out. And yes, Google usually doesn't bring up relevant KB articles. Sometimes it's the best to just search the Knowledge Base itself.

One more thing that crossed my mind now: Occasionally users come across a problem when using a USB extension between a GPS unit and their laptop (just in case you are using one).

I'm not sure of all the uses for infrared ports but one of them is for syncing handheld devices. Virtually all PDAs have IR ports so they can exchange data with each other without having to mess with RF wireless connections. Some PDAs are also capable of using their IR port to sync with a host system (desktop, laptop). One less cable to pack if your laptop and PDA can sync with IR.

...ken...

One thing that has been bugging me since reading your initial post is the COM port number (COM13). When one of these devices installs itself the first time, the operating system usually offers it the first available COM port.

When I installed on my desktop, the S&T GPS receiver got COM3 because the desktop has two COM ports on the motherboard. When I installed on my laptop, the GPS receiver got COM5 because the internal modem appears to have 3 and 4. There's nothing using 1 and 2 as far as I can see, but Windoze will look for the highest one in use and offer the next one.

This is consistent. I just acquired a USB-to-serial port converter cable. (I need to connect a serial device and my laptop doesn't have a serial connector.) When I installed it on my laptop the first time, it also was offered COM5 by default.

In the case of the USB-to-serial converter, I can click use the device manager Properties > Port Settings > Advanced to select a different COM port. The dropdown list shows COM1 and 2 available, COM3 and 4 in use (by the internal modem, I assume) and COM5 and beyond available.

So, to keep a long story from getting longer, it bothers me that your S&T GPS receiver is installing as COM13. What it is using COM12?

I'll do some poking around on my laptop to see if I can find a way to display the COM ports and their assignments at any given time. What operating system is on you laptop, XP or Vista? I have Vista on my laptop and XP on my desktop systems.

...ken...

Ken,

It bothered me too about COM13. Like I said earlier, I've only seen COM04 and COM13 on my laptop, and I don't see a COM12. I'm running XP Pro on my laptop and desktop. When I installed S&T on the desktop, it assigned the GPS to COM05. But, all the documentation I've read, the GPS has to be on a lower COM than 20, which it was, so I kind of dis-regarded the number. If I can find out all my COM ports, and change to a different number, I would be glad to try that.

I have quite a few things I need to try when I get home. But, after doing more research today at work, it's looking like there is a conflict somewhere that I need to discover. I'm going to check the IRQ's as well.

If it's not the IR port, internal modem or IRQ conflict, I'll have to do more research.

I even thought it might be a Norton Internet Security issue, almost everyone blames things on Symantec, but I checked and it looks like it has a 'permit all' for MS S&T. I have 2005 on the laptop and 2007 on desktop.

It could also be a service issue, where one service is started on the desktop but not on the laptop.

I'll find the problem ...... ONE of these days, and when I do, I'll be sure to post it here and let everyone know what I did!

The thought just occurred to me about COM13. Could it possibly be, that at one time or another I've had multiple USB devices connected to this laptop:

USB Memory sticks (1GB, 2GB and 4GB),
iPod,
Digital Camera,
SmartCard reader,
External HD and
Garmin Nuvi 660 (my brothers when he was in town, wanted to add some POI's and didn't have his laptop).

Maybe as I add device after device, it just picks the next one in line.

Could it possibly be that one of these devices in lingering somewhere in laptopland that's conflicting with the GPS?

And, if I have NO need for Infrared, would it hurt anything to disbale that function in Device manager and/or the BIOS?


And Marvin,

Yes, from now on, I'll go to the KB Base first, but I really thought I did

One thing you may try at least for testing purposes: Remove the MSN Direct receiver from the setup, and then try to get it going with just the GPS receiver. In the Streets & Trips 2008 with Connected Services box there should have been a short piece of adapter cable included for this purpose.

Well, I can help you a bit with finding any remnants of those other devices.

In Device Manager > View (top menu bar) there is an item to "Show Hidden Devices". It sounds, at first blush, to be useful. It does display some things you won't see in the regular view. But it doesn't display the ones that it knows about but are not currently connected. Here's the way to do that.

Create a batch file with the following two lines in it.

set DEVMGR_SHOW_NONPRESENT_DEVICES=1
start devmgmt.msc

Note that this is going to force nonpresent devices to show.

I have it saved as "setdev.bat" in the c:\temp directory so it's easy to get there in a DOS window. Once you have the file created and saved somewhere handy, open a command line window and run it. When the device manager opens, select View > Show Hidden Devices and you'll see all that stuff.

I don't know whether it will help any but it's kind of neat to see all that stuff.

...ken...

Marvin,

That's the ONLY way I've been able to get the GPS working on the laptop. 2 times it has connected and worked properly. I have never been able to get GPS and Connected Services going on the laptop. Both times was fresh after the initial install of S&T, and the 2nd time was after my re-install. I sure would hate to have to re-install S&T everytime I wanted to use my GPS

Ken,

I created that batch file here at work, most interesting info after running. I'll create it at home this evening and give it a shot.

I'm still interested in why it went to COM 13 for the GPS. But, I have quite a bit of new information that I plan on using tonight. Hopefully I'll get this conflict taken care of and all will be good.

You guys have been very helpful and I greatly appreciate your efforts...

tr

Okay...Update guys...

Well, after trying everything I learned today, nothing worked! I tried disabling the modem, doing a clean boot, updating the driver for the GPS unit...nothing worked.

I checked all the devices to see if there was conflict anywhere and found nothing. Was about to give up until i went to device manager again, clicked port settings and then advanced. COM13 was the port that the GPS was on. Dropped down the COM ports and found that COM3-COM12 were (in use)! I guess that's why it assigned the GPS to COM13. I have NO idea what those other COM ports are using, so I tried COM19, still did NOT detect the GPS.

Once again, I was about to give up...

But, just for sh*ts and giggles, I decided to assign the GPS device to COM5...

Low and behold, S&T detected the GPS unit, went to the GPS pane and started GPS, I was amazed, it worked! Put the GPS in the MSN receiver and that worked too.

Went back and enabled modem, and doing that made the GPS go belly-up! Went back and disabled the modem, un-plugged the USB cable, plugged it back in and I was back in business.

So, all is well in the Streets & Trips world here in Houston, Texas! Thanks guys for all your input in helping me get this working. Any time you're in Houston, give me a shout and I'll buy you a beer or 3!!

Ted

I also did some poking around since I last posted and discovered that the "in use" thing in device manager is pretty much a lie. It appears to mean that the port has been in use at one time or another. When I was looking in the device manager on my desktop system with the special show hidden devices setting that I showed you, I discovered that when I looked in port settings for the GPS device it listed COM1 and 3 as in use. Then I immediately looked in port settings for the physical serial port and it listed COM3 and 4 as in use.

I did not have the physical serial port in use at the time and I did not have the GPS receiver connected. And I did not have HotSync loaded. So there clearly were no ports actually in use at the time.

I'm so glad you got it working. I've never been to Houston but I've been to meetings in Richardson a few times and I owned a lot out at Canyon Lake, north of San Antonio, for about twenty years. I do love the Hill country. If I could ever persuade my wife that we should spend a few of the winter months down south, Houston would be one of the places on my list to visit.

...ken...

Im having pretty much the same problem. The GPS reciever works by it self fine. The Direct Reciver and connected services works by itself or with the gps connected. But the GPS will not work if it is in the direct reciever. Iv changed comports, reinstalled drivers, updated firmware but it just fails to see anything.

Okay...I'm confused. You say the GPS works fine alone, and then you say the MSN receiver and connected services work fine with or without the GPS. But then you say nothing works with the GPS in the MSN receiver? Do I have all that correct?

I guess I don't understand your problem. Could you please post exactly what your situation is? I'm sure someone on this forum can help you out.

tr

From memory, I seem to recall that anything with Bluetooth will create virtual serial ports using com ports, usually up to 12 ports. I had the bluesoleil driver on my system before and uninstalled it. I haven't installed it since I have S&T. Is one of the devices bluetooth capable?

toyfountain,

Yes I have bluetooth installed on my laptop. I use that with Motorola PhoneTools for my phone. However, once I changed my GPS/MSN receiver to COM port 5 from 13, and disabled my internal modem, I finally got everything working.

tr

2008 Has the little Direct reciever that you can put the gps module into. The reciver is detected and the connected services is activated and working. When I dock the GPS module into the reciever S&T will not detect the gps but the reciever still works fine.. If remove the reciever and only connect the gps module (using the little cable adapter that came with it) the gps is detected and works fine. The whole point of it is being able to use the GPS and the connected services together so this is kind of annoying.

Hi Pravus,

Welcome to Laptop GPS World.

You might have tried this many times already, but try one more time in the following order:

1) Unplug the MSN Direct / GPS receiver combo from your computer

2) Restart computer

3) Plug the MSN/GPS unit to computer

4) Start Streets & Trips and don't do anything for 15 to 30 seconds. S&T 2008 should automatically attempt to detect the MSN Direct receiver

5) On Streets & Trips menu bar go to Tools > GPS > Configure

6) Press the "Scan" button

7) Do you see "Microsoft GPS device found?"

8) If yes, highlight it and click "OK"