Configuring serial port hardware settings

Applies To: Windows Server 2003, Windows Server 2003 R2, Windows Server 2003 with SP1, Windows Server 2003 with SP2

Configuring serial port hardware settings

The serial port, also known as the COM port, is the most common out-of-band hardware interface. For information about selecting serial ports that complement Emergency Management Services, see Serial ports.

Emergency Management Services uses the first serial port (COM 1 at 3F8) by default. If a device already occupies that serial port, you can either move the device to another serial port or use another serial port for Emergency Management Services.

To prepare serial ports for out-of-band communication, you must first verify that motherboard serial ports are enabled. This is important if you have not already attached serial devices to determine whether the ports are working. To conduct this test, follow the manufacturer's instructions on how to access the x86-based basic input/output system (BIOS) or Itanium-based Extensible Firmware Interface (EFI) setup utility. Then navigate to the menu items that pertain to device configuration.

Serial ports allow the configuration of specific hardware resources such as input/output (I/O) addresses and hardware interrupt requests (IRQs). Depending on your system firmware, serial port resources might be user configurable, or they might have Enabled or Disabled as the only choices available. You should configure the appropriate port so it is enabled and at the default settings for a given COM port.

For more detailed procedures and best practices related to configuring serial ports, see "Emergency Management Services" at the Microsoft Windows Resource Kits Web site