[Israel]

Ok, I'm trying to use a new OBDII cord I got to talk to the ECU of my car. All the free software I've seen is mostly for Windoze but requires at least one of the com ports (com1-com8) to be open. Right now all of those are closed on my Xp partition. I saw com8 in Device Manager but it did not give me a choice to open or close it. How do you open these ports in Xp?

[MorphiusFaydal]

Do you even *have* a physical serial port? AFAICR, COM-8 is either a modem or USB posing as serial for some application's needs.

Check in your BIOS to see if onboard serial is enabled/disabled.

[Israel]

I do have a serial port on my laptop, however the OBDII cord itself is a serial into the ECU and USB out to laptop. I know that generally ECU's expect to be talking directly through serials but I understand USB is do-able too. And yes, the usb I'm using is enabled. Com8 is enabled too, but multiple software is reading that the port is closed.

This post has been edited by Israel: 03 February 2008 - 05:45 PM

[MorphiusFaydal]

I've never heard of "open" and "closed" COM ports... I've plugged stuff into serial ports before, and as long as they were enabled in the BIOS and in Device Manager, I've always been able to use them. You might want to hit up the website of the software you're using and see what they have to say on the matter.

[Israel]

You might want to hit up the website of the software you're using and see what they have to say on the matter. 

Just found them, will do. If those ports open and close with plug and play... maybe I just had it in the wrong usb hole? I'll try that and check the vendor forum though. Thanks.