[PCR-1000] Maybe XP can inadvertently corrupt the PCR1000 EEPROM

[Jerry Flanders]

I know - it has been an issue since I got mine 6-7 years ago, but the early 
problems appear to be caused by serial port commands that had not been 
tested by ICOM prior to release. i.e., Third-party software. Probably 
commands that inadvertently open it up for reprogramming at the wrong time.

It seems that my problem only started after I upgraded to XP from Win98se.

According to what I read, the mouse check may have started with NT.

Lets just take this observation for what it may or may not be worth - 
anybody else noticed the connection? If so, we might want to disable that 
XP mouse check.

Jerry W4UK

At 18:10 6/17/2005, you wrote:
>The EEPROM corruption issue is OLDER than XP, and now that you mention
>it, seemed to have GONE AWAY as XP became more prevalent...
>  How long has Windows been looking for Serial Mice?
>
>--
>Skip Flem, NT1G
>Hull, Massachusetts
>
>-------------- Original message --------------
>
> > I recently ran my TalkPCR verify utility and discovered 109 errors in the
> > EEPROM. Strange - I don't run any hairy-wild software here. No big deal 
> - I
> > had a good backup EEPROM copy, so I restored it and noticed signal levels
> > come back up OK. But I was wondering what could have caused the EEPROM
> > corruption.
> >
> > So I started thinking.
> >
> > Not long ago, I upgraded to XP here, and I remember seeing XP doing tricks
> > with the serial port at startup. I did a google to see what XP could be
> > doing, and discovered it is looking for a serial mouse. There is 
> actually a
> > command to add to the BOOT.INI file to disable this query
> >
> > "
> >
> > /fastdetect:comnumber
> >
> > This switch turns off serial and bus mouse detection in the Ntdetect.com
> > file for the specified port. Use this switch if you have a component other
> > than a mouse that is attached to a serial port during the startup 
> process."
> >
> > The above is from:
> > http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;833721
> >
> > So Microsoft ways that, at startup, XP somehow pulses or queries the 
> serial
> > ports to see if a serial mouse is attached there.
> >
> > Perhaps your PCR1000 is at risk of EEPROM corruption when that query is
> > sent out on the port. The above reference tells us how to kill the serial
> > port query, if we need to. I am going to leave mine as it is now and 
> see if
> > anything happens in the future. I mostly leave the present PCR1000 
> computer
> > running 24/7, so have few startups to test, but still may see something
> > happen. (The PCR1000 was on a different XP machine until recently, with
> > normal startups/shutdowns.)
> >
> > We have had several cases of EEPROM corruption reported here. Does this
> > possible XP connection ring a bell with anyone?
> >
> > Jerry W4UK
> >