Hi,
    I need help with a serial port com1 on a laptop. I'm using a terminal emulator called smarterm to connect to unix. I can't get this to work
on a certain model laptop compaq NC8430. Tried different model laptop, works fine.

I can cat a file from unix to this com1 port and get text on the screen.

Things I checked
port settings in device manager
serial port settings in smarterm
no conflicts
didn't see any other devices using com1, nothing hidden either
com1 is turned on in bios
tried turning off com1 and turning back on.

this on windows XP SP2

I put a port monitor on com1 and here's what I get

I believe I'm getting locked up on      IOCTL_SERIAL_WAIT_ON_MASK
Everything looks good up to here.     
there should be a IOCTL_SERIAL_SET_WAIT_MASK after it.

I get IOCTL_SERIAL_GET_COMMSTATUS when I hit escape.

Any help on this I would be very thankful

0     0.00006956     STOFFICE.exe     IRP_MJ_CREATE     Serial0     SUCCESS     Options: Open      
1     0.00000363     STOFFICE.exe     IRP_MJ_CLEANUP     Serial0     SUCCESS          
2     0.06954990     STOFFICE.exe     IRP_MJ_CLOSE     Serial0     SUCCESS          
3     0.00007571     STOFFICE.exe     IRP_MJ_CREATE     Serial0     SUCCESS     Options: Open      
4     0.00000363     STOFFICE.exe     IOCTL_SERIAL_GET_WAIT_MASK     Serial0     SUCCESS          
5     0.00000391     STOFFICE.exe     IOCTL_SERIAL_SET_WAIT_MASK     Serial0     SUCCESS     Mask: RXCHAR BRK      
6     0.00000279     STOFFICE.exe     IOCTL_SERIAL_SET_TIMEOUTS     Serial0     SUCCESS     RI:-1 RM:20 RC:200 WM:20 WC:200     
7     0.00000251     STOFFICE.exe     IOCTL_SERIAL_SET_QUEUE_SIZE     Serial0     SUCCESS     InSize: 2048 OutSize: 2048     
8     0.00000251     STOFFICE.exe     IOCTL_SERIAL_GET_BAUD_RATE     Serial0     SUCCESS          
9     0.00000251     STOFFICE.exe     IOCTL_SERIAL_GET_LINE_CONTROL     Serial0     SUCCESS          
10     0.00000251     STOFFICE.exe     IOCTL_SERIAL_GET_CHARS     Serial0     SUCCESS          
11     0.00000251     STOFFICE.exe     IOCTL_SERIAL_GET_HANDFLOW     Serial0     SUCCESS          
12     0.00000251     STOFFICE.exe     IOCTL_SERIAL_GET_BAUD_RATE     Serial0     SUCCESS          
13     0.00000251     STOFFICE.exe     IOCTL_SERIAL_GET_LINE_CONTROL     Serial0     SUCCESS          
14     0.00000251     STOFFICE.exe     IOCTL_SERIAL_GET_CHARS     Serial0     SUCCESS          
15     0.00000251     STOFFICE.exe     IOCTL_SERIAL_GET_HANDFLOW     Serial0     SUCCESS          
16     0.00001369     STOFFICE.exe     IOCTL_SERIAL_SET_BAUD_RATE     Serial0     SUCCESS     Rate: 9600     
17     0.00000698     STOFFICE.exe     IOCTL_SERIAL_SET_RTS     Serial0     SUCCESS          
18     0.00000726     STOFFICE.exe     IOCTL_SERIAL_SET_DTR     Serial0     SUCCESS          
19     0.00000475     STOFFICE.exe     IOCTL_SERIAL_SET_LINE_CONTROL     Serial0     SUCCESS     StopBits: 1 Parity: EVEN WordLength: 7     
20     0.00000279     STOFFICE.exe     IOCTL_SERIAL_SET_CHAR     Serial0     SUCCESS     EOF:0 ERR:0 BRK:0 EVT:0 XON:11 XOFF:13     
21     0.00000559     STOFFICE.exe     IOCTL_SERIAL_SET_HANDFLOW     Serial0     SUCCESS     Shake:1 Replace:80000043 XonLimit:512 XoffLimit:512     
22     0.00000000     STOFFICE.exe     IOCTL_SERIAL_WAIT_ON_MASK     Serial0               
23     0.00000670     STOFFICE.exe     IOCTL_SERIAL_GET_COMMSTATUS     Serial0     SUCCESS          
24     0.00002822     STOFFICE.exe     IRP_MJ_WRITE     Serial0     SUCCESS     Length 1: .     
25     0.00000391     STOFFICE.exe     IOCTL_SERIAL_GET_COMMSTATUS     Serial0     SUCCESS          
26     0.00002570     STOFFICE.exe     IRP_MJ_WRITE     Serial0     SUCCESS     Length 1: .     
27     0.00000503     STOFFICE.exe     IOCTL_SERIAL_GET_COMMSTATUS     Serial0     SUCCESS