I have an old but perfectly functional weatherfax programme (Easyfax) which runs fine on my laptop (winXP) on the boat using my SSB radio via a modem and 9pin connector with adaptor to the USB port. I now have a netbook (also winXp) and want to use the weatherfax programme on this – it installed ok but it doesn’t recognize the hardware when I PLUG in the signal and Device Manager doesn’t show it. The programme provides a list of 4 com port selections plus auto, none of which work. How do I go about getting it to recognize the modem? Something to do with allocating a com port? But please don’t blind me with techno – I’m still at the learning stage and I’d like to avoid the distinct possibility of solving the problem by hearing a splash!Problem resolved! But since no-one seemed to be interested enough to assist, I’m not going to tell anyone how I did it !!Be that way then...colm, I would like to suggest another alternative to your "no one seemed to be interested". It could be that your problem was so specific to a situation that not many of us would have ever encountered that "if" such a knowledgeable contributor even does exist they may not have come along YET to have tried to assist you. Having been on this forum for a number of years now (i note that you are a very recent arrival-and of course we all extend a warm welcome to you) it has been my experience that members really do try awfully hard to assist others with their computer issues. Sometimes all it takes is a little patience. I can only speak for myself but knowing how a problem was solved (even if solely by the original poster) is a learning experience and may provide knowledge that i can use to assist others in the FUTURE. Don't you agree that is what forums should in large part be about. Good on you that you were able to RESOLVE your issue.truenorthOK – guess I expected to provoke a reaction, sorry. You folk were falling over yourselves last query I had (and so much appreciated!) – but seeing the current problem disappearing onto the third page was almost unbearable and I was losing hair! I apologize and will make amends.
Problem: getting my new netbook to recognize a modem connected via a 9pin lead and an adapter to USB port. Device Manager was only showing ‘Other Devices’ (not ‘Ports’) and the ‘USB to serial cable’ had the yellow question mark!
SOLUTION: after advice from the manufacturer of the software, the yellow question mark was the relevant point. Lack of the correct drivers for the adapter (not the modem) was the problem – finding which ones ran the programme on my other laptop helped and I subsequently found new drivers from the manufacturer of the adapter. These I downloaded, copied on to the netbook, and helped it to find them when re-installing the adapter. Bingo!! I believed it had to be some simple solution but, not being a geek, was losing sleep as well as hair. Sorry again for my impatience – I surely will never have a problem with the computer ever again :-)
colm, Thank you for the detailed explanation of your found solution.Sometimes we are lucky and it is that simple. Sometimes they never get solved. I can appreciate your frustration as time was passing with no apparent assistance occurring. I have a post on the "Apple" forum that is months old and have had basically no replies to my questions. However there does not appear to be a great number of Apple users on the CH forums and to be truthfull i (even though i own 4 of them) very seldom use them. I guess Bill has been very effective. Again good on you for finding the solution and thanks for sharing it with us.truenorthWell i remember our initial quick success regarding your first issue...
Possibly why i didn't take well to the offhand comment this time around.

No harm no foul.

Just remember what's been done.