Plug-N-Play LPT1 port base I/O address

I bought a new Dell computer it has no Parallel port. I checked with Dell
they use an add-on card in their slim line PCs. I added the card, it is PnP
and it selected the Base I/O address to run LPT1.

The problem is I have a hardware software combination that runs an
industrial machine and it uses the LPT1 base I/O address to talk to the
machine. Since the card is PnP it greys out the resource selection in Device
Manager.

I cannot change the application to a new address is there any way I can
change the INF file to force use of 378-37f base I/O address or force a
change to the base I/O address. There is no conflict since there is no
parallel port on the motherboard.

I have tried both Dell and Rosewell the card manufacturer and both say oh
well it’s PnP…

Any help or thoughts would be greatly appreciated.

"tony" <tony@discussions.microsoft.com> wrote in message
news:63880D63-64B7-4ECA-AB71-C54E08F83D99@microsoft.com...
>
> I bought a new Dell computer it has no Parallel port. I checked with Dell
> they use an add-on card in their slim line PCs. I added the card, it is
> PnP
> and it selected the Base I/O address to run LPT1.
>
> The problem is I have a hardware software combination that runs an
> industrial machine and it uses the LPT1 base I/O address to talk to the
> machine. Since the card is PnP it greys out the resource selection in
> Device
> Manager.
>
> I cannot change the application to a new address is there any way I can
> change the INF file to force use of 378-37f base I/O address or force a
> change to the base I/O address. There is no conflict since there is no
> parallel port on the motherboard.
>
> I have tried both Dell and Rosewell the card manufacturer and both say oh
> well it's PnP.
>
> Any help or thoughts would be greatly appreciated.
>

Have you actually tried your application? Many (but not all) drivers of
these add in cards will intercept the call to the port's normal address and
redirect it transparently to the card's driver. These cards are usually
quite well behaved, but occasionally a piece of software is encountered
which confounds it.

tony wrote:

> I bought a new Dell computer it has no Parallel port. I checked with Dell
> they use an add-on card in their slim line PCs. I added the card, it is PnP
> and it selected the Base I/O address to run LPT1.
>
> The problem is I have a hardware software combination that runs an
> industrial machine and it uses the LPT1 base I/O address to talk to the
> machine. Since the card is PnP it greys out the resource selection in Device
> Manager.
>
> I cannot change the application to a new address is there any way I can
> change the INF file to force use of 378-37f base I/O address or force a
> change to the base I/O address. There is no conflict since there is no
> parallel port on the motherboard.
>
> I have tried both Dell and Rosewell the card manufacturer and both say oh
> well it’s PnP…
>
> Any help or thoughts would be greatly appreciated.
>

Assuming that the industrial machine represents a "legacy" device,
there might be an option in the Dell's bios to reserve the LPT1 I/O
base address for it. If this attempt is successful, then LPT1 on the
add-on card should default to the next available I/O base address. If
not successful, then the final option would be to find a parallel port
add-on card with jumper settings or a programmable EPROM for I/O.

Thanks. I will give both suggestions a try!

"tony" wrote:

>
> I bought a new Dell computer it has no Parallel port. I checked with Dell
> they use an add-on card in their slim line PCs. I added the card, it is PnP
> and it selected the Base I/O address to run LPT1.
>
> The problem is I have a hardware software combination that runs an
> industrial machine and it uses the LPT1 base I/O address to talk to the
> machine. Since the card is PnP it greys out the resource selection in Device
> Manager.
>
> I cannot change the application to a new address is there any way I can
> change the INF file to force use of 378-37f base I/O address or force a
> change to the base I/O address. There is no conflict since there is no
> parallel port on the motherboard.
>
> I have tried both Dell and Rosewell the card manufacturer and both say oh
> well it’s PnP…
>
> Any help or thoughts would be greatly appreciated.
>