Serial port woes

[Pradeep]

So we got an Athlon64 3800+ machine in for evaluation, the only problem is that the serial port doesn't work to our satisfaction (i.e. it fails to upload firmware properly). Now on the Dell Precision 470 the serial port does uploads flawlessly.

My question is, will a PCI serial port card help, and is there a premium choice I can order from say Newegg?

http://www.newegg.com/app/Viewproduct.asp?Submit=list&catalog=73&DEPA=0&srchFor=serial

My thinking is that integrating everything into the southbridge or whatever, has left integrated serial port quality lacking.

Thanks, Pradeep

 

[time]

Serial ports are probably the oldest and simplest piece of technology in a PC. There's really not much to them. If it's only slightly broken, it would have to be either a bad connection, an interrupt or buffer problem, or using software Xon/Xoff instead of hardware flow control.

You'd have to change the board/cable to solve the first, but the others need software or firmware fixes.

What are the symptoms, and what speed are you attempting?

 

[mubs]

I've had good experiences with SIIG, bad with SYBA. Koutech seems to be a low-end brand, from what I've seen in stores. If I had to buy one of these, it'd be a SIIG. But $42 seems horrenduously expensive to pay for a serial port card. As time says, these are pretty simple. I've paid ~$15 for a SIIG at local stores.

 

[Pradeep]

Symptoms are that it should program a block, then return OK, then go on to the next block. At a certain stage, it will come back with the error "Echo received didn't match". And the process will fail.

Settings we use are 9600 or 38400bps, 8 data bits, no parity, 1 stop bit, no flow control. Target is a TI DSP. It just seems strange that the Dell Precision workstations have no problems with the procedure, neither does a Dell Inspiron 600m lappie. But the new Athlon, and the crappier Dell machines such as the Dimension 2400, are incapable of continuing till the end.

 

[Pradeep]

Update: If I make sure that the serial port connector is grounded to the chassis of the target device, the upgrade does work on the Athlon A fickle thing, grounding is.

Thanks everyone.