The reson I was suggesting the USB solution was becasue of the FAQ article. B3-05 [Link: remotecentral.com]

I just got off the phone after two hours with Microsoft troubleshooting the COM port and got no where. Very frustrating. I not made any hardware changes to the computer since the problem arrised. The only thing I can think of is that that other day when I was cleanign behind the computer it rebooted because I jared the graphics board and it came loose. (No set screw, oops) ALl is OK but perhps it did something to the COM port. I have no way to test.

What would I confirm with pins 2,3,5? Open or closed and between what pins. This is getting a little deep for me and I do not have a ohm meter.