SUCCESS!!!!!
I ended up removing the internal modem completely and using the com ports from another card I have installed.
The other card has a parallel and two serial ports on it. I configured the jumpers on the second card so I have com ports 3 & 4 there and 1 & 2 on the motherboard. All ports are enabled and I just pulled the ribbon cable for port 2 on the mother board and plugged it into the extra card.
I had tried something similar but I had disabled the com ports on the motherboard. Just tried to use the extra card as 1 & 2. No dice. After setting up all 4 com ports it worked!
Thanks to everyone that helped!
Pat

Congratulations! I'm sorry I wasn't able to help, but I'm glad you were able to solve the problem.

I have a same sort of problem with my Pronto.
ProntoEdit could communicate fine with my pronto until I tried 'Try IR'. Then all communications stopped. I rebooted and it worked again.

Pronto edit 1.05 does not talk to the TS1000 I get this error; (Com1 does not support 115200 baud) I have tried everthing I can. Then tried another PC with a fresh dowload of 1.05 I get (Failed to get information from TS1000). I then tried a third PC, same thing. I must add I tried two TS1000's and 3 cables. 1.03 worked fine were can I get a copy of it. I deleted 1.03 when I loaded 1.05. .Help Philips! you have a problem. Does anyone have 1.05 up and working problem free.

Actually lots of people have v1.05 working fine -- but that doesn't help your problem. I honestly don't know what to suggest... serial ports are the worst things to troubleshoot.

I have encountered the same type of problem. I can't get an RC5000 to communicate w/ the computer I normally use. I have removed ports, added ports, reconfigured settings etc., and still no luck. Other devices work fine on COM1 and COM2 but the RC5000 just doesn't want to communicate. The odd thing is that it works on COM1 on a different computer with exactly the same settings. I'm just about at wits end as it has worked before and periodically just stops. The serial cable connection to the unit isn't the problem either...I've been down that road before.

Update with the brand new firmware thats posted on the Marantz site. Problem gone!!

Problem not gone! I already updated the remote with the new firmware using a different computer. I still have the same issues with the RC5000 not communicating with the computer I normally use. It is quite obvious to me that it is a computer problem rather than an RC5000 problem but I still can't figure it out. Thanks for trying to help. I'll keep trying different things.

It has to be problem with Pronto software. I run Win2000 on a Dell XPS H266 and Pronto will not connect. Yet Palm Pilot V, Kodak DC260 camera and Nokia 6160 cell phone will connect to same port and work. (Com4). Port is USB to serial port. Pronto will connect to a laptop on Com1 and work, so it is not Pronto.
Philips should have enough resources and money to fix this problem!!

I am running the most current version of RC5000 setup and have the current firmware installed on the remote. I have tried to connect using 2 different computers. On one it works, on the other it does not. I am using COM1 on both computers with exactly the same settings and no conflicts. If it was a software problem, it would stand to reason that the problem would occur on both computers.

If you have problem connecting to Com1 on one computer and it connects on other computer, you are correct you have problem with one of your computers. Does everything else connect on both computers on Com1?

I still can't get my Pronto to talk to my home system. No matter what I try it can't find the Pronto. I don't have an internal modem, my COM ports work just fine (modem connects at up to 57.6 the few times I use it), and I know what the hell I'm doing.

Quite frankly, this is a problem with either the cable supplied by Phillips or with the Pronto serial port on the device. I consider this to be just as big of a problem as the "Pronto keeps rebooting" because it is preventing me from using my Pronto - how the hell am I supposed to use it if I can't download the proper config to it? Sorry, bringing it to work just to update it isn't a viable option. Nor is telling me to replace my fully functional, in-spec motherboard until I win the lottery and find one that works. (For reference, the MB is an Abit BX6 running a Celeron 300A - the CPU is not overclocked either).

Daniel, could you kindly get on the horn with Phillips and convince them that there is a problem here? I'd bet that as many or more people are affected by this problem as were with the rebooting Pronto, but nobody wants to own up to it.

Tom Sorensen, a very pissed off Pronto owner

Right-on Tom Sorensen. What we have here is an IR learning remote that will by default control a few Philips devices unless you can program it using software that Philips distributes for free so they don't have to support it. Oh- and then there's the re-booting problem.
Thankfully, my silver unit from England doesn't re-boot, but I have to take it to work to up/download configs because it won't grab serial ports on either of the the two PCs at home.
And then some forum members become indignant when the A/V magazines won't review the Pronto; come on. If Microsoft distributed product like this, they wouldn't have the problem they're facing today.

I just got my Pronto out of the box from Etronix. I am a network systems engineer by trade with 15 years experience and own my own computer business. I have PC's setup in my office ranging from P2 233's to P3 500's. The software finds the comm port, but will not connect to the Pronto. No way is this a computer problem. This is a Phillips problem. I have a nagging feeling due to my experience, that this is a cabling problem in the way they interpret the serial pinouts. I am also pissed off that they can't get this device to consistently connect to a comm port at this price. What the heck good is it? You can't tell me they did any sort of intensive testing whatsoever on this subject if this many people are having this problem. I agree.... someone needs to contact Phillips support... do they even have support on this device?

One additional piece of info after reading Vince's post again and Pat's. Being as this doesnt seem to be a configuration issue because people can take the Pronto from one PC to another using the same comm port designation and it will work: the serial cable or internal circuitry that handles the connection is not compatible with different UART comm port chips used on different motherboards and serial port/cards. What makes me say this is after re-reading the solution that Pat found.... he placed a secondary parallel/serial port card in and it connected. That DEFINITELY has something to do with different versions of UART chips (some older ones , older than a 16550 I believe, could not handle 115200) which the Phillips requires to connect. After re-reading these posts.... I feel this is probably the culprit... but, this should still have been caught by Phillips and they should test this procedure on a variety of PC's.