OT/PPP 1.0 & Global Village Combo PC Card Incompatible

TECHINFO-0020659

TOPIC

Using the Global Village PowerPort Platinum Pro PC Card (for PowerBook computers) and trying to connect with OT/PPP 1.0, I sometimes get this error dialog which states:

"The connection attempt failed: The port may already be in use by another application.

Check for other uses of the port, like an extension that receives faxes or a communication program. Also check the AppleTalk control panel to see if AppleTalk is set to use the same port being used by the Modem control panel."

DISCUSSION

There is an incompatibility between OT/PPP 1.0, and the Global Village PowerPort Platinum Pro PC Card. This is the PC card that has combined Ethernet and a 28.8 kbps modem. There are several workarounds to this:

• Global Village has newer connection script at their web site: http://www.globalvillage.com/support/swlocator/pplocator.html#platpropccard
• Reset PRAM
• Trash the ASLM Preferences file (in the Preferences folder) and restart
• Disable the Serial Port Arbitrator extension (if it exists)
• Change the settings in the AppleTalk control panel and restart
• Change the settings in the Modem control panel and restart
• Clean install the system software along with all of the modem and OT software.

Unfortunately, the above workarounds do not always fix the problem and the problem tends to come back after the next restart.

If you are getting the "port in use" error and the above workarounds do not help, Apple recommends that you use a different PPP client, such as FreePPP 2.5v2, with the Global Village PowerPort Platinum Pro PC Card.

It is not clear if this is an Apple or a Global Village issue. Apple is investigating and will fix this issue in a future update if it is determined to be in Apple software.

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