Serial multiport driver

NTDEV
1

Hello,

I am trying to write an .INF file for a serial multiport board based on 16550 chip. As I have seen in other posts, it seems the easier way is to use mf.sys, so following MS sample (https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/hardware/ff542737(v=vs.85).aspx) I have written an .INF file for my board. When I install this .INF I can see in the Device Manager a new node under Multifunction Device but no com port appears. Does someone know why?

I wonder if the serial.sys driver is failing for my board or if the error happens before that point. How can I check that? Is there a log file or something?

Thank you very much,
Igor

2

Does your board comply with the requirements of mf.sys? I’ve been seeing
way too many multiport devices based on Altera that have one BAR for N ports
and one interrupt for all the ports. That doesn’t work with mf.sys.

Don Burn
Windows Driver Consulting
Website: http://www.windrvr.com

-----Original Message-----
From: xxxxx@lists.osr.com
[mailto:xxxxx@lists.osr.com] On Behalf Of
xxxxx@gmail.com
Sent: Tuesday, March 03, 2015 11:43 AM
To: Windows System Software Devs Interest List
Subject: [ntdev] Serial multiport driver

Hello,

I am trying to write an .INF file for a serial multiport board based on
16550 chip. As I have seen in other posts, it seems the easier way is to use
mf.sys, so following MS sample
(https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/hardware/ff542737(v=vs.8
5%29.aspx) I have written an .INF file for my board. When I install this
.INF I can see in the Device Manager a new node under Multifunction Device
but no com port appears. Does someone know why?

I wonder if the serial.sys driver is failing for my board or if the error
happens before that point. How can I check that? Is there a log file or
something?

Thank you very much,
Igor

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3

Thank you for your fast reply!
Indeed my board uses just BAR0 and an interrupt for all ports, but I don?t see why that does not work with mf.sys, in fact the example from the MS page follows that approach as long as I have understood.
BTW does serial.sys generate a log file or something?

Thank you very much!

4

If serial.sys was loading (and subsequently failing) you would see a !'ed out device node for each port on the board. Change the view in device manager to by connection and see if there are any children under your multi port device. If there are no children, your configuration of mf.sys is not working.

d

-----Original Message-----
From: xxxxx@lists.osr.com [mailto:xxxxx@lists.osr.com] On Behalf Of xxxxx@gmail.com
Sent: Tuesday, March 3, 2015 9:15 AM
To: Windows System Software Devs Interest List
Subject: RE:[ntdev] Serial multiport driver

Thank you for your fast reply!
Indeed my board uses just BAR0 and an interrupt for all ports, but I don?t see why that does not work with mf.sys, in fact the example from the MS page follows that approach as long as I have understood.
BTW does serial.sys generate a log file or something?

Thank you very much!

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OSR is HIRING!! See http://www.osr.com/careers

For our schedule of WDF, WDM, debugging and other seminars visit:
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5

Thanks for your replies.

Further tests reveal that removing the line “HKR,Child0003,ResourceMap,1,06” makes the serial port appear under my multifunction device (although with the “!” icon, but this is other story).

As you have said, interrupts can?t be shared among devices, does that mean I can’t use mf.sys? Why does the example shown here https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/hardware/ff542737(v=vs.85).aspx say all the contrary??

Thank you very much for your help!

6

You can share interrupts if the interrupts are shareable. PCI interrupts
are shared.

Mark Roddy

On Wed, Mar 4, 2015 at 12:28 PM, wrote:

> Thanks for your replies.
>
> Further tests reveal that removing the line
> “HKR,Child0003,ResourceMap,1,06” makes the serial port appear under my
> multifunction device (although with the “!” icon, but this is other story).
>
> As you have said, interrupts can´t be shared among devices, does that mean
> I can’t use mf.sys? Why does the example shown here
> https://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/windows/hardware/ff542737(v=vs.85).aspx
> say all the contrary??
>
> Thank you very much for your help!
>
> —
> NTDEV is sponsored by OSR
>
> Visit the list at: http://www.osronline.com/showlists.cfm?list=ntdev
>
> OSR is HIRING!! See http://www.osr.com/careers
>
> For our schedule of WDF, WDM, debugging and other seminars visit:
> http://www.osr.com/seminars
>
> To unsubscribe, visit the List Server section of OSR Online at
> http://www.osronline.com/page.cfm?name=ListServer
>

7

Thanks!

At this point the ports are shown in Device Manager, but my problem is I don?t know the resource list of my device. How can I find out the resources and their order that Windows finds? I need them to write a proper INF file.

Thanks!