Step 1: Select Settings from the Port menu in the Wedge and choose the serial communications parameters required for your serial device.

Note: All serial communications parameters should exactly match the settings for your serial device. If you do not know the correct parameters, then you will have to contact the manufacturer of the device to obtain this information.

Step 2: Open the Port Analyze window by selecting Analyze from the Port menu. If you get an error message that reads "Device COMn Not Available" then it is one of the following: the specified serial port is currently being used by another program (possibly another instance of the Wedge);the port does not exist; the Windows COM Driver for the port has not been installed or set up correctly.

In Windows 95/98 go into Control panel, choose "System", then click on the Device Manager tab and select "Ports - COM & LPT) and check the properties for each. (In Windows 3.x look in the "PORTS" section of the Control Panel located in the "MAIN" program group in the Program Manager). If you suspect that the port may be set up incorrectly in the control panel, then refer to your Windows User's Manual and the help files available in the Control Panel "PORTS" dialog box for information on how to correct or work around the problem.

Step 3: If the Port Analyze window (above) appears, transmit some data from your serial device to the Wedge. The data from the device should appear in the text box marked "Input Buffer". If no data appears in the input buffer then either your instrument is not connected to your PC using a proper serial cable; you are not connected to the serial adapter that you specified in the port settings dialog box; or your device is not transmitting any data.

1. Try plugging the cable from the device into a different serial port and transmitting data again to rule out the possibility that you are plugged into the wrong serial port.
   
2. If you are certain that the device is transmitting data and yet you still have no success receiving data in the Analyze Window, then you may need a "NULL MODEM ADAPTER" or a different serial cable.
   
3. If you normally connect your device to a serial printer and are able to print successfully, then you definitely need a NULL modem adapter. A NULL modem adapter is a small plug that connects between a serial cable and your computer that simply crosses the transmit and receive lines in the cable so that the transmit line from your serial device is connected to the receive line on your PC and vice versa. NULL modem adapters are available at most computer supply stores for under five dollars.
   
4. If your PC beeps one or more times whenever you try to read data into the Input Buffer in the Port Analyze Window or if data appears in the Input Buffer but part or all of it is either garbled or consists of unreadable characters, then you are connected to the correct port however the communications parameters that you chose in the Port Settings dialog box are not completely correct and must be adjusted.

Note: The Wedge has an option "Beep On Input" (located in the "Port" menu) that configures the Wedge to beep your PC's speaker whenever it receives a data record through the serial port. The "Beep On Input" option does not apply to data received in the Port - Analyze window. If your PC beeps while inputting data into the Port Analyze window then it is an indication of a serial communications error; typically either a mismatch in serial communications parameters (baud rate, parity, databits, etc.) between the Wedge and your device or a serial buffer overrun.