That’s a new one ??? I should ask some questions to troubleshoot this:
How do you know it’s in use, do you get an error message? What is it? screenshots (for GUI) or copy/paste (for cmd.exe) would be good
Could it be, that the port is not actually in use, but it’s an erroneous error message (Windows does that, a lot), which says the port is in use, because it can’t access the port for some other reason?
Could it be, that you aren’t logged in as an administrator? If so, does it work if you log in as Administrator?
I seem to remember that userspace processes (ie, anything that’s not a driver) are not allowed access to the parallel port in XP, and you have to add some software to allow it, which one did you choose?
What happens if you try to write the port in cmd.exe? You can do this by:
Disconnect anything from the port to be safe
make a text file called test.txt with some text in it
I know it s in use because I turn off the Vpp with the burning software and it s on 5 sec later without doing anything
(same with clock, … I measured it)
the burning software detects the picburner (lpt1)
i m logged in as admin
mm i ve got no special programm for accessing the lpt. but you re right: since xp it s planed that “normal” programms have no direct access to the lpt, but I think the software does it.
the echo command says nothing.. i m sorry
by the way my parallel port mode is ecp (e/a 378 irq 7 dma 1)
2 days ago i thought i got the point. a few years ago there was a printer on the computer. i deinstalled it, but there have been some hidden drivers left. i deinstalled them, but there s still the auto request on the lpt