Experience has shown that Windows may not do a good job of identifying or enumerating existing serial ports defined on a PC when some of those serial or comports are virtual. In these cases, Windows can improperly assign an existing or in-use COM port to a new device. For example, the FlexControl may be dynamically assigned a com port number that may be in use by another program or device such as SmartSDR CAT.
When this happens a com port conflict occurs and neither the device nor the program was assigned the conflicting com port will work properly.
To resolve this problem, you can manually assign a high numbered COM port to the FlexControl which will essentially preclude future COM port assignment conflicts.
It is also important to be aware of how Windows assigns USB com ports like the one used by the FlexControl. Each USB port is treated as an independent physical connection, so if you plug the FlexControl into one USB port, it will be assigned a unique com port number. If you plug the FlexControl into a different USB port, it will be assigned a different COM port number. For the procedure below to work reliably, you must always plug the FlexControl into the same USB port to get the same COM port number.
Procedure for manually assigning a FlexControl com port number
1.) If SmartSDR for Windows is running, close it.
2.) Make sure the FlexControl is connected to your computer.
3.) Open up the Windows Device Manager. For assistance please refer to the Open Device Manager "how-to" from Microsoft.
4.) Find the FlexControl under the Com Ports. See the image below.
5.) Right-click on the FlexControl USB Control Knob and open the Properties menu.
6.) Click on the Port Settings tab.
7.) Click on the Advanced option. See the image below.
8.) Click on the Com Port Number drop-down box and select a higher value You can use any value between 1 and 254. We recommend using port numbers 240 to 250. See the image below.
9.) Click on OK two times until you get back to the Windows Device Manager.
10.) Close Windows Device Manager
11.) Reboot your computer.