Runtime error 8020 error reading comm device

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• [RESOLVED] error reading comm device 8020 windows 10

1. Aug 6th, 2016, 04:25 PM

   
   

   #1

   

   Thread Starter

   
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   [RESOLVED] error reading comm device 8020 windows 10
   

   hey,
   i have a caller id modem that recognize incoming calls
   when i start my program
   i get a error [error reading comm device 8020]
   why is this?
   on windows 7 it works fine no error
   this is the code i am using

   Code:

       Dim iLineNum As Integer
       
       'retrieve last window location
       Me.Top = GetSetting(App.Title, "Window", "Top", Me.Top)
       Me.Left = GetSetting(App.Title, "Window", "Left", Me.Left)
       
       
       'retrieve last port settings
       Comm1.Settings = GetSetting(App.Title, "Properties", "Settings", Comm1.Settings)
       Comm1.CommPort = GetSetting(App.Title, "Properties", "3", Comm1.CommPort)
       Comm1.Handshaking = GetSetting(App.Title, "Properties", "Handshaking", Comm1.Handshaking)
       bEcho = GetSetting(App.Title, "Properties", "Echo", False)
       m_stDataPath = GetSetting(App.Title, "Properties", "DataPath", DefDataPath)
   
       Connect_Click

   Code:

   Public Sub Connect_Click()
       On Error Resume Next
       
           If Not Comm1.PortOpen Then                              ' Open the comm port if not already open
               Comm1.PortOpen = True
           End If
   
     
   
           Comm1.DTREnable = True
           Comm1.RTSEnable = True
           Comm1.RThreshold = 1                                    ' Generate a receive event on every character received
           Comm1.InputLen = 1                                      ' Read the receive buffer 1 char at a time
           bOK = False
           bError = False
           Comm1.Output = vbCr + "ATZ" + vbCr                      ' Send command to put Identifier in event mode and receive serial number
           Wait
           If bOK Then
             bOK = False
             bError = False
             Comm1.Output = "AT+VCID=1" + vbCr                        'Turn on caller id events
             Wait
             If bError Then
               Comm1.PortOpen = False                                  ' Close the port and update app UI
             ElseIf bOK Then
             End If
           Else
             Comm1.DTREnable = False
             Comm1.RTSEnable = False
             Comm1.PortOpen = False                                  ' Close the port and update app UI
          End If
   
   End Sub

   Code:

   Private Sub Wait()
   Dim Start
   
      Start = Timer
      Do While Timer < Start + 2
         DoEvents
         If bOK Then
           Exit Sub
         End If
         If bError Then
           Exit Sub
         End If
      Loop
   End Sub

   tnx for any help
   salsa

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2. Aug 6th, 2016, 07:07 PM

   
   

   #2

   Re: error reading comm device 8020 windows 10
   

   There was just a thread here in the past week or so on this very topic. Try a search.

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3. Aug 6th, 2016, 07:31 PM

   
   

   #3

   

   Thread Starter

   
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   Re: error reading comm device 8020 windows 10
   

   Originally Posted by dilettante
   

   There was just a thread here in the past week or so on this very topic. Try a search.

   tried everything sir
   stll same error

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4. Aug 6th, 2016, 10:49 PM

   
   

   #4

   Re: error reading comm device 8020 windows 10
   

   Originally Posted by salsa31
   

   tried everything sir
   stll same error

   Clearly you did not try everything. Did you at least determine which line the error happens on? Something tells me it is not any of the lines posted.

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5. Aug 6th, 2016, 11:21 PM

   
   

   #5

   

   Thread Starter

   
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   Re: error reading comm device 8020 windows 10
   

   Originally Posted by DataMiser
   

   Clearly you did not try everything. Did you at least determine which line the error happens on? Something tells me it is not any of the lines posted.

   hey sir,
   i dont know which line gives the error.
   you think the error is somewhere else?
   this is only code the i call the comm

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6. Aug 7th, 2016, 12:47 AM

   
   

   #6

   Re: error reading comm device 8020 windows 10
   

   Well the error says error reading comm and I do not see any code there that reads from the comm port so..

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7. Aug 7th, 2016, 04:05 AM

   
   

   #7

   

   Thread Starter

   
   Enjoy the moment
   

   

   

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   Re: error reading comm device 8020 windows 10
   

   Originally Posted by DataMiser
   

   Well the error says error reading comm and I do not see any code there that reads from the comm port so..

   Code:

          If Not Comm1.PortOpen Then                              ' Open the comm port if not already open
               Comm1.PortOpen = True
           End If
   
     
   
           Comm1.DTREnable = True
           Comm1.RTSEnable = True
           Comm1.RThreshold = 1                                    ' Generate a receive event on every character received
           Comm1.InputLen = 1                                      ' Read the receive buffer 1 char at a time
           bOK = False
           bError = False
           Comm1.Output = vbCr + "ATZ" + vbCr                      ' Send command to put Identifier in event mode and receive serial number
           Wait
           If bOK Then
             bOK = False
             bError = False
             Comm1.Output = "AT+VCID=1" + vbCr                        'Turn on caller id events
             Wait
             If bError Then
               Comm1.PortOpen = False                                  ' Close the port and update app UI
             ElseIf bOK Then
             End If
           Else
             Comm1.DTREnable = False
             Comm1.RTSEnable = False
             Comm1.PortOpen = False                                  ' Close the port and update app UI
          End If

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8. Aug 7th, 2016, 08:19 AM

   
   

   #8

   Re: error reading comm device 8020 windows 10
   

   Like I said I do not see any code there that reads from the port.

   Of course if the program works under windows 7 then it is likely that you are using a USB modem and have an issue with the driver.

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9. Aug 7th, 2016, 02:12 PM

   
   

   #9

   

   
   Lively Member
   

   

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   Re: error reading comm device 8020 windows 10
   

   Originally Posted by salsa31
   

   …………………..

   Code:

   Public Sub Connect_Click()
       On Error Resume Next
   ...........

   Did you try to remove this line ?

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10. Aug 8th, 2016, 03:47 AM

    
    

    #10

    

    
    Fanatic Member
    

    

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    Re: error reading comm device 8020 windows 10
    

    Salsa,

    I had no luck with MSCOMM under Win10.
    At least not under Win10/64.
    I gave up on it after reading more and more post about the problem — no real solution was found.

    In the end I replaced the control by SCOMM32 (search through recent posts in this forum).
    No more problems since then.

    Karl

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11. Aug 8th, 2016, 05:02 AM

    
    

    #11

    

    Thread Starter

    
    Enjoy the moment
    

    

    

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    Re: error reading comm device 8020 windows 10
    

    Originally Posted by Karl77
    

    Salsa,

    I had no luck with MSCOMM under Win10.
    At least not under Win10/64.
    I gave up on it after reading more and more post about the problem — no real solution was found.

    In the end I replaced the control by SCOMM32 (search through recent posts in this forum).
    No more problems since then.

    Karl

    tnx karl
    the problem seems to be only with windows 10 64

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12. Apr 5th, 2019, 09:09 PM

    
    

    #12

    

    
    Frenzied Member
    

    

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    Re: [RESOLVED] error reading comm device 8020 windows 10
    

    The sollution offered here (SCOMM) is not free. Even though it SHOULD be free directly from MS (because MS should have fixed MSCOMM, as part of its OS), it’s not, so the person who made a drop in replacement for it SHOULD have made it free. But they didn’t. They are trying to PROFIT off of MS’s STUPID DECISIONS, and profit off of our desperation and SUFFERING from MS’s stupid decisions.
    Is there ANYTHING on the internet that anybody has made that offers a drop-in replacement for MSCOMM, that’s actually FREE?

    As for fixing MSCOMM itself, have any of you guys here at VB Forums managed to disassemble and debug the MSCOMM OCX file? I mean actually reverse engineer it, and see where it’s going wrong, and producing a bug in Win10 that it didn’t produce in Win7 or earlier? Everytime I call mscomm1.input in my program, I get the same error that this thread’s title say this forum thread is about. Even if MS won’t offer an official patch, maybe you guys can reverse engineer it, and then use either C++ or assembler to compile the needed code to replace the bad code, and then offer a patch that can be installed with a simple EXE file, that will patch the actual MSCOMM OCX file, to fix the bug.

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13. Apr 6th, 2019, 08:52 AM

    
    

    #13

    Re: [RESOLVED] error reading comm device 8020 windows 10
    

    Originally Posted by Ben321
    

    The sollution offered here (SCOMM) is not free. Even though it SHOULD be free directly from MS (because MS should have fixed MSCOMM, as part of its OS), it’s not, so the person who made a drop in replacement for it SHOULD have made it free. But they didn’t. They are trying to PROFIT off of MS’s STUPID DECISIONS, and profit off of our desperation and SUFFERING from MS’s stupid decisions.

    Someone spent time & effort developing and testing a solution for a problem with sombody else’s software, then spends ongoing time supporting this solution, all the while SUFFERING the opportunity cost from not doing something else that PAYS them for their time and efforts AND THEN they have the gall to ask for money? The nerve of some folks!

    It looks like SCOMM32 cost $79/USD, so if you multiply the number of hours you’ve spent futzing about the the MS control by your hourly pay, would it have paid for itself already? Maybe it’s worth it just to buy it and cut your losses. There’s a free nagware trial too if you want to make sure it will work before you buy it.

    Last edited by jpbro; Apr 6th, 2019 at 09:53 AM.

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14. Apr 7th, 2019, 04:06 PM

    
    

    #14

    

    
    Frenzied Member
    

    

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    Re: [RESOLVED] error reading comm device 8020 windows 10
    

    Originally Posted by jpbro
    

    Someone spent time & effort developing and testing a solution for a problem with sombody else’s software, then spends ongoing time supporting this solution, all the while SUFFERING the opportunity cost from not doing something else that PAYS them for their time and efforts AND THEN they have the gall to ask for money? The nerve of some folks!

    It looks like SCOMM32 cost $79/USD, so if you multiply the number of hours you’ve spent futzing about the the MS control by your hourly pay, would it have paid for itself already? Maybe it’s worth it just to buy it and cut your losses. There’s a free nagware trial too if you want to make sure it will work before you buy it.

    Anybody know what the actual reason for MSCOMM not working under Windows 10 is? Is it only with a virtual serial port that this problem exists (I don’t have any real hardware to test it on right now, so I’m using a virtual serial port driver instead)? Or does it not work on real hardware under Windows 10 either? Has anybody actually reverse engineered the actual code in MSCOMM to see what its incompatibility with Windows 10 is?

    I wonder if it has something to do with me installing Visual Basic 6 on Win 10? I heard that Win10 actually has some of these files that come with the OS to support legacy software that had been compiled in VB6. I’m guessing that the version of MSCOMM that comes with Windows 10 is different than the version that comes with VB6, in order to support the different base operating system (different than pre-Win10, like Win98 that was around when VB6 existed). I wonder if when I installed VB6 itself on my PC, if it overwrote the copy of MSCOMM that came with Win10, with an older version of MSCOMM that does not work in Win10?

    Last edited by Ben321; Apr 7th, 2019 at 04:10 PM.

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15. Apr 7th, 2019, 04:12 PM

    
    

    #15

    

    
    Frenzied Member
    

    

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    Re: [RESOLVED] error reading comm device 8020 windows 10
    

    One thing I know for sure is that the actual underlying Windows API for serial port control, has no problem whatsoever in Win10. I’ve been using that now, to run some tests on the virtual serial port, and so far no problems.

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16. Apr 7th, 2019, 04:23 PM

    
    

    #16

    Re: [RESOLVED] error reading comm device 8020 windows 10
    

    Originally Posted by Ben321
    

    Anybody know what the actual reason for MSCOMM not working under Windows 10 is? Is it only with a virtual serial port that this problem exists (I don’t have any real hardware to test it on right now, so I’m using a virtual serial port driver instead)? Or does it not work on real hardware under Windows 10 either? Has anybody actually reverse engineered the actual code in MSCOMM to see what its incompatibility with Windows 10 is?

    I wonder if it has something to do with me installing Visual Basic 6 on Win 10? I heard that Win10 actually has some of these files that come with the OS to support legacy software that had been compiled in VB6. I’m guessing that the version of MSCOMM that comes with Windows 10 is different than the version that comes with VB6, in order to support the different base operating system (different than pre-Win10, like Win98 that was around when VB6 existed). I wonder if when I installed VB6 itself on my PC, if it overwrote the copy of MSCOMM that came with Win10, with an older version of MSCOMM that does not work in Win10?

    MSCOMM never came with any Windows version. Search for mscomm32.ocx at the link below, which says it’s supported(but not included in the OS), and that you should distribute it with your application:

    Support Statement for Visual Basic 6.0 on Windows:
    https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/pre…support-policy

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17. Apr 7th, 2019, 04:31 PM

    
    

    #17

    

    
    Frenzied Member
    

    

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    Re: [RESOLVED] error reading comm device 8020 windows 10
    

    Originally Posted by qvb6
    

    MSCOMM never came with any Windows version. Search for mscomm32.ocx at the link below, which says it’s supported(but not included in the OS), and that you should distribute it with your application:

    Support Statement for Visual Basic 6.0 on Windows:
    https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/pre…support-policy

    Ok. You are right. I wonder if they actually tested ALL of those DLL and OCX files to see if they work? Because mscomm32.ocx surely is NOT working for reading from the serial port.

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18. Apr 7th, 2019, 05:42 PM

    
    

    #18

    Re: [RESOLVED] error reading comm device 8020 windows 10
    

    Seems to work just fine for me.

    This is a test of a Peer to Peer example that sends ANSI character strings or generated GIF images of about 1.4KB to 2.8KB long.

    The test was run using a pair of USB-UART bridge devices wired back-to-back as a «USB Null Modem» cable and two copies of the program:

    

    MSComm32.ocx surely does work on Windows 10.

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19. Apr 7th, 2019, 05:59 PM

    
    

    #19

    Re: [RESOLVED] error reading comm device 8020 windows 10
    

    Same program, this time using a software device:

    

    This isn’t quite as good for testing because it fails to take into account the time delays of actual devices and the bitrates they are set to. You can get a program «working» this way only to see it fail miserably in the real world.

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20. Apr 7th, 2019, 06:05 PM

    
    

    #20

    Re: [RESOLVED] error reading comm device 8020 windows 10
    

    A simple «USB null modem cable» can be constructed in 10 seconds for a cost of $10 or less:

    

    Here both blue and orange are ground/common. Only one is needed but I didn’t want any dangling wires.

    Yellow and green are cross-connecting the transmit and receive pins.

    These adapters typically provide 5V or 3.3V (or both as here) for use by a low-current device attached. In this case we don’t want to connect the power pins.

    To use this lashup for loopback testing on one PC you might want to use a simple non-powered USB hub if you are running out of sockets.

    

    Many people working with IoT and microcontrollers already have at least one of these devices. They are pretty common. You can also find a few prebuilt USB null modem cables for this but they tend to be $40 or more and unlike this approach they aren’t useful for much else.

    Last edited by dilettante; Apr 7th, 2019 at 08:00 PM.

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