Q I go into Modems-properties-diagnostics-more info but I cannot find a UART chip number for love or money. Is there some place else it could be hiding?

A Your modem's properties settings seems like a logical place to look for the UART chip number, but regardless of how hard you look, you won't find it there. The UART chip controls the RS-232 serial port in your PC, so you are more likely to find the chip number by examining the properties of your serial ports. You can easily do this using the Microsoft Diagnostics (msd.exe) program that comes with DOS 6.x and Windows 95. If MSD is not already installed on your hard disk, you can find on the Windows 95 CD.

Msd.exe generates more accurate results when it is run from the DOS prompt, so restart your computer in MS-DOS mode, and type msd at the DOS prompt. Click OK to close the opening screen, and then click on the COM Ports box. The window that opens next contains a field called UART Chip Used, which displays the number of the chip controlling each of your serial ports.

The 16550A UART chip is generally used in most high performance serial ports because it uses a 16-byte buffer called a FIFO (First In/First Out) buffer to speed up communications. In Windows 95 you can tell if you have a 16550A chip by right-clicking on My Computer, selecting Properties-Device Manager-Ports, and double-clicking on the communications port you want to check. Then select the Port Settings tab, and click on the Advanced button. If you have a 16550 UART chip, the box next to Use FIFO buffers will be checked.