sorry spittman, i thought you were new to the program, i was giving you rookie advice. that is strange that they all do the same thing. i do remember being told not to allow any updates to the system, we shut off automatic updates. did the computers have internet access, and did they install updates recently? have you looked at the device manager for com ports, and verified that the com port 1 reads comport 1(ACPI) ? kind of a bummer, do you have access to the original installation programs? you could try removing the DMC program and reinstalling it.