Symptom
Whilst using the G2 Suite to update your Ford/EOBD pod or ACR4PC to download saved screens from the ACR4 you may encounter an error message 'COM port in use'.

Cause
This means that some other program is accessing the specified COM port and it cannot currently be accessed.

Resolution
This can be caused by having another instance of the G2 Suite/ACR4PC open and so first you should ensure any other SP Diagnostics applications are closed.

If the issue continues then you should try restarting your computer and trying again.

In some cases it could be that a background application is continually accessing the COM port even before you open any applications (examples of this include PDA/mobile phone synchronisation software).

To find out which application is using a particular COM port you can use a piece of software available from Microsoft and the following steps (caution: this requires advanced knowledge of Microsoft Windows, if you require guidance contact SP Diagnostics Product Support):

1. Download and run Process Explorer from http://live.sysinternals.com/procexp.exe
2. From the Process Explorer menu choose Find > Find Handle or DLL...
3. In the box labelled Handle or DLL substring type \Device\Serial and click Search
4. If there are 0 matching items found then no COM ports are in use, however if there are 1 or more matching items then some COM ports are in use by applications. In the list of results you can see which COM port is in use and by what application.
   The column Handle or DLL will tell you the port number (\Device\Serial0 is COM1, \Device\Serial1 is COM2, \Device\Serial2 is COM3, etc.)
   The column Process will tell you the file name of the program accessing the port (e.g. hypertrm.exe = Microsoft HyperTerminal)
   The column PID can be used to match an unknown application to a process listed in Windows Task Manager.