This error message can be caused by several things, one of which is a COM port address problem. When the Newton Connection Kit for Windows 1.0 is installed, it does not automatically configure itself to reflect the computer's COM port setting. The Newton Connection Kit for Windows instead fills in the port addresses with addresses that are commonly used by many IBM-compatible computers. If the computer COM port address is different from the Windows Connection Kit's setting for that COM port, the port will not work with the Newton Connection Kit. If this happens, an error message is displayed on the Newton MessagePad.
To correct this problem, the port address in the Port Setup area needs to be changed to the proper address.
The default settings for the Newton Connection Kit for Windows are:
*╩COM1=03F8
* COM2=02F8
* COM3=03E8
*╩COM4=02E8
To determine the port addresses that the hardware is configured to, run MSD at the MS-DOS prompt. MSD is a diagnostic program from Microsoft, that is part of the MS-DOS Operating System. Among other things, MSD shows the actual port address. Once you have the proper COM port address for your computer, you can change the Newton Connection Kit for Windows preferences to match the address values displayed by MSD.