(11/15/03 update!)
The purpose of this page is to describe in step by step mode how to configure a Dell laptop (and certainly other Dells) running Windows 2000 or XP Professional to allow one to connect a Polar S series heart rate monitor via the embedded Infrared port. Screen shots are for W2k, but the procedure is identical for Windows XP.
In other words, you won’t have to purchase the additional IR interface module.

This has been verified on a Dell Latitude C800 and Inspiron 8500 in standalone mode or connected to a docking station. It should work with any of the C-series and the Inspiron series, as they’re the same IR chip.

Special Thanks

Patrick Pichon provided a lot of the basis for this.
Mike Johnson,who verified this works on Windows XP pro with his Inspiron 8500

The numerous beautiful woman whom we could not share PowerPoint documents with on the bus because our IR ports were configured this way.

Jim Carson Here are the steps to follow :

 
  1. download that zipped file MSPORTS.inf
    (4.8k)     file for Windows 2000. (This is a zipped version of a plain text file. Save it to your disk, view the text in notepad or vi to convince yourself it’s not nefarious. Compare it to your existing file if you wish.) I’m assuming your default windows directory is on the C: drive and in \winnt. You can verify this by printing the %WINDIR% environment variable: echo %WINDIR%.
  2. Back up the old MSPORTS.inf file. You should archive the other IRDA-related files:

    c:
    cd \winnt\inf
    mkdir \backup
    copy *irda*.* \backup
    del *irda*.*
    copy msports.inf \backup

  3. Copy the MSPORTS.inf file you downloaded in step #1 to \winnt\inf.
    There are three pairs of files (six total) on my machine: irdaalif.inf,
    irdasmc.inf, netirda.inf (and the associated .PNF). Deleting these files is essential for disabling the plug and play option for this device. If you leave these
    files in place, Windows will reconfigure the IR port as before.
  4. Remove all Infrared Device references

    Start –>> Settings –>> Control Panel –>> System
    Click on the Hardware tab
    Click on the Device Manager button
    (On XP, this is Start –>> Settings –>> Control Panel –>> Administrative Tools –>> Computer Management –>> System Tools –>> Device Manager)
    Scroll down to Infrared devices (before “Keyboards”) and expand this by clicking the little “+” next to the line.
    Right click on the infrared device and select “Uninstall”

  5. Reboot your computer.
  6. When it reboots, enter the BIOS setup menu (press F2 when the machine powers up). Page through using Alt-P to the Infrared port. Ensure that it’s on COM2 and “Slow” mode.
    (11/15/03: Some machines like the Inspiron 8500, do not have a “slow” mode. If yours does not, don’t worry.)
  7. After rebooting you will see a new COM port into the device manager (under “Ports” now) named Generic Ir Serial Port (COM2)
  8. Launch the Polar Software
  9. Go into Options -> Preferences -> Hardware
  10. Configure to the accordingly COM2, use option to select WIN95. (9/2004: the update switches menu options and the Win95 is no longer present.)

Limitations:

  1. You have to place the Polar monitor very close to the IR port, within
    8 cm (3″) for it to pick up the signal.
  2. Enabling the
    directIR protocol will deactivate the IRDA protocol. What this means is if you use your IR port for other functions, like programming your refrigerator or exchanging Excel documents with random beautiful women on the train, you’ll break that (or make it much slower).
  3. Please note that Polar, your hardware vendor, me, and especially Microsoft do not support this. Therefore if you don’t feel competent at editing your system configuration files, please buy the separate IR interface. It’s forty bucks, probably less on ebay.

Jim Carson

Cinco de Mayo 2002, Revised 15 November 2003

More Information
For more information, you will find here after the hints I found on the
Internet (thanks to http://www.logomanager.co.uk/irhelp/ ) to
allow us to use the embedded Infrared of our laptop with the Polar S series under
W2K (without any W95 limitation as Polar stated).

If you are running WIN95 and it doesn’t work, I suggest you to go to Polar
and/or to their Web site where they address Infrared Issues on 95.

Possible Limitations

  1. That have been tested on an HP Omnibook 900B and Dell Latitude C800 and Inspiron 8500 laptops
    with an onboard IR adapter. There might be some cases where the IR adapter
    might not work.
  2. You have to hold the Polar monitor very close to the IR port, within 8cm
    (3 inches) for it to pick up a signal.
  3. Not all computers/notebooks
    can be setup in DirectIR mode, especially newer notebooks have so-called
    ‘PCI-Based IRDA Ports’. If you have such a notebook, then you’re outta
    luck because these will NOT work in DirectIR mode! Here is a list of such
    notebooks:
  • Toshiba Libretto 100CT,
    110CT
  • Toshiba Port�g� 320,
    Port�g� 3xxx Series    , Port�g� 7xxx Series
  • Toshiba Satellite
    3xx Series, Satellite 2xxx Series, Satellite 4xxx Series
  • Toshiba Satellite
    Pro 490/490X
  • Toshiba Tecra 550,
    Tecra 750CDT/CDM/DVD    , Tecra 780, Toshiba Tecra 8xxx
    Series

Useful links:

9/13/2004: Here are two screenshots that may help clear things up. (Or maybe not.)


This is what the generic IR port looks like under Windows 2000. There aren’t any other really interesting options to show you, but I suspect that if you don’t see this “generic IR serial port” appear, you’ll want to investigate the computer’s configuration.


This is the combination of menu options I have selected from the Polar Software. The screenshot is taken from version 4.02.034. I’m using the S710 receiver, the much older version. I don’t know if the S710i, S720i or S725i have IRDA support, but the 710i and 720i are listed under the same pulldown. (If someone finds out, please let me know.)