Help! COM1 not found?

:exclamation I have had my arduino for several months and have been wanting to get it running really bad. But every where I go, I run into more trouble.

When my new laptop came in, I was excited to get to programming my arduino. I've downloaded both Arduino 0018 and the correct drivers for Windows 7.

I went into the control panel, after installing the drivers
control panel>hardware and sound>devises and printers>FT232R USB UART
Under device functions it says both usb serial port and usb serial converter, but the drivers are only working for the converter.
Then when I run Arduino 0018 and attempt to upload a sketch (blink)
this error pops up at the bottom of theIDE

processing.app.SerialException: Serial port 'COM1' not found. Did you select the right one from the Tools > Serial Port menu?
at processing.app.Serial.(Serial.java:153)
at processing.app.Serial.(Serial.java:76)
at processing.app.debug.Uploader.flushSerialBuffer(Uploader.java:73)
at processing.app.debug.AvrdudeUploader.uploadViaBootloader(AvrdudeUploader.java:83)
at processing.app.debug.AvrdudeUploader.uploadUsingPreferences(AvrdudeUploader.java:55)
at processing.app.Sketch.upload(Sketch.java:1498)
at processing.app.Sketch.exportApplet(Sketch.java:1465)
at processing.app.Sketch.exportApplet(Sketch.java:1420)
at processing.app.Editor$46.run(Editor.java:2219)
at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:619)
processing.app.debug.RunnerException: Serial port 'COM1' not found. Did you select the right one from the Tools > Serial Port menu?
at processing.app.debug.Uploader.flushSerialBuffer(Uploader.java:93)
at processing.app.debug.AvrdudeUploader.uploadViaBootloader(AvrdudeUploader.java:83)
at processing.app.debug.AvrdudeUploader.uploadUsingPreferences(AvrdudeUploader.java:55)
at processing.app.Sketch.upload(Sketch.java:1498)
at processing.app.Sketch.exportApplet(Sketch.java:1465)
at processing.app.Sketch.exportApplet(Sketch.java:1420)
at processing.app.Editor$46.run(Editor.java:2219)
at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:619)
processing.app.debug.RunnerException: Serial port 'COM1' not found. Did you select the right one from the Tools > Serial Port menu?
at processing.app.debug.Uploader.flushSerialBuffer(Uploader.java:93)
at processing.app.debug.AvrdudeUploader.uploadViaBootloader(AvrdudeUploader.java:83)
at processing.app.debug.AvrdudeUploader.uploadUsingPreferences(AvrdudeUploader.java:55)
at processing.app.Sketch.upload(Sketch.java:1498)
at processing.app.Sketch.exportApplet(Sketch.java:1465)
at processing.app.Sketch.exportApplet(Sketch.java:1420)
at processing.app.Editor$46.run(Editor.java:2219)
at java.lang.Thread.run(Thread.java:619)

Of coarse the first thing I do is open the tools bar, but with my luck for some reason the serial port button is "greyed out" and I can't click it! :cry:
Please help!

I recommend completely uninstalling the device on your system and then installing the new ones again manually.

The reason why it'll be greyed out is because it can't find any serial ports.

Vista and 7 have a nasty habit of automatically installing some drivers that don't work. It is a common problem.

Can you provide a bit more info about the drivers you installed and how you did it?

Mowcius

I downloaded the drivers from the ftdi website, but instead should I use the drivers inside Arduino 0018?

well it should not make any difference.

You might as well try that though I suppose.

Mowcius

I tried the drivers under arduino 0018 but the computer didn't recognize it as the correct driver. So I went back to the ftdi driver and installed it but the same problem occurred as before.

p.s. I manually installed the drivers the first time as well.