Newbie err on firmdl (ThinkPad)

[papa]

First attempt at lejos, failing on firmdl.bat
Using a ThinkPad(A30), Win-XP(SP2)
The physical port is 'COM1'; but I don't use it for anything else, and can't be 100% certain that it works - or that lejos is talking to it.

Here's what I see:

C:\Program Files\lejos>firmdl.bat
Error 5: Opening COM1
Open failed: open failure, errno = 5

or, if I try the exe:

C:\Program Files\lejos\bin>lejosfirmdl
Use --help for options.
segment.length[0] = 13686 (14k)
segment.length[1] = 2938 (3k)
Total image size=16624 (17k)
Error 5: Opening COM1

And, just for laughs, I tried THIS (although my tower is on COM port):

C:\Program Files\lejos\bin>lejosfirmdl --tty=usb
Use --help for options.
segment.length[0] = 13686 (14k)
segment.length[1] = 2938 (3k)
Total image size=16624 (17k)
Error 2: Opening \\.\legotower1

Now, this makes me suspicious -- a different error.

So, do I have a Lego (tower) problem, a lejos problem, or a low-level issue with COM1 on this ThinkPad?? (FWIW: the Windows 'device manager' seems to think that COM1 is ok.)

Suggestions???
Thanks!

[papa]

In fact, it was a low-level system error from COM1. (To establish that, I 'disabled' the port, which made another program complain. Then, knowing which program had grabbed the port, I knew which program to terminate. Having released the port, firmdl was able to run.)