gmultani52,
Yes, the "Tools, Options, Systems Communications" configure method will work when the others sometimes fail. They can fail if you have some Communications drivers loaded that are not working, due to wrong settings, or missing hardware, ports, or networks.
I went through this briefly in an earlier post, but you did not seem to pick up on it, so I will open up RSLinx and step you through it again.
(1) Start RSLinx on the computer that you will use to connect to the PLC.
(2) If you are NOT using an Ethernet network, on top menu bar, click on "Communications", "Configure Gateway", then under "General", make sure that "Enable RSLinx Gateway" is NOT checked. This could be causing those crazy error messages that you reported.
(3) Forget "auto configure" because it doesn't tell you if there are comm drivers that are locked up or "not running". Instead go to the top menu bar and click on "Communications", then on "Configure Drivers".
(4) On the next pop-up screen, look under the "Configured Drivers" list. If you see "TCP-1 on xxxx NOT RUNNING" or "TCP-1 on xxxx ERROR", then there is your problem. You need to either "Configure" this driver so that it is working, or set your cursor on it and click the "Stop" button on the right. If a driver is loaded, but has some problem that keeps it from working, yet it is still TRYING to run, then it can lock up RSLinx so that OTHER drivers that you want to use will not work either!! I know, the manuals do not mention this fact, but I have experienced it too many times.
(5) You may have more than one driver that has a problem. If you only use the "auto-configure" method, then you may not be aware of just how many drivers you do have loaded, or not be aware of how many have problems or are not working. You should clean out the Configure Drivers screen occassionaly and "Delete" any drivers that you don't need.
(6) Now after cleaning up the problems, make sure the driver you want to use is loaded. I think it should be something like "AB DF1-1 DH-485 Sta:x COM x: RUNNING". If you don't see that on the "Configured Drivers" list, then load one as follows:
(7) At the top "Available Driver Types, click on the down-arrow key and select from the pull-down menu "RS-232 DF1 devices". Once selected, then click on the "Add New" button on the right. If you do not like the name that RSLinx uses, then type in one you like better, then click "OK".
(8) Now type in your communications parameters, Comm Port Number, Baud Rate, Parity, Stop Bits, and MOST IMPORTANT, select the Device Type from the pull-down menu on the right. Because it is a MicroLogix, select the 4th one, "SLC-CH0/Micro/Panelview". Now at this point it is safe to pick "Auto-Configure" to see if your settings work. Once you get it working, then go back to the "Configure Drivers" menu.
(9) Check the "Configured Drivers" menu list and see if your new driver is there and that it is "RUNNING". If it says something like:
"AB_DF1-1 DH485 Sta:x COMx: PORT CONFLICT", or
"AB_DF1-1 DH485 Sta:x COMx: ERROR", or
"AB_DF1-1 DH485 Sta:x COMx: NOT RUNNING",
then you have still not got it right and must re-do Step 8 and 9.
(10) Once you get it running, then click "Close", go back to Main Menu, click the "RSWho" icon, select "Autobrowse", then select the driver "AB_DF1-1, then the PLC that you want to use should show up. If it doesn't then you may: (a) not have a good cable connection, (b) not have a Windows COMM port configured properly from Windows Device Manager, (c) may have another device trying to use the COMM port at the same time, (d) may have TWO or more copies of RSLinx running, (e) or have some other problem that I don't know what the hell it could be.
(11) Now go to RSLogix, load your program, go to "Tools, Options, Systems Communications", and set the program driver to match the one that you just got working in RSLinx.