serial problems with thinkpad a31

i try to connect to /dev/ttyS0 , but no luck

the port works fine in OS/2

i have this:

> dmesg | grep ttyS*
console [tty0] enabled
serial8250: ttyS0 at I/O 0x3f8 (irq = 4) is a NS16550A
00:0a: ttyS0 at I/O 0x3f8 (irq = 4) is a NS16550A

> setserial /dev/ttyS0 -ga
/dev/ttyS0, Line 0, UART: undefined, Port: 0x03f8, IRQ: 4
Baud_base: 921600, close_delay: 50, divisor: 0
closing_wait: 3000
Flags: spd_normal skip_test

> cat /dev/ttyS0 > ja.txt
cat: /dev/ttyS0: Input/output error

changing the setserial settings baud_base and/or uart makes no difference
deleting the /dev/ttyS0 and creating a new one with
> mknod /dev/ttyS0 c 4 64
does not change anything

minicom, dosbox, virtualbox , all can’t connect
What is, or what do i, wrong ??

Arjan