XP Modem weirdness

Mercutio

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The subject was the PC listed in a previous thread (Pentium 233, 32MB RAM), running WinXP on a non-ACPI HAL.

The subject is now an XP2200+ with 512MB on the ACPI HAL for XP. XP was upgraded stopping the install just after the first reboot and ghosting the FAT32 partition to an 80GB hard disk. The 80GB hard disk, in the new PC, was used to finish the installation process (therefore redetecting basic features such as which HAL to use).

PC was taken by client, and operates in all ways normally... except that Windows software swears up and down there's no modem in the computer.

So I installed a second modem.

At this point, I have a SupraMax (Conexant) 56k on IRQ 9, COM3, and an Intel HaM on IRQ3, COM4.

Correct, up to date drivers are installed for both.

The modems appear in modem properties. Querying the modems (under Diagnostics) gives correct responses. Everything is right and good in device manager (two modems), and the the modems aren't even sharing any settings with anything else in the PC.

Windows Dial Up Networking STILL says there's no modem installed.
Try to sign up for MSN. Same thing.

Pull both modems, plug USR V.Everything into COM1 on the back of the machine. This has got to work! I say.

Except that it doesn't. RAS still says "No modems are installed". Modem detects fine, queries fine.

Run SFC /SCANBOOT and reboot. Everything is fine.

Roll back SP1. No good.

Hit MSKB. Nada.

Next step is the ritual new install of Windows, but I spent so much $%^ing time arranging that data transfer I REALLY don't want to do this.

Any other suggestions?
 

blakerwry

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is it possible to reinstall RAS/DUN on winXP? That is most likely your problem...

I've never used a modem on XP, but i have had my TCP/IP go bad... only thing to do was reinstall because XP makes it such a pain to mess with compared to 2K.
 

Tea

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What'z weird about that? XP is hopeless with internal modems. Always haz been. It workz, fux up, you reinstall the drivers, it workz again till you reboot, it fux up again. Very, very few internal modems can work reliably and consistently with XP. We have been through at least five or six different brands and models trying to find something that XP can cope with. Our latest one seems to be OK - a Netcomm but not the same Netcomm that used to fux up with XP regularly. For a while there we zimply refuzed to sell internal modems to XP userz and told them to buy an external. (Even XP can talk to an external modem.) Service pack makez no difference.

Every single one of those "troublesome" modems, BTW, works perfectly with Windows 95, 98 or 2000.

XP zucks. Get an operating syztem that workz.
 

honold

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i must have used about 50 of the very, very few 'modemz' that work with xp because i've never had an issue on a TON of systems.
 

Groltz

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XP worked great with my USR 5610B. Never any problems.

I like to request that a moderator washes Tea's mouth out with soap.

I wish I had an answer for your dilemma, Merc, but I don't. Are the modems you mentioned external models?
 

blakerwry

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have you tried the system file checker? lol.... actually, i doubt it will help unless perhaps some of the modem software you installed messed up a system file (you didn't install any win2k software did you? lol)
 

mangyDOG

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Tea said:
... XP is hopeless with internal modems. ...

I have never had a problem with XP and the Netcomm InModem 56 (Code: IN5699_4). Plug them in, XP autodetects and installs old drivers, run Windows Update and install 8.12 drivers, away you go....
 

Tea

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I'm not sure which Netcomm modemz we have used, Mangy One. The first lot were bad. Seemed to work for a while, then fux up zometimes and can't be fixed save by reinstalling everything from scratch. And then the problem quite often comez back a few days later. That was maybe about December or October. Not the first Netcomm driver problem we have had, either. Early lazt year they shipped us a whole stack of modemz that would dial out but wouldn't connect, no matter what. (That's not an XP thing, it was the same with W98, W2K, whatever version.) Turned out that they had changed the hardware and were too lazy to change the drivers. After countless modem changes to several machines and a few reinstalls and a visit to their web site - all to no avail - we emailed them and they zent uz a new driver, which actually worked. (Nice of them to do that, wazn't it.)

It wasn't the first time that Netcomm had pulled this sort of stupid stunt - there waz another one with their network cardz or something or other not too long before - and Tannin swore he'd never buy another Netcomm product. ("Never", in this context, meanz "about six monthz or zo". Humans. Short memory. You get uzed to them after a while.)

The more recent lot, just a couple of weeks ago, have been no trouble at all. Cute red and gold colours too. :)

Az for Windows Update, who are you kidding? Any item of computer hardware that doesn't work properly right out of the box (be it with built-in Windoz driverz or with the drivers on the CD that shipz with it) goez ztraight to the top of Tannin'z crap list.

And for once in my life, I agree with him. If it don't work out of the box, there ain't no zuch thing az a repeat order.
 

mangyDOG

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Tea said:
Az for Windows Update, who are you kidding? Any item of computer hardware that doesn't work properly right out of the box (be it with built-in Windoz driverz or with the drivers on the CD that shipz with it) goez ztraight to the top of Tannin'z crap list.

The modem does work straight out of the box with the cd drivers, but it is faster for me to use windows update - broadband connection with proxy server in the office installs the updates in the time it takes for the driver CD to spin up...just lazy i guess... :wink:
 

mangyDOG

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Back to Mercutio's problem...

I have had a similar experience, but the PC had so much spy and ad ware that I just figured the OS was screwed by the amount of crap installed. (System tray reaches the start button in 640*480 :eekers: ) I felt fully justified in using format c:...

Did you re-install RAS? and did this fix the issue?
 
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