I installed a new modem yesterday in a friend's computer. The computer is an old HP Vectra VA 200Mhz. I installed the software that came with the modem and it was set up on Com4. When they took the computer home and tried to connect to the internet, the got an error message 630 that the modem was not accessible. They are using Win98 so I had them check Device Manager and they said it reported the device was working properly. They did run the modem diagnostic to see what the problem is and were told that Com4 cannot be accessed. I don't know what to do at this point. Any ideas?? I am consulting with them over the phone since I would rather avoid going over there if I can.

Oh, one more anomaly. The device manage shows 2 "unsupported device" listings, but says these devices are working fine. I wondered if this might have something to do with the modem problem.

Thanks.

this may be a longshot, but is there something on the pc that is using com2 ?. If my memory serves me correctly then com2 and com4 both share the same resources and therefore could cause problems. sorry but I can't think of anything else at this time of night (1.55am)

I had an old Vectra and it had two serial ports (COM1 and 2) and I think this is the most common arrangement. Most soft modems seem to choose COM3 and not COM4 by default.

Have you any idea what those unsupported devices are? and just because it says they are working fine doesn't mean everything is OK with them.

I would remove all entries and references to modems from device manager (AND DO THIS after booting into safe mode); remove them and probably those unsupported devices too - especially if they have the yellow exclamation marks beside them. Then close down and reboot normally and Win98 should detect the modem and install the drivers for it.

If that doesnt work, physically remove the modem and repeat the above removal of references in device manager. Re-read the installation instructions carefully and reinstall the modem from scratch.

Thanks for the suggestions, but they haven't worked. According to Device Manager, there are no resource conflicts and there isn't anything on either serial drive.

I have tried removing both of the unsupported devices and they were just automatically reinstalled by Win95 with still no clue as to what they are. I also tried removing both of them and the modem from Device Manager and rebooting. Win95 reinstalled the modem drivers from the disk as per instructions, but also reinstalled the 2 unsupported devices. The computer is at my friend's home so I don't have access to go in and remove and reinstall everything. I may have to go over there and do this eventually, but I am trying to deal with it by phone at this point. I figure if I go over there, I will probably have to take cards out one at a time and see if the unsupported devices go away. They may not even be the problem, but I can't figure out what else might be.

Does anyone know a what to get the modem to take a different Com port? Maybe that would make it more accessible.

Thanks.

Sorry - I thought I had seen Win98 but you hadn't said that originally and now have come up with Win95 and, as I head for bed, I think that may make things a bit different. Can you also describe the Modem a bit more so we are sure of things. I had assumed it to be an internal soft modem, probably PCI or ISA, but if you have the full specs then there may be some support info on its website for installing under Win95.

I got my 2 lines of thought crossed. The other system I am working on uses Win95, the one that has the Com4 problem is using Win98. Sorry for the mix-up.

Budfred:
Does anyone know a what to get the modem to take a different Com port? Maybe that would make it more accessible.

goto device manager > modem > properties > configuration > change and select an appropriate COM port.

Welcome to the world of winmodems...

First, we need identification on this modem. If it's new, you should have the box. Check hardware requirements, and give us the make and model.

Many software based modems must be installed by a specific method, usually installing the software first, then physically plugging the modem into the slot on the motherboard. Check the installation instructions, if that is the case it will never work unless installed exactly that way.

Remove everything while in Safe Mode as suggested earlier, and start over AFTER disabling the COM port as per below. Removing it in Safe Mode is for a reason. That eliminates "ghost drivers" which can and will cause problems. Remove ALL modems listed.

Also check and see what OS the drivers were written for. A new modem with drivers that support XP might not work under win98, you might have to find an older driver.

Go into BIOS and disable COM2, which should be listed as serial port 2, that may cure the inability to access the COM port. COM4 is where most modems want to install these days for some reason, and some software modems use COM5 even...

What you're seeing is a conflict...the modem uses a virtual COM port, which doesn't actually exist, but the motherboard has a physical COM port already using the IRQ the modem wants, so it can't work. DIsabling COM2 in BIOS shoiuld cure that.

All that said...I would take the modem back, tell them it's junk and pay a few bucks more for a hardware modem.

I just want to leave an update on how I resolved this problem. I took the advice of having my friend take the modem back and I installed the modem I took out my HP when I put in my DSL modem. After I found the driver online and installed it, it seemed to work fine.

Thanks for the help.