Preserved Topic: Tech Prob [win2k]

Basically my friends computer screwed up rightly (Pacard Bell) it was running win98 , and somehow a Virtual hard disk was installed. It was a perfect mirror of the first Hard disk and stopped the sound card and video card from doing their job(I got the Video Card working), but thats not really the problem, our decision was just to reinstall windows. But neither of us have win98 cd(he lost his , he really did !) and mine was made for my computer specifically and it doesnt come with an installer, its just for drivers n crap. Well anyway I happened to have a copy of Win 2k proffessional. I havent got it installed because my Dad uses some crappy win3.1 program that I doubt will work with it (Lotus 123, know if it will or not ?).

So after installing it on a spare 2gb hard disk(FAT32 style), it couldnt read the old one (15gb - FAT/VFAT). Is there a way around this . Well what we did was got an old bootdisk that was made able to read the VFAT I copied over all his stuff in CD sized bits because it wouldnt all fit, on the 2gb. It went Copy,reboot,burn,reboot,copy,reboot,burn for a few hours.

But thats not the problem ! .. once everything was over we formatted the old drive and hes left with loads of free space .. BUT .. the modem doesnt work , [its internal and extremely small], it wont work with ANY standard drivers (yes .. I tried them all) the original 95/98 drivers didnt work! Packard bell dont have win2k drivers for this modem either.
So we got an old modem it was a Zoom 56kflex external .. this didnt work either pretty much the smae problem, "query modem" just returned "BLA BLA PUT SELLATAPE ON THE WIRE, SPIN AROUND UNTILL YOU FALL OVER, CHECK IF ITS PLUGGED IN", not responding basically.

Does anyone have any ideas, could it be something to do with the way, despite its internalness it insists on being in COM1 (com1 was the only option available too). Is there a quick fix ?

I resorted back to the "windows help" [the shame] the trouble shooter dealy had an option "w2k wont detect my old modem", it was more detailed and described the situation perfect .. but it was no help whatsoever! that leads me to believe it might be a common problem.
Windows had the drivers for them but they didnt work, the old drivers definatly didnt work and for two different modems.

Please help, he said he'd buy me a few pints if I fixed it
Also please point out typos, I hate typos, but that doesnt stop me from making them constantly!



[This message has been edited by Hugh (edited 06-14-2002).]

*sigh* Welcome to the wonderful world of computers, son.

Okay, the first thing is the fact that you have Win2k professional. Now, the modem manufacturer may have Win2k drivers, but the computer manufacturer drivers are the ones you want. Depending on teh manufacturer, HP especially, there can be all kinds of strange internal architectures that can royally fuck things up with your computer.

Most likely, I'm guessing the internal modem is screwing with the installation of your new modem (not to mention the fact the ZOOM modems are piles of shit). You have two options. Keep trying to get the old modem to work, or try to get the new modem to work.

HOwever, you're not going to get much support from either the modem manufacturer or the computer manufacturer because you're using unsupported software. Them's the breaks.

What you can try to do is search the computer manufacturer website for the same model of PC you have, maybe a newer version based on the same model even, and see if they have Win2k drivers for the internal modem.

Other than that, you could theoretically swap out the motherboard but I wouldn't recommend that unless you REALLY know what you're doing.

Good luck.

A few pints, eh? Then it's worth the trouble then.

Methinks you can pretty much give up on the internal modem due to the driver issue. External modems don't need anything more than the generic modem driver UNLESS it's a WinModem (of ANY brand). WinModem == Bad. No pints for you.

If it's a "standard" modem, even a Zoom, then it should be a case of enabling the serial port(s) and setting them to a known COM, trying 3 or 4 to avoid the infernal, err, internal one which could be on either 1 or 2.

I'm going from memory here as I don't have a Win2K PC in front of me.

First, in Windows Device Mangler look for interrupts and addresses that aren't presently in use. Most commonly:

COM IRQ Addy
1 --- 4 -- 03F8
2 --- 3 -- 02F8
3 --- 4 -- 03E8
4 --- 3 -- 02E8

IRQ 5 also works well for COMs 3 & 4, in some cases I've seen 9 and 10 work too.

Next, in the CMOS setup, many times either F2 or DEL while the PC is booting (other strange key and combinations are out there too), go in an configure a COM port to the settings you've determined are available. Connect the external modem to that port. Reboot.

Back in Device Manager, check to see if the port is there at the settings you specified. If so, run the modem installation thingie, manually specify the COM port settings, and retire to the pub.

If not, try to manually override the COM port settings in Device Mangler to see that helps. Failing that, maybe someone else has a better idea, or better instructions.

"the most incredible feats are often accomplished by
those who have had the most incredible challenges"

[This message has been edited by brucew (edited 06-15-2002).]

Silence: "*sigh* Welcome to the wonderful world of computers, son." um, thanks, but there isnt anything you told me I didnt know or tried already. Did I come across as a newbie ? Ive been using a PC since 386 was an upgrade. But thanks anyway.

Brucew: I was thinking messin with the BIOS would be pointless because it used to work fine, would win2k have been able to alter the bios settings .. I didnt think it was possible, also the bios that doesnt have a load of options like usual, Hard Disk Auto Detect was about it. I'll have a look at that next time im there.

He did get the Zoom modem to work, Im not sure how he just rang me saying it worked , when I asked how he didnt he didnt know , he turned it on/off a lot or something ???

With the com ports .. only com1 is available, I think whatevers causing that is the problem. How did you know those interupt address' off by heart ??

"....either F2 or DEL while the PC is booting (other strange key and combinations are out there too."
:: One time we found an old computer in a skip it was a really old/weird brand, it didnt say what the key to get into the bios was, so to get in to it, we had to remove a harddisk, so an error would come up and let us in, the problem was we where trying to add a hard disk, so we had to unplug the IDE to get in, then as fast as we could jam it back in before the bios popped up, it took a few tries but we got it in the end.

something I still dont understand, why is an internal PCI modem set as a comport, is it just some type of microsoft work around for being lazy, or is it for backward compatability ?

Hugh: My thinking was that perhaps the external ports were turned off in the BIOS and therefore invisible to Windows. Alternatively, they could have been set to something weird and unexpected.

Windows Plug & Play OSs don't alter the BIOS settings per se. After the the OS loads, it can change hardware settings of P&P devices. And you can still override its choices.
The BIOS provides initial settings.

Nice job with unplugging the drive to force the setup screen on that old PC. Not very many people would have thought of it.

PCI Modems functioning as COM ports is workaround issue. Modems are inherently serial devices, buses are inherently parallel. Something has to make the switch. It's easiest, and cheapest, just to take an off-the-shelf UART chip and put it on the modem card, creating a serial port on it.

And no, even after 20 years (Yikes! That long already?) of f****ing with PCs, I don't have all the address/IRQ combination memorized. Never really had to do much more than recognize the right ones on a list.

Anyway, to this day, my well-thumbed Pocket PC Ref sits within arms reach and key pages are dog-eared for quick reference so I don't have to sift through the arcana. Diablo 63 printer codes anyone?

"the most incredible feats are often accomplished by
those who have had the most incredible challenges"