Modem is busy or fails to respond

[Muse]

My Windows 2000 system finally went belly up over the weekend and I was forced to reformat my OS partition and reinstall. Now I'm having unforseen problems. Top priority at the moment is just getting my modem to work so I can fax my employers my timesheet (I telecommute). Windows 2000 SP4 now recognizes the modem and has the driver that was working last week and says the "Device is working properly." But when I query the modem, either in Windows own diagnostics or using Winfax (part of Norton Systemworks 2001), I'm told either that "the modem failed to respond" (Windows diagnostic tab on modem properties) or that it's busy (Winfax). I didn't remove the modem or touch it since it was working. What can or should I try?

Don't know if it's related, but I'm also having trouble getting Norton AV to work. So far I haven't succeeded in getting Autoprotect enabled. Thanks for any help.

 

[philmore47]

I had the same issues once. It turned out to be a bad modem.

 

[Muse]

Originally posted by: philmore47
I had the same issues once. It turned out to be a bad modem.

I seriously doubt the modem is bad. It has worked fine since I got it a little over 2 years ago. I just reinstalled my operating system. I have to think it's a configuration issue. Is it impossible that the modem has gone bad? Absolutely not, but I'm not going to run out and buy a new modem right this minute. I will get one soon, though, just to have one in my other box. Anyone want to trade a PCI modem for an ISA USR Courier V.Everything?

 

[waitman]

I know a lady that had the same problem with a reinstall of win2000, she had to physically remove the modem from the pc and reinstall it, it then worked.

 

[Muse]

Originally posted by: waitman
I know a lady that had the same problem with a reinstall of win2000, she had to physically remove the modem from the pc and reinstall it, it then worked.

Cool. I have removed it but not reinstalled it yet. I have so many issues right now I'm not sure what to tackle first. My employer seems happy enough in the meantime with the Word document of my timesheet so it's not a top priority to get the modem honking. I know I have to get my virus protection working, though, and NAV just won't work. Man, PC's can be a bitch!

 

[Muse]

Finally got modem working. Looks like it had to be on Com3. Windows 2000's way of handling it is goofy. You query the modem, it doesn't respond. If you then check out the Advanced Port Settings, simply looking, and then query the modem again, it works. Nutty.

 

[Texun]

Originally posted by: Muse
Finally got modem working. Looks like it had to be on Com3. Windows 2000's way of handling it is goofy. You query the modem, it doesn't respond. If you then check out the Advanced Port Settings, simply looking, and then query the modem again, it works. Nutty.

I have the exact problem with XP. I can check the properties and query the modem and it works... but after a couple more dial-outs it does the same thing again and I still haven't figured it out. I checked and it is set to COM3. I hate dial up modems.

 

[Muse]

Originally posted by: Texun

Originally posted by: Muse
Finally got modem working. Looks like it had to be on Com3. Windows 2000's way of handling it is goofy. You query the modem, it doesn't respond. If you then check out the Advanced Port Settings, simply looking, and then query the modem again, it works. Nutty.

I have the exact problem with XP. I can check the properties and query the modem and it works... but after a couple more dial-outs it does the same thing again and I still haven't figured it out. I checked and it is set to COM3. I hate dial up modems.

In my experience modems are the toughest things to get to work. This experience underscores that. Place I went to for assistance was comp.dcom.modems. Got some advice and then got the modem working. Thing is, after messing around with it for a while and Ghosting back images of my OS partition a few times I deduced that the guy's advice wasn't what got it working. I believe it was actually finally figuring out how to configure the modem in my fax software, which is the only thing I use it for - faxing.

 

[LiLithTecH]

Generally WINMODEMs are the toughest to configure.
They steal all the system resources they can get (IRQ's, Mem Addresses, etc..).
Most DSP chips do not play well with onBoard/PCI Audio.

External Serial or USB are a breeze to install.

 

[Muse]

Originally posted by: LiLithTecH
Generally WINMODEMs are the toughest to configure.
They steal all the system resources they can get (IRQ's, Mem Addresses, etc..).
Most DSP chips do not play well with onBoard/PCI Audio.

External Serial or USB are a breeze to install.

This modem is a 3Com US Robotics internal hardware modem the OEM 2977. As an OEM, I don't think 3Com will provide much in the way of support if any. I figured I'd pay for a decent hardware modem rather than get a Winmodem, which have a reputation for using resources and not being as trouble free and fast. Windows way of handling the querying and reporting on the modem seems to leave a lot to be desired.

 

[Texun]

Originally posted by: Texun

Originally posted by: Muse
Finally got modem working. Looks like it had to be on Com3. Windows 2000's way of handling it is goofy. You query the modem, it doesn't respond. If you then check out the Advanced Port Settings, simply looking, and then query the modem again, it works. Nutty.

I have the exact problem with XP. I can check the properties and query the modem and it works... but after a couple more dial-outs it does the same thing again and I still haven't figured it out. I checked and it is set to COM3. I hate dial up modems.

Update-
I had an ISA controller based USR working in it for about a week until it flat-lined on me. Couldn't do anything to get it working with XP again which is why I went with the new one. It's the PCI Winjob but it worked off and on for about a week. This weekend I found a backdoor virus Symantec calls "SpyBot.gen." I don't know if a backdoor virus can hang the Winsock but that's my best guess at the moment. I never did see any sign of a hardware conflict and the last 40 dial outs have been fine.

I've seen this problem in a few other posts before. Wish I could give someone a solid answer.