First off I live in the sticks so all I have access to is dialup, not paying $80.00 a month for broadband through my dish.


I gave a friend a computer I had at work after I bought a new one. I cleaned it out, reinstalled Win ME and hooked to the internet and downloaded a few programs that I like to use.

He finally hooked it up and I just came home from trying to help get to the internet.

He has a Lightspeed disk, once it is set up and you try to connect we get an Error 666. In modems from the control panel it shows up as com2 Telepath 56K voice fax modem, The modified date is 6-08-2000, do drivers expire?

If I go through the add modem it doesn't have the one in the computer listed, if i pick something it installs it in com1 and then we get an Error 630 when trying to connect, we do here some sound at this point.

Could it be that the Telepath modem needs to be set as com1? If so how do I go about that, remove or delete from the modem folder and then add once again? What if the modem in the computer isn't listed, when I reinstalled the OS it must have picked it up on its own.

Any help is greatly appreciated, as you can see I am a real putz when it comes to something as simple as this.


dave

 

The first thing that I would do is put ANYTHING OTHER THAN WINDOWS ME on that computer. That is a horrible memory hogging version of Windows that should have NEVER been released. When the Windows 2000 pundits started crying that the average person wanted the networking "benefits" of Windows 2000 but the "shell" of Windows 98, the bastard child "Windows ME" was born.

Bottom line: Most of your problems are probably due to the fact that you have Windows ME on that computer. If I were you, I'd install a copy of Windows 2000 (or XP if the computer can handle it). Unfortunately if you have to buy it, Windows 2000 costs more than XP but is THE choice for slower computers that can't HANDLE XP.

Yes, drivers DO expire, so check the manufacturer's downloads / support / driver archive for an updated driver version. Usually driver updates will stop 1-2 years after they stop making that "line" of computer hardware product - so the possibility that there's a newer driver out there is a potential maybe.

With the whole COM1, COM2, etc, etc, thing, older modems will actually make you set which "COM" it shows up on by moving around "jumpers" on the modem. Newer models of modem will not make you do this. But, you're not out of the water yet. Older motherboards sometimes will SPECIFY which "slots" (ISA or PCI) are reserved for COM1, COM2, etc. If you have a jumpered modem, make sure the jumper is set to COM1, and then make sure you have your modem in the COM1 slot. If you have no idea how to set your modem to COM1, I'd advise you to get a new modem (they are REALLY cheap these days) so that you don't have to worry about it.

To find out which PCI or ISA slot is reserved for COM1 (that is, if you have this issue anyway), you'll generally have to go the motherboard user guide unless you can read it on the motherboard itself. If the computer is older than 5 years, you'll probably have a motherboard that has reserved slots like this. If it is any newer, you probably won't.

But, I still think that ME has no business on that computer. ME has no business on ANYONE'S computer.

 

I think I may have Win 2000 pro at home somewhere, can I install over top of ME or do I need to start from the begining? I don't think he has used it to much for saving stuff yet so if we need to start over i guess this would be the time.

thanks

 

Wait you said "I cleaned it out, reinstalled Win ME and hooked to the internet and downloaded a few programs that I like to use."

Is this the old machine that is now problematic?

Anyway try this:



The telephon.ini file in your \%systemroot%\ folder may be corrupted, missing or damaged. Locate and rename the telephon.ini file to telephon.old.
(%systemroot% is normally c:\windows.)

Re-start your computer and then run the tapiini.exe file located in the \windows\system folder.

Additional information on the telephon.ini file: MS KB Article 120221
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?kbid=120221

 

If you have windows 2000 I would put that on there. You can put both on at the same time with "little" trouble. The ideal way is to install it on it's own partition, but it will work on the same as windowsME. In this day and age though there's really no reason to have windowsME on that machine. I would format it and start over.

As far as your modem problem goes directly, it's been so long since I've worked with 56k modems or windowsME I don't remember any more. I'd have to actually sit down with the machine and tinker to figure it out.

 

I like spoon.

WIN ME = trash.

 

Will try looking for the files and renaming them, also may suggest to him we just start with the other OS.

thanks

 

I'm guessing that the telepath "modem" is not really a modem at all, but a winmodem. The problem with these is that the chipsets are made by different manufacturer's like Lucent or Nortel. This causes plug and pray to throw a driver that uses a specific chipset at the OS, but unless it is an exact fit to your hardware, it still will not work. You did not mention your PC brand. Unless this is a home built and then you'd get the drivers from the MB drivers package, vendors provide drivers for their own hardware. If you have the brand and model, the easiest solution is to hit a vendor's website and download the specific driver needed for your device. The modification date is just the driver date. The one you see doesn't matter since it isn't playing nice with the hardware anyway and you'll probably end up with a different driver entirely. As for OS, WinME had it's faults, but unless you're really into an OS reload or ME isn't working at all, I'd just deal with the driver issue and save the OS upgrade for another day. You'll have the same issues with any winmodem under any Win OS. The drivers may be in a Win OS already, but plug and pray isn't that successful with slight variations on OEM and you'll still need to identify the device.

 

First, aside from the fact that ME does suck, did you use the modem when you connected to the internet to download things? If so, it worked then, why not now? Next, run the modem diagnostics included with ME. If it returns a bunch of AT commands, the driver and modem are installed properly. If not, try updated drivers, or replace the modem. Drivers do not expire, but may be updated. Is phone dialer installed? if not install it and run it, if the modem picks up the line and you hear a dial tone, and it dials, your modem is working fine, don't mess with it.

You can change the COM port on a WinModem by manipulating the resources, they associate this way
COM1 IRQ4 I/O 03F8
COM2 IRQ3 I/O 02F8
COM3 IRQ4 I/O 03E8
COM4 IRQ3 I/O 02E8
This relates to legacy modem settings, a modern modem can have any port number. If the serial port(s) are turned on, they may be taking the COM port address you need. If the OS is adding the modem by itself after you remove it, it's a good sign that the modem is OK. The problem sounds like a limitation of the Lightspeed software. If you can test the modem, and ensure it's working, you should be able to call them and get help.

 

shtrdave, I think that your best bet will be to install Win2000 on it for sure. Not XP...yet....small steps, small victories, less headache.

Get that millennium edition OFF!!

When installing 2000, the drivers will hopefully recognize the modem automatically. If not, I hope you know where you can get the modem drivers from.

Question for you -

Is your modem near your keyboard, mouse, and USB drives or is it in one of the slots down below? I'd always recommend using a PCI modem over the "on board" modem as the internet connection always appears "faster" (due to issues that I will not bore you with). If it's a modem that fits into one of those slots towards the bottom of your computer, it could be a winmodem which would experience the same slowdowns with internet access.

If you want a step up on your modem, I'd buy and install this puppy:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16825132002

 

Thanks for all the information, I messed with it for 2 hours last night, took laptop so I could download things and search for info. Damn thing still doesn't work. I have come to the conclusion that the modem is bad.

The modem isn't recognized with the P&P , and the ones on the list to choose from seem to be all Europe related.

He was going close to the ISP he is going to use, so I told him to take it in and tell them to "Make it work damnit"

Haven't had a chance to talk to him yet, so I don't know what was wrong, the hell of it is they probably fixed it in 5 minutes and i spent 4 hours on it, with no results just frustration.

Thanks again.

dave

 

Ohh you didn't????

I always hated when people did that when I was working help desk at a local ISP. We could not work on computers, yet customers expected us to and would get mad when we told them that we were not alowed to.

 

Just about to head off to work, but just wondering some things. Did you ever determine the manufacturer and model of the modem? What did you download? If you go under modem in control panel, do you see your modem listed? If so, change to the diagnostics tab and click the more info button. What does it tell you about your modem?

 

On the back of the modem is Telepath 56K voice fax modem.
it is not in the list when I go through the add new wizard.
I went to the Gateway site and downloaded a few things that i thought may help, but it didn't.

As for the ISP they sell computers and repair also, so it shouldn't be a problem for them, Although I did talk to the guy I am trying to help, and he said the ISP people called him and asked if the A drive or the CD burner worked, they both worked the night before. He hasn't heard anything else yet.

 

Well, all I have to say is that these days with WinXP, it's so wonderful being able to tell someone "Just give me access to your computer" - log on via their remote assistance portal, and fix the damn thing myself.

I consider myself knowledgeable about computers, but I swear a 15 year old would be smarter than I would when it came to fixing some issues.

Not to mention, they could have it fixed before I even have an action plan.

Buy that modem that I linked you to - it'll cost you MUCH LESS in both time and money to buy that modem and install it yourself (along with the drivers that came with it on CD) than it would be to take it to someone else.

RAM upgrades, card installs, CD-ROM changeouts, even processor upgrades I would say try to do it yourself first. If you're having a computer problem where you get several error messages, hard drive is thinking too long to do simple issues, etc. I would really consider outsourcing at that time.

Hope everything works out.