Both laptop and desktop Vista and W-7....

[Valorie *~]

Valorie *~~ wrote:



I've managed to duplicate the message that you are getting.
Namely "Windows cannot locate a modem" and "Try again"
on my W7 machine. But only by unplugging the USB modem!!

Our modem was plugged in and the other 2 affected PCs have internal modems.

I found some old postings in Microsoft TechNet Forums from Vista users in
2007 and 2008. They were complaining that Dial-up Networking suddenly
stopped working. They received various error messages - but nobody came up
with an answer to the problem. I believe that two people reported that
they
had fixed it by re-installing Vista - rather a time consuming activity.

Thank you! I'm glad you mentioned this. I Googled and found no answers at
all for the problem. I did fix the desktop Vista by doing a System
Recovery. I didn't reformat the HD. The SR worked. we got right online as
soon as it finished. Now I'll be stuck spending hours and hours
reinstalling everything and getting it back the way it was hopefully without
all the glitches and bugs. None of the 3 techs my husband spent hours with
online today could help with W-7.

You could try uninstalling the modem(s) and reinstalling the drivers (and
looking for updated drivers) - but I guess you would already have tried
that.

We went through that scene already. Both before and with the techs from HP
and our ISP and Zoom the other day. W-7 stubbornly refuses to "detect" the
modem no matter what they tried. My husband spent hours on the phone with
them. I have to give these techs credit for patiently trying everything. If
the CD from our ISP doesn't fix the problem I don't know what we'll do.

 

[Valorie *~]

I'm sure she has NOT tried that.

No I didn't but my husband did - and did it again with the techs on the
phone this afternoon.

 

[Valorie *~]

Right click Start, ----> Properties ---> Customize

I found no desktop Icon there in W-7 HomePremium. There's a button on the
right-hand bottom of the desktop that minimizes open windows and shows the
desktop. I don't see where all these cosmetic changes are an improvement
over XO or even Vista. I would hate to be a rank green newbie starting with
W-7.

 

[Valorie *~]

Have you tried reinstalling the modem?

See above. Yes, plus downloading fresh new drivers for 64-bit. W-7 still
can't detect the modem it can communicate with when queried.

We're leaving the Vista laptop alone since we use it mostly when traveling -
but I did a System Recovery on the Vista desktop. System Restore the other
day made the PC worse. As soon as it finished we tried to get online with
our dial-up ISP and it "detected" the modem just fine. We have to wait to
get the CD from our ISP for W-7. If that doesn't work I don't know what
we'll do. I don't know if HP will take it back or not to fix..........
?!?!?!?!?!?!

 

[Valorie *~]

Do you have more than one modem connected to the phone line?

The Vista and XP PCs have internal modems but only one PC can use dial-up at
a time. It's been that way for years. If one is on dial-up the others
can't get online as the modem can't dial into the already used line. The
modem on the W-7 is external and I'm sure works the same. Only 1 PC can use
dial-up at a time. All can use the Satellite Service at the same time.

A System Recovery (not restore) fixed the Vista desktop. That was drastic
but the bugs and glitches, other than the loss of it detecting it's modem
were getting hard to deal with. There are few things worse to work on than
a glitchy cranky freezing PC.
The Vista laptop, aside from not detecting it's modem will be left as it is
since we don't use the dial-up when traveling. We use available legal
hot-spots or pay for Internet service.

 

[Sunny]

No I didn't but my husband did - and did it again with the techs on the
phone this afternoon.

Do you access the internet through a router and "Workgroup LAN) ?

 

[Joe Morris]

See above. Yes, plus downloading fresh new drivers for 64-bit. W-7 still
can't detect the modem it can communicate with when queried.

I don't think this has been suggested; apologies if I've missed it:

Assuming that the internal modem is enabled in BIOS, does it show up in
Device Manager? If not, does it show up as a nonpresent device in Device
Manager?

Note: the following is based on Windows 7 Enterprise. I don't know what, if
any, differences your version of W7 might have.

To start Device Manager, click the START button, type DEVMGMT.MSC and press
ENTER. If UAC is enabled approve the use of a privileged app. In the
display of devices is there an entry for "Modems"? Is there anything listed
under "Other devices"?

Now open a command prompt window **in Administrator mode**. In that window
type the following command exactly as shown:

set devmgr_show_nonpresent_devices=1

Then in the command window type the following:

start devmgmt.msc

(Note the underscores in the SET command, the absence of spaces around the
equal sign, and the similar-but-not-identical function names: "devmgr" and
"devmgmt". I always have to stop and think which one goes where...)

When the Device Manager window opens, go to the just-opened Device Manager
window menu bar and click VIEW -> SHOW HIDDEN DEVICES. Now do you see a
"Modem" entry or anything interesting under "Other Devices"?

If the answers to the questions above are consistently "no" then this is a
dead end.

If the answer to any of the above questions is "yes", right-click the entry
in Device Manager and select UNINSTALL. Reboot the system; it's possible
that this will kick the reinstall process for the modem into motion. No
guarantees, but it might work.

And before you ask, I've not seen your problem with modems (internal or
external), nor have the ~800 of my users who have transitioned to Windows 7
(or if they have had problems they haven't complained...which would be
unlikely.)

Joe Morris

 

[John Aldred]

Thank you! I'm glad you mentioned this. I Googled and found no answers at
all for the problem. I did fix the desktop Vista by doing a System
Recovery. I didn't reformat the HD. The SR worked. we got right online as
soon as it finished. Now I'll be stuck spending hours and hours
reinstalling everything and getting it back the way it was hopefully
without
all the glitches and bugs. None of the 3 techs my husband spent hours
with online today could help with W-7.

When you say you did a System Recovery, do you mean that you used the
Recovery facility that some manufacturers (such as Dell) put on their
machines to allow you to restore the machine to the "as new" condition.

This is OK if something fouls up in the first week, but a year or so down
the line it's a real pain having to customize the system and put back all
your software.

I now use an external USB hard drive and a copy of Acronis True Image on a
bootable CD to make an image of my Windows disk. If I get a serious problem
with Windows, I can restore the system from an image on the USB disk in less
than 15 minutes.

Is there some reason that you cannot do a System Recovery on Win 7, or is it
that you don't want the pain of repeating all the modifications and software
setup that you have done?

 

[Nil]

No I didn't but my husband did - and did it again with the techs
on the phone this afternoon.

That was a very important fact. Thanks for telling us NOW, a week after
you were asked to provide pertinent information that you should have
given up up front. You obviously did NOT read the article I referred
you to, or you would have done so.

 

[Dave]

It sounds more like the program you are dialing out with rather than a
modem problem. Do you dial out to get to the internet, or is the modem
line used for faxes only?

No faxes. The line is for PCs only and the two old XP machines are not
affected.

I checked my neighbor and her modem works fine also (Win7 on an HP
notebook). She uses hers for faxing documents, so I had her fax me one
and it worked fine.

Ours are one Gateway laptop w/Vista. One HP desktop with Vista and one HP
desktop with W-7. All three developed the problem at the same time.

The other two PCs that are unaffected are an old HP XP/SP2 and a custom
homemade XP PC a friend put together for us some time back.


Have you tried updating or installing the OEM drivers for you modems, and/or
installing the software that comes with the externals? It is possible you
were using Windows generic drivers for those modems or outdated Windows
drivers and the updates caused a conflict. Since you have satellite, try to
dl drivers for your specific modems and see if that helps.
HTH,
Dave

 

[Dave]

Think "Deliverance."

Used to get some great hooch or home-made from around Nashville, Smyrna and
Murphysboro. :-/

 

[Gene E. Bloch]

The Vista and XP PCs have internal modems but only one PC can use dial-up at
a time. It's been that way for years. If one is on dial-up the others
can't get online as the modem can't dial into the already used line. The
modem on the W-7 is external and I'm sure works the same. Only 1 PC can use
dial-up at a time. All can use the Satellite Service at the same time.

A System Recovery (not restore) fixed the Vista desktop. That was drastic
but the bugs and glitches, other than the loss of it detecting it's modem
were getting hard to deal with. There are few things worse to work on than
a glitchy cranky freezing PC.
The Vista laptop, aside from not detecting it's modem will be left as it is
since we don't use the dial-up when traveling. We use available legal
hot-spots or pay for Internet service.

I tried to find an answer to my question in the above but failed.

Try disconnecting all but one modem from the phone line and then try to
connect the remaining computer.

 

[Paul]

No faxes. The line is for PCs only and the two old XP machines are not
affected.


Ours are one Gateway laptop w/Vista. One HP desktop with Vista and
one HP desktop with W-7. All three developed the problem at the same
time.

The other two PCs that are unaffected are an old HP XP/SP2 and a
custom homemade XP PC a friend put together for us some time back.


Have you tried updating or installing the OEM drivers for you modems,
and/or installing the software that comes with the externals? It is
possible you were using Windows generic drivers for those modems or
outdated Windows drivers and the updates caused a conflict. Since you
have satellite, try to dl drivers for your specific modems and see if
that helps.
HTH,
Dave

What I find curious so far, is I tried to operate a dialup modem in
Windows 7 here, and I got a DUNS style error. The error itself isn't
important, but the format of the error message is.

connection failed with error 692

It exhibits a three digit, DUNS style error number.

Valorie is getting an error of "Windows cannot locate a modem",
which has a vaguely accusatory tone. As if, it is some driver
software, attempting to use a Windows service, and failing in
the attempt. You would think "Querying" the modem, would go
through the same software path, but perhaps it doesn't.

I've been trying to find that error message, inside some Windows 7
file, but I haven't succeeded so far.

Paul

 

[John Aldred]

Paul wrote:

What I find curious so far, is I tried to operate a dialup modem in
Windows 7 here, and I got a DUNS style error. The error itself isn't
important, but the format of the error message is.

connection failed with error 692

It exhibits a three digit, DUNS style error number.

Valorie is getting an error of "Windows cannot locate a modem",
which has a vaguely accusatory tone. As if, it is some driver
software, attempting to use a Windows service, and failing in
the attempt. You would think "Querying" the modem, would go
through the same software path, but perhaps it doesn't.

I've been trying to find that error message, inside some Windows 7
file, but I haven't succeeded so far.

To duplicate the error message that Valorie gets:-

Unplug any dial-up modem from your machine.

Then go to:-

Control Panel > Network and Sharing >
Setup a new Connection or Network >
Setup a dial-up Connection > Next

"Windows could not detect a dial-up modem"


If I create a dial-up connection to my ISP, and then unplug the modem and
click on "Dial", I get a 3 digit error message.

 

[Valorie *~]

Used to get some great hooch or home-made from around Nashville, Smyrna
and Murphysboro. :-/

The last I heard they're more into growing that funny weed out there then
cooking the hooch these days. :-D

 

[Valorie *~]

I tried to find an answer to my question in the above but failed.

Try disconnecting all but one modem from the phone line and then try to
connect the remaining computer.

My husband already went through that with one of the techs and it made no
difference. What made a difference was a System Recovery on the Vista PC.
After the SyRec it had no problem detecting it's modem even with the other
PCs connected. With only W-7 connected, it still couldn't detect the modem.
I don't believe the CD being sent by our dial-up ISP is going to make a
difference with W-7 but we'll give it a try.

 

[Valorie *~]

No faxes. The line is for PCs only and the two old XP machines are not
affected.


Ours are one Gateway laptop w/Vista. One HP desktop with Vista and one
HP desktop with W-7. All three developed the problem at the same time.

The other two PCs that are unaffected are an old HP XP/SP2 and a custom
homemade XP PC a friend put together for us some time back.


Have you tried updating or installing the OEM drivers for you modems,
and/or installing the software that comes with the externals?

Yes. My husband went over everything with the techs from HP, Zoom and our
ISP.

It is possible you

were using Windows generic drivers for those modems or outdated Windows
drivers and the updates caused a conflict. Since you have satellite, try
to dl drivers for your specific modems and see if that helps.

He did that already and W-7 still can't detect the external modem.

 

[Valorie *~]

Do you access the internet through a router and "Workgroup LAN) ?

We can access the net with our Satellite service with W-7. We have a router.
None of the PCs are connected to each other. Each stands alone.

 

[Valorie *~]

That was a very important fact. Thanks for telling us NOW, a week after
you were asked to provide pertinent information that you should have
given up up front. You obviously did NOT read the article I referred
you to, or you would have done so.

Don't tell people what they did or didn't do. I read the thing. There's no
way for me to know what is and isn't pertinent to any one of you. You are
one dense judgmental person.

 

[Valorie *~]

When you say you did a System Recovery, do you mean that you used the
Recovery facility that some manufacturers (such as Dell) put on their
machines to allow you to restore the machine to the "as new" condition.

Yes. Everything had to be reinstalled afterward.

This is OK if something fouls up in the first week, but a year or so down
the line it's a real pain having to customize the system and put back all
your software.

Tell me about it. Working on these PCs is all I seem to be doing these
days.

I now use an external USB hard drive and a copy of Acronis True Image on a
bootable CD to make an image of my Windows disk. If I get a serious
problem
with Windows, I can restore the system from an image on the USB disk in
less
than 15 minutes.

As soon as we get these PCs working as they should be, we'll look into that.
I can't handle any more at this time.

Is there some reason that you cannot do a System Recovery on Win 7, or is
it
that you don't want the pain of repeating all the modifications and
software
setup that you have done?

Exactly! With all the files and all the NSPs and ISPs etc it takes many
many hours.