Big Time Trouble configuring modem!

[Sumdumgi]

Sorry to ramble on but I dont want to leave out any details about the nightmare!Help please, been up all night trying to get this stinkin creative modem blaster to work with my win 2000 dialer. I have tried so many bios/cmos configs I dont know where to start. The cd that came with the modem is useless, after reading on the website i found out that the win2k drivers are actually win nt and it says to not install them. So I downloaded the correct drivers installed them fine, went to modem settings and selected it, went to dialer in 2000 and tried it, didnt work and mouse hung for a while. Tried hyperterm it works, tried to send fax it works. Tried to use a contact manager program to call someone and the mouse hung again for a while call didnt go thru.

Tried many other configs that I wont go into.

Uninstalled nic card, sound card, disabled usb, disabled serial 2 and installed modem into slot 1 and tried again, no work. Changed cmos/bios settings again to modem ac97 disabled, audio disabled, serial 1 & 2 auto, modem use irq4, resources controlled by manual, int a assignment to irq4. Reinstalled modem driver, configured modem, went to win2k dialer, it worked. Tried again 3 times it worked.

I am extremely pleased with myself at this point.

Installed nic card into slot 3, tried dialer again, no work!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

The damn modem is jumperless so its like finding a needle in a haystack! Creative support is terrible, never answer the phone, very little on web site for info. To make matters worse the voice software that came on the cd wont work with win2k so i downloaded faxtalk.com trial but have not installed it yet because my sound card isnt even installed yet because I dont want to complicate the problem further.

Another prob is that win 2k says my video, modem and nic card are sharing irq7. No matter how i set bios it always goes to irq7. In the modem prop's it says com3 irq7, io is e000-e007, com 1 is irq4 3f8, com2 is irq3 2f8.
Long story, sorry. Bottom line, How can i force a jumperless modem to an irq in either win2k or in the bios and why does win2k show the device to irq7 always. I cant find a way to change it in win 2k. How can I force some other hardware like nic, sound or modem to a free irq?
I bought a creative modem thinking I would alleviate alot of config probs with my sound card. HA!

Thanks in advance for any advice.

[reboot]

OK, here's the order I would do things in.
Don't miss a step, or the next one may not work.
1.) Restart in safe mode.
2.) Remove all modems and com ports in device manager.
3.) Restart, go into BIOS setup.
4.) Set PnP OS Installed to NO.
5.) Disable com 1 and 2, you probably aren't using them anyhow.
6.) Set Reset configuration data to YES.
7.) In Power settings, set modem IRQ to NONE, or DISABLED, or NA.
8.) Restart, reinstall the com port and modem.
9.) In control Panel, Windows setup tab, remove Dial-Up-Networking.
10.) Restart, log in as ADMINISTRATOR!
11.) Go to Start > Run > and type in: inetwiz.
12.) Make a new connection, make sure you edit the advanced properties, so you DON'T use IPX/SPX, or NETBEUI, just TCP/IP. Also uncheck "Log on to Network".
12a) Connect.

[Sumdumgi]

Ok will give it a try. This is a great site and thanks for the advice. Will post back after I try it.

[Sumdumgi]

Should I do this with sound blaster live in a slot so it fixes it all at once or just try it with the nic,video, & modem?

[reboot]

Leave the SB in there.
If you really want to sort IRQ's out, remove the NIC, modem, SB, and all com ports in device manager, shutdown, pull the NIC, modem, and SB, then restart.
Shutdown again.
Install the SB.
Restart.
Install the modem.
Restart.
Install the NIC.
Restart.
These steps would go between step 2 and 3 above.

[Sumdumgi]

from acpi to standard pc?

[reboot]

You can, and it probably will help.

[azscary]

In that procedure you listed I saw remove Dail Up Networking, but not reinstalling it. Does Win 2K do that automatically when you run InetWiz? All other OS if there is no Dial Up Networking the modem will not work properly.

[azscary]

Also if you are using a VGA video card, make sure in bios that it does not assign an IRQ to PCI video. This will reduce the availble resources and cause problems.

[reboot]

DUN will automatically reinstall when you run inetwiz.
Yes, you don't need an IRQ for PCI video.

[Sumdumgi]

Thanks for all the suggestions and help but after countless hours of jacking with it I am throwing in the towel. To frustrated to continue with this brand. Not sure if the modem was broke or not, prob not, but I will try diff brand later. Any suggestions on brands of fax modems with voice would be appreciated. It a pci. Are there any brands out their with jumpers that will allow you to force the irq. I only have pci as anoption on my mo bo.
Thanks again guys

[glc]

ALL pci modems will use the same IRQ sharing and virtual com port crap. Get an external serial hardware based modem and hang it on your com port. You can't beat this setup, period. The best externals are the Supra Express (but NOT the USB model) and the US Robotics 5686.