win98se can't find modem in HP Laptop

[nightsky]

Running win98se oem on HP Pavilion Notebook n3150. When i try to connect to Yahoo SBC dialup windows can not find modem ESS ES56CVH-PI Data Fax
Voice Modem. In Systems Properties Port: COM3 RESOURCES: No Conflicts.
In PORTS(COM&LPT): 1) Comunications Port(COM1) 2) Printer Port(LPT1)
In Control Pannel: Modems Properties > Diagnostic tab = COM1 No Modem Installed (which stays highlighted although i highlight the following
COM3 ESS ES56CVH-PI Data Fax Voice Modem (does not stay highlighted).
Tried removing modem data and reinstalling it but maybe i didn't do it right.
Modem Diagnostic tab works, so I do not know how to proceed? Any help or info. referrals is appreciated. thnx

[rjfvillarosa]

Modems can be quirky little so and so's at the best of times, the usual fault on a modem is the switching relay, the smallest jolt in the power supply is enough to upset them.
Power down your machine and remove the modem, reboot the machine and remove the modem from the device manager. power down the machine again, check all the contacts on the modem are clean and reinstall it in the machine.When you reboot the machine windows will recognise new hardware(your modem) and reinstall it for you, BUT if windows does not find a new modem then you can take it that the modem is goosed and only replacing it with a new or working used one will resolve the problem.
ME is a fabulous tool and if there is any way that modem will work, ME will find it.
I saw modems for this machine on Ebay when I was searching for an IBM thinkpad modem.

[nightsky]

Never seen the inside of a laptop. Not sure how to open it and what the modem looks like? Any advise?

[rjfvillarosa]

A little care is needed dissasembling a laptop, USUALY you need to remove the top cover first, USUALY all the screws to do this are located underneath, you may have to take out the battery and the harddrive to access all of the screws. Once you have done this it may be possible to get access to the modem, but as laptops are fidely things you may also need to remove the screen. once you have located the modem its quite easy.
When you are removing the top cover should there be any LED's just below the screen, like power light and harddrive light be carefull because these LED's are very fragile and are easily broken. They are mounted on a little circuit board and I have had a few customers asking if I can get a replacement board because they broke the LED's off.
If you feel a little daunted maybe it would be better to have it done profesionally but that is going to cost you.
sorry wish there was a better way to do it.

[nightsky]

What if the error is "there is no dial tone"? Do i still have to remove and re-install the modem?

[rjfvillarosa]

Ah now you didn't mention "no dial tone" before, ok whats up with the phone cable, good place to start, try plugging a phone into that socket to see if its working.

[nightsky]

PC works on same cable but cant get dial tone on laptop?

[rjfvillarosa]

Either the jack socket in the modem has dirty or broken contacts or the cable is faulty, have you got another cable you can try? and check the contacts in the jack socket of the modem they should be reasonably clean and bright.

[GaryRouth]

Hi all

For a quick check of the phone, just take the notebook over to a working phone that has dialtone, unplug the phone line from the phone and plug it into the laptop & run your Control Panel Modem Diagnostics. If all's well, then try your SBC again.

If all's not well, you can try hp's modem troubleshooter: http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/d...name=c00033120

Your drivers and other model info are here: http://h10025.www1.hp.com/ewfrf/wc/p...&lang=en&cc=us

. . . and you could try booting into Safe Mode, removing modems and com ports, and reinstalling them on reboot. You'd need your Win98se .cab files available on either a Win98se CD or on the hard drive - as well as your modem drivers, if their copy on the hard drive is corrupted or missing.

Pretty good that the Pavilion is still working, you must've been taking good care of it. [...and if you've got the 333 Celeron or PII in it, those Intel processors never die, do they?...]
. . . Gary

[nightsky]

Was trying to reinstall modem driver off cd. Got scared and stopped the recovery process. Now can only boot into dos and dont know how to boot back into windows??? What do i do? Never messed w/laptop os? thnx

[rjfvillarosa]

Try and be a little more specific about reinstalling the modem drivers, are you saying that you were doing a system restore using the restore cd/cd's that came with the machine?

[GaryRouth]

. . . if you did accidentally start a recovery, post what it says on the label of your Recovery Disk, and let us know what option you chose, if you were choosing from a menu. Another thing to mention: if you happened to have any screen messages that let you know what processes were taking place during the recovery, put that in the post too.

If you have backups of your most important data, the worse that can happen is that you'll just have to start the recovery again - then reload your software and other data from disks and backups. You probably didn't do any harm to the notebook itself.
. . . Gary

[nightsky]

Now just back to the no dial tone error 680 orignial problem. Called the per
incident HP Tech Support for $40.00 and they just want me to do a restore and recovery which means I lose all my other programs and data. So I am using the links provided in previous post and trying to figure out the problem.
1) Have removed modem and ports then let windows reinstall it on reboot.
Modem communicates with computer but NO Dial Tone error 680 persists.
2)Tried using Hyper Terminal Mail and Got the same No Dial Tone error
3) The physical connection I am using on my PC is the one I use to connect
to laptop modem, so the line is good. Wil keep u posted. thnx

[GaryRouth]

How did you get it back to Windows? Did you use something like a scanreg/restore command to restore a previous Registry? (just curious).

Sorry about the $40 charge from Hp tech support - not the most helpful advice if it turns out to be a hardware problem (such as the modem's fried). It's a rather too easy answer to any software problem to tell the customer to run their recovery disks.

Does the PC share the line with the laptop? Or are you simply unplugging the phone from one and then plugging it into the other, with no other devices physically sharing that line? If you've been trying it with it sharing the line (either via a splitter or in a daisy-chain), try just one line direct to the laptop.

And this is a normal analog dial-up on a normal analog phone line, right? Not ISDN or DSL?

Here's another couple of troubleshooters with a few extra tips that sometimes help with certain ISPs, or with certain combinations of software. One of the tips has you look to see if the Windows Dial-Up Networking component "RNAAPP" is running or not -
http://www.modemhelp.net/dunerror/error_680.shtml
http://php.iupui.edu/~aamjohns/troub...l#No Dial Tone

And it can't hurt to look at the FAQs from ESS, who made the modem http://www.esstech.com/techsupp/faq-comm.shtm -- and here are their reference drivers http://www.esstech.com/techsupp/drivers.shtm (the ones on the HP site are probably your first choice - you could also try these just to see -- but you'll need to completely uninstall all older drivers before installing a new modem or sound driver).

By the way, since that is a "combo" device (has both audio & modem on the same 'card'), is your sound acting up at all? Some of the driver packages for your modem include both the sound & modem drivers in the same installation procedure.

Nice thing about all this: just think how easy everything else seems once you've spent time in Modem Purgatory.
. . . Gary

[nightsky]

Gary and everyone else, got windows98se backup by just holding the darn
power button down forever to power up. hahaha Just switching single line between PC and Laptop for simple Yahoo Dialup.
Figured out how to get into SETUP and DIAGNOSTIC modes at startup. Ran Advance DiagnTools 'Serial port test and Com Port 3 is not detected. When I highlight com3 it says "This port was not detected." What does this mean?
com ports 1, and 2 test out fine 3 and 4 are not detected. Found comm.drv and am thinking of downloading newest comm.drv onto floppy on pc and replacing the one in Laptop using driver update. Going to keep trying the trouble shooting sites you all have provided and call HP Tech Support to tell them I do not need tech support to do a reinstall and they shouldnt charge me b/c they cant help. Also, y when I click in Windows Help Files click on
no dial tone error and then next the help page is blank? hahaha thnx

[nightsky]

Well rjfvillarosa, after all the trouble shooting it seems that using a spliter cable attached to my pc modem outlet got this laptop connected. It also works w/spliter cable attached to telephone inline socket but i loose the dialtone, get busy signals. I am going out and buy a new splitter cable and modem cable tomorrow while I have Bestbuy setup Wifi on this laptop which is what I was working my way upto. Yes the long way around. Should I update my modem driver from HP anyway now that I can get on line? Became more familiar w/this laptop which I havent used much in past 5yrs. but now that i am living on the road I need to be able to connect at truckstops and such. thnx

[glc]

If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

The reason diagnostics can't find COM3 is because a hardware COM3 doesn't exist. You have a software controlled modem which creates a virtual COM port of its own. It doesn't exist till you are in Windows and try to use the modem.

[nightsky]

Virtual, ha like government, it doesnt exsist til u see taxes on your labor compensation

[GaryRouth]

. . . quite an adventure!

"for want of a nail, the kindom was lost" - Shakespeare

[...in this case, the nail was a splitter ] . . . Those "WinModems" can also be very choosy about splitters. If it's working on the splitter you're using now, and you plan to get another one, see if you can find an exact match. [There are varying numbers of contacts, varying numbers of splits, etc].

I imagine Hp won't be much interested in sending back the $40. They can't really guarantee anything with remote troubleshooting - what you're paying for essentially is the time & effort of the tech. A few of the recent Hp's are pretty nice boxes - - I hope the Compaqs will improve a bit now that they are part of Hp.
. . . Gary