Agere Winmodem works with Linux, but not with XP

  • Thread starter Thread starter Guest
  • Start date Start date
G

Guest

I had to downgrade from broadband to regular dial-up as I moved to a new
place where broadband is not available. When I tried to use the Agere modem
that came with my HP Pavillion a462x for the first time, it didn't work. And
so did other 2 modems I tried. The computer came with WinXP Home and it's
still the original installation. When I tried to use the modem with Linux,
there was no problem at all... I tried HP's technicians, but the third one
was losing his temper after trying to fix things telling me to download
updated drivers and to do a destructive XP reinstall (as if I needed a
support guy to "solve" things that way...). It seems that WinXP cannot use
the communications port, although there's no visible conflict. The device
manager shows an exclamation mark on the modem, and after every
reinstallation it detects first a PCI Simple Communication Controller, and
then the modem. A balloon tells that there was a problem when installing the
device and it may not function as it should, which indeed it doesn't. When I
go to the modem properties, it says the modem is not functioning and no
resources are reserved for it, as it cannot start. Why Linux does it so
smoothly? I have been a Windows defender so far, but I confess this is
bothering me. I can only connect through Linux (as I am doing now), I can
read my Windows files through Linux, I have an Open Office for free and I am
starting to think Linux is the way to go. Any help, please?
 
rjacobsen said:
I had to downgrade from broadband to regular dial-up as I moved to a new
place where broadband is not available. When I tried to use the Agere modem
that came with my HP Pavillion a462x for the first time, it didn't work. And
so did other 2 modems I tried. The computer came with WinXP Home and it's
still the original installation. When I tried to use the modem with Linux,
there was no problem at all... I tried HP's technicians, but the third one
was losing his temper after trying to fix things telling me to download
updated drivers and to do a destructive XP reinstall (as if I needed a
support guy to "solve" things that way...). It seems that WinXP cannot use
the communications port, although there's no visible conflict. The device
manager shows an exclamation mark on the modem, and after every
reinstallation it detects first a PCI Simple Communication Controller, and
then the modem. A balloon tells that there was a problem when installing the
device and it may not function as it should, which indeed it doesn't. When I
go to the modem properties, it says the modem is not functioning and no
resources are reserved for it, as it cannot start. Why Linux does it so
smoothly? I have been a Windows defender so far, but I confess this is
bothering me. I can only connect through Linux (as I am doing now), I can
read my Windows files through Linux, I have an Open Office for free and I am
starting to think Linux is the way to go. Any help, please?
Click to expand...


Very unusual scenario as one would expect just the exact
opposite. Some information missing...what current drivers
for the Winmodem are being used and are they certified or
truly programmed for use with Windows XP. And for the COM
port, is it a real (e.g., COM1, if it actually exists) or
a virtual one (e.g., COM3, COM5, etc.)? If a physical COM
port is being specified, then make sure that it is really
free, i.e., the corresponding serial port has been disabled
in system bios setup.
 
LOL....

this will make many Linux fanatics very happy....

Indeed Linux has gone a long way in hardware compatibility and detecting.
 
Usual recommendation for a botched winmodem installs is.

1. Remove all instances of the modem in device manager (both hidden and
visible)
2. Shut down the PC.
3. Physically remove the winmodem
4. Read the instructions as to the proper installation sequence.
Frequently goes
A. Power on PC
B. Install drivers for modem
C. Power OFF
D. Install modem
E. Power ON
F. After modem is recognized, configure same.
 
Hello GHalleck, thanks for taking the time to try to help me. I will verify
the BIOS, but then again, if it works for Linux, why should I have to change
it for WinXP? It should have come configured from factory (HP) to work with
XP and that certainly was done, as there wasn't any exclamation marks on the
modem on the several times I visited the system manager. It looks very much
like some MS update caused this, because a friend described to me the same
problem one day after I entered this forum, and he uses Win98 -- he installed
3 different modems, the messages were exactly like mine. The drivers I used
were signed, downloaded from Agere's site, but I also tried the standard
signed 56Kbps modem driver, winmodem and other Agere models.

"GHalleck" escreveu:
 
John, I think Linux is already winning when you talk assistance. It's
becoming clear to me that an open source community can answer better, faster
and free the questions that are not easily answered by MS and what say the
manufacturer, in the case of my computer. I expect the main barriers to
moving to Linux at the end user level -- the inevitable need to enter some
code at some occasions and the lack of programs like Adobe's and Macromedia's
-- to be gone soon. I've been using Windows since it was created and there's
no question it has never had such a strong rival. I would like to say that
I'll stick with the OS that gives me what's nearer to a problem-free
environment, but at this moment none of those that I know does it.

"John Jay Smith" escreveu:
 
Bob I, I appreciate you taking the time to try to help me, I will follow your
suggestion as a last option -- I've gone through a bunch of recommendations
from HP's technicians, I removed the modem, reinstalled it, reinstalled
updated drivers, installed and uninstalled other modems, read some
suggestions about editing the registry, etc. and nothing worked so far. I had
thought of this idea, as some webcams installations I had were this way, but
I still think it should have worked the other way with at least one of the
modems I tried. And why Linux finds it so easily? For me, it's a Windows
problem, maybe an unknown Win update problem.

"Bob I" escreveu:
 
Back
Top