Laptop (modem) problem.

NLAlston

NLAlston

Member
As some of you may know, I recently purchased an Emachine M-5305 laptop. Initially, it was going to be used solely for creating music (never to see the internet), but surfacing circumstances has called for the laptop to serve another role: secondary home computer. At any rate, we decided to put the laptop online, as our desktop was in use, and we ran across a couple of error messages. They were as follows:

In Device Manager

Connection Log
Attempt 1) [Conexant SoftK56 DataFax Modem]
the communication port is invalid or busy

In Device Manager/Diagnostics

OpenComm
The port that the modem is attached to could not be opened. This may be the result of hardware conflict. Check the device manager to verify all drivers are functional.
........................................................................................................

I don't know what could be wrong, and wonder if maybe the phone jacks - in the laptop - are defective. The device manager first states that the modem is "working properly", but I get the above listed messages whenever I attempt to sign on to the internet. There is also a similar problem when I tried to update the driver in device manager.

Any ideas?
 
Do you have anything else installed? Such as in the PC card slot or USB? If you do, there may be a device conflict. If no, then you can go into device manager and uninstall the modem. Restart the computer and let Windows detect and reinstall it.
 
LaptopExtreme said:
Do you have anything else installed? Such as in the PC card slot or USB? If you do, there may be a device conflict. If no, then you can go into device manager and uninstall the modem. Restart the computer and let Windows detect and reinstall it.
Click to expand...

To the rescue again, my friend :) (and I appreciate it much).

No, I don't have anything inserted in the PCI slot. I did, however, purchase a USB optical mouse to use with the machine. But, as I think back on it, that device wasn't even attached upon my last attempt to sign on to the internet with the laptop. Your advice to uninstall the modem and restart the laptop is a sound one, and I will give that a shot in just a minute. I am also presently in the process of downloading all available drivers from the Emachine website (modem driver being one of them), as the previous owner had no driver disks to give me.

Thanks again.
 
Well, I just finished fooling around with our little laptop, here, in the aftermath of downloading the (6) various drivers from Emachine's website. The uninstallation of the modem & restarting of the laptop brought about no change - neither did the installation of the downloaded modem driver. So, now, I really don't know what's going on with it. Methinks that, just maybe, there is something mighty defective with the hardware component of that modem. It is the only probability that I can raise.

I really don't believe that the seller intentionally passed off a somewhat ailing machine, because his internet service is broadband. In fact, he removed his wireless card before selling it to me. But I do wonder about this. I don't know too much about these things (computers), but is there a possibility that the laptop could be, somehow, locked into a configuration that he needed to utilize for his broadband setup?
 
modems go bad all the time, usually having to do with surges from the phone lines. Your best bet is to either get a PCMCIA modem, a COM port external modem ( if your notebook has a com port) or switching to broadband. If you get another modem , you want to go into devices and disable the bad modem in the hardware profile so ALL will default to the new modem.
 
Well some laptops you can disable the modem port or Lan ports in bios. Check if there's anything like that set up in bios. I'm usually on wireless also, so I disable the ports that I don't use (start up is faster that way & less power used).
 
whats a modem port ? do you mean a com port ? I have never seen a modem disable option in the bios, I have seen a NIC disable.
 
Some like on-board modems have that feature, just like desktops. You know, like those motherboards that will let you disable: USB, Sound, Lan, Modem. Some old laptops used to have this feature. If not, you can always change an IRQ or something.
 
I understand what you are saying , I have seen NIC ( lan) , wireless , sound, video.... I do not think I have seen modem disable in the bios.
 
tractorboy said:
modems go bad all the time, usually having to do with surges from the phone lines. Your best bet is to either get a PCMCIA modem, a COM port external modem ( if your notebook has a com port) or switching to broadband. If you get another modem , you want to go into devices and disable the bad modem in the hardware profile so ALL will default to the new modem.
Click to expand...

Thanks, Tractorboy ~

One of the drivers that I downloaded did refer to it being PCMCIA, and that is what was installed for the modem. I do wonder, now, if the modem is the original one that came with the machine (a reason why the downloaded driver won't work with it) or if (as mentioned before) the physical modem is "sick". As far as broadband is concerned, we are anxiously awaiting Verizon's DSL capability in our area. As soon as that comes about I will get one of those wireless cards for such operation. Our laptop does indeed have a COM port, but we had a very problematic experience with an external (COM port) modem that we had purchased for our desktop, when we lost our faxing features. It operated very slow - and always with problems, so it was taken back and exchanged for an internal one which works a great deal better.
 
Have you tried going to E-Machines web site to look for the driver for the modem. It may or may not be there for some reason they are missing a lot of the machines in the driver database. I am sorry to hear of your bad luck with your external modem, I had 2 usrobotics V92 56K, still have them, have not used them for probably 6 years or so.They work great. I just checked on ebay, they have over 187 entries for external 56k modems, there were a few us robotics for $9.99 in the buy it now catagory. I think I paid $50 - $60 for my modem. More than likely the modem is damaged, look what happened to your external modem. They take a lot from the phone lines , it's amazing that any modem works. DSL would be nice, where I am Verizon is offering 768k, 128k DSL for $14.95 a month. You have to pay for a year upfront, you also get 10 meg of web space ( does not have web presence ) I created a resume web site that I put the url on my resumes.
 
tractorboy said:
Have you tried going to E-Machines web site to look for the driver for the modem?
Click to expand...

Yes I have. I, in fact, downloaded every single driver that they had for my machine (a lengthy undertaking, I might add, being that we are on dialup connection). I am reasonably sure that its a hardware issue, and will probably just let it ride as it is. The laptop is serving so many other needs, than internet capability right now, so it isn't a truly bothersome matter. Verizon isn't available in our area yet, but it's been fed to my understanding that the company is setting a new, upgraded broadband service in place, which is supposed to be getting closer to where we live. That is what I will be jumping on...as SOON as it gets to this area :).

Thanks.
 
Update.

Well, I have had this laptop for a little while, now, and had the opportunity to really get into it. I have made some very good purchase decisions, in the past, but this one does not deserve a spot in that category. When I learned that I could not raise the memory to where I needed it to be (for my music creating applications), I thought that it would serve for some still photography work with Photoshop. Not long ago I imported some photos into the laptop, only to find that there was a great deal of 'noise' in practically each one of the pics. It was most predominant in the 'reds', but could be (almost as easily) seen in the 'greens' and 'blues' also. I have played all around with the display settings, but nothing seems to have any favorable effect on the matter. But (as stated before) we did need another computer in the home (preferably a laptop), so the unit will provide some service. I just know, now, not to jump as quickly into a used purchasing issue again.
 
Your lucky, yours is one that at least they have drivers for. Some of the older desktops, like pent 3 on back , it's just a job to try and find who makes the mainboard let alone get drivers. Eimachines and winbook ( laptop ) are 2 to stay away from.:)
 
Winbook isn't all that bad. They don't make their own product either. I see they've adopted Asus and Compal in their lineup. The Asus Z71 is an aging gaming system that ABS, VoodooPC, and countless others have used in their lineup too... but with a giant pricetag.
 
Hmm... that's not a good thing. I've heard many other stories of these boutique shops not knowing anything of their product or knowing how to service some of them, too. I remember when Winbook first came out, they used to bend forward and backwards for you, just like Dell back in then. I guess it's all a different story now.
 
yup, All I know is I put the parts in the work order like I do for the other notebooks and then send it upstairs, where the parts guy orders the parts. He said either that the parts were not available or you had to buy just about the whole display to get a display hinge ( or the whole something or other to get a small part. Or only winbook would fix it. I do not remeber. I just remebered thinking " ..don't want one of those..."
 
tractorboy said:
yup, All I know is I put the parts in the work order like I do for the other notebooks and then send it upstairs, where the parts guy orders the parts. He said either that the parts were not available or you had to buy just about the whole display to get a display hinge ( or the whole something or other to get a small part. Or only winbook would fix it. I do not remeber. I just remebered thinking " ..don't want one of those..."
Click to expand...

Why don´t you try repairing the os by putting in your original windows os disc and selecting upgrade when it asks you what type of installation you want. This does not delete your files or anything on your pc this is what happens after it´s finished reinstalling. any bad drivers that were in the machine will be automatically deleted so that software wont work unless you reinstall the bad driver or look for a better driver for it. I did it with mine just a few days ago and it worked wonders. Then at least you know what (if any) bad drivers are in your machine.
 
skatmanden said:
Why don´t you try repairing the os by putting in your original windows os disc and selecting upgrade when it asks you what type of installation you want.
Click to expand...

I just attempted this, also, but received a message that the OS on the laptop was newer than the OS (XP Pro) I had. I don't know if this is because the seller had service pack 2 on the machine - or what, but then there was an advisory against installing multiple operating systems. At any rate, there was only one program on the machine (Microsoft Streets & Trips 2005) that I wouldn't have minded keeping, but I decided to just go ahead with a formatting & new installation - as opposed to an OS repair effort (which didn't appear as if it would have worked, anyway).

The very same problems that I had, before, are yet present. The modem is non-existant, and the video noise is still just as bothersome as it was before the new OS installation. In all honesty, I really didn't expect for the latter to have improved - just by virtue of reinstalling a fresh OS on the system - but I had hoped that the modem issue might have proved to be much more favorable. But, as stated earlier - I'll know better the next time around (If I buy another used unit).

Thanks.
 
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