Modem

[Hill Farmer]

Not sure where to put this message. On the old BB we had a spot for computer related questions, taken care of by Martin. Anyhow, I want to upgrade my current internal modem to a faster version. Is this a V90 running at 56K? Also, is it simply a matter of taking out the old card and putting in the new one (presumably there will also be some accompanying software)? Thanks.

 

[ChartMan]

Yes hill.
First idetify your modem details and remove the drivers from add/remove software in control panel.
Switch off and remove the modem.
Insert new modem and switch on.
It's most likely to be recognised as a "serial controller" as apposed to modem.Insert driver CD ad read instructions as to where the driver is located, Most CD's now contail a multitude of modem drivers and you have to select the right one.
Make sure you buy a "hardware modem" and not a "soft controller one" which are cheaper, but put a severe drain on CPU resources.
Once installed, goto dial up networking and click properties and select your new modem for all dial up adpaters you already have.
Ring me at work if you get stuck 01 252 515 666

 

[Hill Farmer]

Thank's for that Martin. How will I know if it's a hardware controlled modem? Also, for the unitiated, is it going to be a relatively simple task to do all of this?

 

[Sharky]

Hi Hill,

Basically steer away from "WinModem's" those that cliam to only work with Windows. The reason for this is that they use your CPU (eg. Pentium III) to work, rather than it's own internal processor. Which slow's down your PC. Get something like a Diamond SupraXpress V.90 56K - it's what I use, they really cheap now, and you want to buy a proper branded modem rather than a cheap one, because the software drivers are very important to get the best out of the modem.

It's easy enough job to do. Just remove the old modem card and replace it with the new one, following martin's advice about removing the drivers, adn then installing new ones.

Hope that helps,
Sharky.

 

[Hill Farmer]

Thank's Sharky. Looked down my list of add/remove programs and there's nothing there for the modem. Anywhere else?

 

[Sharky]

Then it depends what OS your running, probably Win98 I guess. What you want to do is, right-click on your "My Computer" icon on the Windows Desktop, and then left-click "Properties". You then want to navigate in the pop-up window that appears, to something that's called "Device Manager", it might be under the heading hardware. Now if it's anything like mine, you should see a tree with a category called modems, if you click on that, it will expand (the plus turns into a minus) and there will be your software driver whatever your modem is called. You then probably want to right-click and select "uninstall" or "delete", and it will remove the software driver for you.

But obviously only do this just before removing the old modem and installing the new one!

Good luck.
Sharky.

 

[Hill Farmer]

Oooops,thumb wrong way round. So here it is again

[Edited by Hill Farmer on 25-02-2001 at 03:32 PM]