I'm not familiar with the machine, but it appears that the modem card needs to be reseated. Sometimes the connector pins will oxide and prevent proper connection of the parts. Assuming you have a card, you need to take it out of its connector a little and push it back. Windows will not load a driver for a device it cannot detect.
After looking at the service manual for your machine, however, I find that reseating your modem card is not an easy process. If you still see the modem in the Device Manager, you should remove it from Device Manager and see if Windows will re-detect it. If it does, the driver will be re-installed and this will hopefully resolve the problem.
If none of this works you may have a failed modem.
I am pretty sure that Dell has phone numbers in Europe; these should be listed at the end of your User's Guide.
Good Luck!
Message Edited by JackShack on 08-13-2005 03:09 PM
Thank you. You do know it's internal, not a card modem right?
Just to be clear, you're suggesting that I remove the modem from Device Manager and THEN try to install the driver (that isn't installing properly right now)...?
According to the documentation on the Dell site, you have a minature card underneath your keyboard. It definitely is not easy to get to, but it doesn't seem to be integrated onto the motherboard. This is the reason I suggested the alternate approach. Reseating that card will require partial dissassembly of your laptop, not something I recommend unless you are experienced.
If you remove the device from the Device Manager list, Windows should treat it as a newly installed piece of hardware. You should get a "Found New Hardware" balloon at the bottom right, and Windows will look for a driver to install. For many modems, Windows already has a driver. If it doesn't find a specific driver, it will either install a generic driver for a Hayes compatible modem or it will ask you for a driver disk or the location of the driver file. While this may seem drastic, there are a number of things that can happen in complex software that cannot be easily resolved using the tools available to you through the Windows desktop. Reinstalling the modem in this fashion usually corrects these problems with less aggrevation on the part of the user.
So far as the modem driver you have been trying to install, Dell has occasionally had troubles with their drivers. I use a 5160 laptop with Conexant modem; every driver issued until last June gave me trouble, but it did not keep me from using the modem. If this one isn't working for you, you might want to try an earlier version. If you successfully reinstall the modem, and it works that way, I would suggest leaving it alone.
jackshack
6.4K Posts
0
August 13th, 2005 18:00
Message Edited by JackShack on 08-13-2005 03:09 PM
flipmatrix
11 Posts
0
August 14th, 2005 11:00
Just to be clear, you're suggesting that I remove the modem from Device Manager and THEN try to install the driver (that isn't installing properly right now)...?
Thanks
jackshack
6.4K Posts
0
August 14th, 2005 19:00
According to the documentation on the Dell site, you have a minature card underneath your keyboard. It definitely is not easy to get to, but it doesn't seem to be integrated onto the motherboard. This is the reason I suggested the alternate approach. Reseating that card will require partial dissassembly of your laptop, not something I recommend unless you are experienced.
If you remove the device from the Device Manager list, Windows should treat it as a newly installed piece of hardware. You should get a "Found New Hardware" balloon at the bottom right, and Windows will look for a driver to install. For many modems, Windows already has a driver. If it doesn't find a specific driver, it will either install a generic driver for a Hayes compatible modem or it will ask you for a driver disk or the location of the driver file. While this may seem drastic, there are a number of things that can happen in complex software that cannot be easily resolved using the tools available to you through the Windows desktop. Reinstalling the modem in this fashion usually corrects these problems with less aggrevation on the part of the user.
So far as the modem driver you have been trying to install, Dell has occasionally had troubles with their drivers. I use a 5160 laptop with Conexant modem; every driver issued until last June gave me trouble, but it did not keep me from using the modem. If this one isn't working for you, you might want to try an earlier version. If you successfully reinstall the modem, and it works that way, I would suggest leaving it alone.
Best of luck to you
flipmatrix
11 Posts
0
August 14th, 2005 21:00