existence of modem on com port NOT recognized

[sam bruskin]

Win XP does not see a modem (USRobotics 56k ext voice)on
the com port. the modem is on, the cable is connected. when
i go control panel> phones and modems> modems> general: i
get "device is working properly", but when i go to
diagnostics to query the modem i get "modem did not
respond...".
i have tried removing the driver and reinstalling from
scratch. windows modem drivers show up in windows/system32/
folder when i ask for driver details.
this modem was working. thne one day it wasn't. no changes
just a normal boot. that happened once before and somehow
i was able to get the modem working. then it disappeared
again and now i can get it at all.
i surely woould appreciate some help with this. TIA.

 

[Derek]

maybe you have a ghost device driver. go into safe mode and look in device
manager. you might see more than one modem. remove them all!!

 

[Si Ballenger]

Another stupid XP thing. You have to turn the modem on and have
it attached to the com port, then reboot XP for XP to see the
modem. Real smart OS. ;-)