Modem is not regconized with new HD

Hi all,
Please help!
I just installed a new, bigger HD on my HP Pavilion 4550Z PC. Since this is a propriety product its manual is very general, not much in details. All I have is a rescue CD ROM disk. Problem is it is so old. I bought it in 1999 and was with Win 95. Currently I run win 2000.

The PC is running now but can't connect to the net because the HD does not have the driver for the modem.

To my knowledge, this is the Rockwel 56K Flex data fax modem. But again I'm not 100% sure. I did go to HP.com site but not very helpful (could be I'm a novice).

Could any of you help me to overcome this ?
Thanks all in advance.
Regards.

 

Hi,

I would try calling HP tech support, usually if you are asking them for resources information, the tech will not charge you. Tell them that you would like to find out where to get the dirver for the modem of your PC first.

If you are in North America, try 1877-621-4722

Bob

 

recognising the modem is not usually a hard drive problem but always a windows problem or the modem isnt seated firmly or is defective. What happens when you go thru the add hardware wizard.
You may also try installing the old hard drive in addition to the new one for added space and move the drivers if it recognises the modem you can move the drivers from it to the new drive.

 

You may be able to find the driver here: http://www.modem-drivers.com/ and install it to get the modem going.

 

I also have a HP Pavilion 4550Z. If you have the recovery disks (should be 2 of them) The drivers for the modem are on disk 2.

(cdrom drive):\Drivers\modem\Lucent or Rockwell

 

If you can't find the drivers on the disk, you should also be able to go thru Add Hardware and search the disk for the right drivers. But, you shouldn't have any problems finding the drivers.

If all else fails, go to DriverGuide.com and try searching there. You will have to register on the site, but it's free.

Good luck!

 

Hi all,
I'm so happy to be flooded with your suggestions. I was busy this morning but I just want to get back to all and thank you for your promt support. I'll take time tonight to try your suggestions one by one or a combination of more than one. I'll report back to you of my progress.

But thanks a lot. As I mention I'm still a novice so your ideas will help me to cover the areas I overlook.

Have a great New Year .
Regards.

 

Happy New Year To Every One.

The following are what I did and comments to try to clear up points I was not clear previously.

1. This PC is a small form and so physically it can't accomodate a second HD mounting unless I have to go thru some major HW mod. So I have to take the old HD out and stick the new one in.

2. Yes, I have 2 disks of the rescue CD rom set and on the 2nd CD the driver for the Rockwell HCF 56K PCI modem is there.

3. Using HW installation with that modem went thru smoothly. But still can't connect.

4. Suspected that the modem board was loosed in the process of working on the HW and case fiddling. I swapped the old HD back in. Connection to the net was good like a breeze.

5. Here is the culprit: when I compare the 2 HD regarding modem setting, in the old HD the modem is connected to COM3. For the New HD the modem is connected to COM1.

So here is my new question: my delima is that there is NO com3 to be selected in with the new HD, but only com1 exist. Why suddently just changing the HD (no messing with things like BIOS, cables to the rear panel of the PC ....) COM3 now changed to COM1.

Please help to make Com3 available for the modem. Thank you all in advance again. Happy New Year.

Regards.

 

The Com# shouldn't matter. You need to find the right driver for your modem. That modem driver website that chfite gave is great for finding drivers. You need to actually read the numbers off the modem card you have (it is a card isn't it, and not on the motherboard) It should say "rockwell" and then a few letters and numbers. Those numbers are the model you need to find on the website and download the win2000 drivers for.

 

Com 1 and Com 3 are the same connection.

 

Was Win95 the OS on the old HD and W2K the OS on the new HD? The old driver will not work under W2K. You need to find the W2K driver, if one exists. You may need to buy a new modem, one supported under W2K.

 

This is misinformation. COM1 and COM3 are not the same. I have five com ports on my PC, COM1 through COM5 and they are all different.

 

In order to understand how some devices function, we should look at the process of communication. In the process of communicating with the CPU (processor), a means of gaining the attention of the CPU is needed. This is called interruption. The device interrupts the CPU to gain its attention so that a request can be processed. When a device initiates an interrupt request (IRQ), it gains the attention of the CPU so that its request can be processed. When a key is pressed on a keyboard, IRQ1 is used to gain the attention of the CPU so that the value of the pressed key can be processed. The remaining IRQs also run through the antiquated 8259 traffic cop chip that controls interrupts to the CPU as allocated to the original ISA bus. Originally, there were 8 lines to the old 8259 (IRQ0 - IRQ7).

The original assignments were:

IRQ0 - system timer
IRQ1 - keyboard
IRQ2 - reserved
IRQ3 - COM2
IRQ4 - COM1
IRQ5 - LPT2
IRQ6 - floppy drive
IRQ7 - LPT1

IBM originally created standard combinations of IRQs and I/O addresses. For serial devices, the set combinations are called COM ports. For parallel devices, they are called LPT ports. The word "port" is used to describe a "portal" or two-way access.

COM and LPT assignments:
PORT I/O ADDRESS IRQ
COM1 3F8 4
COM2 2F8 3
LPT1 378 7
LPT2 278 5

The definition of ports simplifies installation. A COM port is set without having to consider IRQ and I/O addresses. Setting a modem to COM1, sets the IRQ to 4 and the I/O address to 3F8. Support for ports is built into the BIOS. The BIOS routine manages sending data or commands to the appropriate COM ports and the BIOS routine translates and sends the command or data to the corect I/O address.

Originally, IBM dedicated two IRQs to serial ports: IRQ4 for COM1 and IRQ3 for COM2. Needing more COM ports prompted assiging two sets of I/O addresses: 3E8 - 3EF for COM3 and 2E8 - 2EF for COM4 to these ports.

Thus, there are these assignments:

COM port IRQ I/O base address
COM1 4 3F8
COM2 3 2F8
COM3 4 3E8
COM4 3 2E8

Now, it is apparent that more than one device is set to use the same IRQ. Two devices cannot share an IRQ, unless there is no attempt to send data at the same time. Setting a device to use COM1 and another for COM3 can cause the CPU to hang because of the attempt to interrupt at the same time from more than one device.

Adding a second 8259 necessitated the cascading of IRQ9 to IRQ2 to facilitate the use of the old ISA bus as well as enabling the addition of other devices in the new PCI bus, such as: hard drives. This leaves IRQ9 and IRQ2 being the same connection.

Three IRQs are hard-wired (0, 1, and 8). Four IRQs have assignments that are common and unlikely to be changed for compatibility reasons (6, 13, 14, and 15). Four IRQs are defaults to specific values, but can be changed so long as the hardware device enables it (3, 4, 5, and 7).

IRQ assignments for COM1, COM2, COM3, and COM4

IRQ Default function
IRQ3 default for COM2, COM4
IRQ4 default for COM1, COM3

Although the original assignments were dedicated, the IRQ can be changed if the device can handle it and the sofware that talks to the device can handle the change. If COM1 is changed from IRQ4 to IRQ5, the hardware and sofware must enable it.

Currently, COM1, COM2, and such refer to an I/O address but not necessarily to an IRQ COM ports can be changed to a different IRQ because the motherboards are now made to separate the COM port from the IRQ to prevent unintentional conflict. Setting a device to a COM port assigns it to a IRQ, unless some other change is made. A device set to COM1 will interfere with another device set to IRQ4, because they are trying to use the same IRQ.

For the typical computer, a device set to COM1 and a device set to COM3 are using the same IRQ: IRQ4. These two are on the same connection to the interrupt request line to the CPU. Consequently, COM1 and COM3 are the same connection.

 

As I stated, I have five com ports in one of my computers. None of them share IRQs or address space. They are totally independent of each other.

To make a blanket statement that COM1 and COM3 are the same is wrong and misinformation.

 

Are these 5 COM ports the default values for your motherboard?