USB modem will not install

[richard]

I am now the proud owner of two totally useless USB modems.
I purchased a zoom external modem and the drivers failed to install.
So I purchased one from HP and it too fails to install.

Tried updating the HP drivers and was told "access denied".

Even though the HP website clearly showed a photo of the modem with their
logo on it, it is not one of their products. Device manager shows it as
"agere".

Anyone know how to make either of these damn things work on a windows 7 HP
32 bit machine?

 

[Char Jackson]

I am now the proud owner of two totally useless USB modems.
I purchased a zoom external modem and the drivers failed to install.
So I purchased one from HP and it too fails to install.

Third time's a charm?

Tried updating the HP drivers and was told "access denied".

Even though the HP website clearly showed a photo of the modem with their
logo on it, it is not one of their products. Device manager shows it as
"agere".

Anyone know how to make either of these damn things work on a windows 7 HP
32 bit machine?

It's a shame that neither device has a model number anywhere to be
found, nor do their respective drivers apparently have any version
information. I'm also disappointed to learn that "failed to install"
didn't produce any error messages.

 

[Paul]

I am now the proud owner of two totally useless USB modems.
I purchased a zoom external modem and the drivers failed to install.
So I purchased one from HP and it too fails to install.

Tried updating the HP drivers and was told "access denied".

Even though the HP website clearly showed a photo of the modem with their
logo on it, it is not one of their products. Device manager shows it as
"agere".

Anyone know how to make either of these damn things work on a windows 7 HP
32 bit machine?

Give some model details, so we can track them down.

I know in the case of my old serial modem, there was no
driver, and I ended up using a generic driver instead.
And the installation steps were manual, not automatic.
That's not likely to be the case for you, but we'll get
a better idea when the Zoom model number shows up.

Agere is the company formerly known as Lucent or AT&T.
It's perfectly normal to see such a chip name show
up in Device Manager. While it is possible to set up a
chip to show "HP" identification info, it isn't absolutely
essential to product design. Many products are re-badged
as desired, and use bog-standard drivers (Agere drivers say),
when being installed. The HP branding doesn't absolutely
have to appear anywhere on the computer while operating,
for the stuff to work. It can say "Agere", and work just fine.

Again, if you provide a link to the HP page, or something,
we'll have some tidbit to work with.

There are a gazillion modems out there, and each is bound
to have its own quirks. In fact, there is at least one
British web site, that deals in nothing but dialup modem
issues and recipes.

Like a lot of electronics, reviews by other customers are
important. If I look at Newegg reviews by other customers
for example, they frequently will contain hints about
where to get a working driver. If all the customers warn
you "I couldn't find drivers, this thing is junk", then
you don't buy it. If there is not a peep about drivers
or install issues, it means the whole thing was seamless
and pleasant. And that's the value of reading reviews first.
Let some other customer of theirs, test it for you. Both
Newegg and Amazon have customer reviews. You don't have
to buy from them, in order to benefit from reading
the reviews for an item.

Paul

 

[richard]

I am now the proud owner of two totally useless USB modems.
I purchased a zoom external modem and the drivers failed to install.
So I purchased one from HP and it too fails to install.

Tried updating the HP drivers and was told "access denied".

Even though the HP website clearly showed a photo of the modem with their
logo on it, it is not one of their products. Device manager shows it as
"agere".

Anyone know how to make either of these damn things work on a windows 7 HP
32 bit machine?

As a follow up, I tried the HP modem in my lap top which is a 32 bit
machine and it installed and works.
It will not work on my 64 bit desktop.

Apparently, it is a design flaw or oversight.

Sorry char, but in some situations, you don't always get error messages
with meanings.
And there are no markings on the HP modem that say who made it or a model
number.

 

[charlie]

I am now the proud owner of two totally useless USB modems.
I purchased a zoom external modem and the drivers failed to install.
So I purchased one from HP and it too fails to install.

Tried updating the HP drivers and was told "access denied".

Even though the HP website clearly showed a photo of the modem with their
logo on it, it is not one of their products. Device manager shows it as
"agere".

Anyone know how to make either of these damn things work on a windows 7 HP
32 bit machine?

Maybe
Try installing as "The administrator" as a last resort. The true
administrator account may be hidden. If so, the below web reference may
help.

http://social.technet.microsoft.com...lt-in-administrator-account-in-windows-7.aspx

If you run the install "as administrator" it may also work.
One or the other method should get rid of the access denied message.

HP usually buys modems from someone else.
My 2007 vintage Vista HP laptop has an internal modem made by someone else.

You can also try installing a "standard modem" from the MS drivers
manually first. Sometimes this (for not clearly understood reasons) works.

There were some changes that had mainly to do with modem firmware
between XP, Vista, and win 7 & 8. I have an older zoom modem that works
OK in XP, but will not work reliably in win 7.

 

[BillW50]

I know in the case of my old serial modem, there was no
driver, and I ended up using a generic driver instead.
And the installation steps were manual, not automatic.
That's not likely to be the case for you, but we'll get
a better idea when the Zoom model number shows up.

You don't need a driver to communicate to a serial port. And a modem
connected to a serial port doesn't need a driver either. As the BIOS
should see the serial port. If not, something is wrong. And then Windows
needs to know what the BIOS knows. Everything should be just fine if the
above is true.

It doesn't matter if the serial modem is plug or play or not. If it
isn't, you just have to tell the BIOS what settings to use and Windows
will play along. All of the above is true except if the modem is a Winmodem.

Softmodem - Wikipedia
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winmodem

Now all bets are off. The BIOS probably will be clueless about it. And
Windows will be clueless too unless you have a useable Winmodem driver.
Winmodems are not really *real* modems, but more like half modems.

 

[Rob]

I am now the proud owner of two totally useless USB modems.
I purchased a zoom external modem and the drivers failed to install.
So I purchased one from HP and it too fails to install.

Tried updating the HP drivers and was told "access denied".

Even though the HP website clearly showed a photo of the modem with their
logo on it, it is not one of their products. Device manager shows it as
"agere".

Anyone know how to make either of these damn things work on a windows 7 HP
32 bit machine?

Try installing it as administrator - to get to the real administrator -
boot in safe mode and install it through there.

 

[Mark Blain]

I am now the proud owner of two totally useless USB modems.
I purchased a zoom external modem and the drivers failed to
install. So I purchased one from HP and it too fails to install.

Tried updating the HP drivers and was told "access denied".

Even though the HP website clearly showed a photo of the modem
with their logo on it, it is not one of their products. Device
manager shows it as "agere".

Anyone know how to make either of these damn things work on a
windows 7 HP 32 bit machine?

For the HP/Agere, is this the driver you downloaded from HP?

"LSI (Agere) Systems Soft Modem Driver for Microsoft Windows Vista and
Microsoft Windows 7 (32-bit) Version: 2.2.96 Rev. B (17 Feb 2010)"

<http://h20000.www2.hp.com/bizsupport/TechSupport/SoftwareDescription.j
sp?lang=en&cc=us&prodTypeId=12454&prodSeriesId=3693824&swItem=vc-75161-
1&prodNameId=3887066&swEnvOID=4052&swLang=13&taskId=135&mode=4&idx=0>

Since you've had trouble with TWO drivers now:
PCs connected to company networks are often locked to prevent
installing ANY software without permission, but for home pcs right-
click and "Run As Administrator" should do the trick. If you're not on
a private company network and still get "access denied", check your
account type under User Accounts in Control Panel: a "standard user"
can't install downloaded drivers. Change your account type or login
with a different account name.

 

[Char Jackson]

As a follow up, I tried the HP modem in my lap top which is a 32 bit
machine and it installed and works.
It will not work on my 64 bit desktop.

Apparently, it is a design flaw or oversight.

If your modem requires a driver, and you attempted to use the same
driver on both the 32-bit system and the 64-bit system, then what you
saw is normal since 32-bit systems require 32-bit drivers while 64-bit
systems require 64-bit drivers.

Sorry char, but in some situations, you don't always get error messages
with meanings.
And there are no markings on the HP modem that say who made it or a model
number.

Error messages may not be meaningful to you, but there could well be
someone here who is able to make sense of it. You don't really do
yourself a favor by being so vague.

 

[Mark Blain]

As a follow up, I tried the HP modem in my lap top which is a 32
bit machine and it installed and works.
It will not work on my 64 bit desktop.

Apparently, it is a design flaw or oversight.

Sorry char, but in some situations, you don't always get error
messages with meanings.
And there are no markings on the HP modem that say who made it or
a model number.

On HP's website, sp45609 is a 64-bit driver for HP/Agere soft modem and
sp45608 is a 32-bit driver.

 

[J. P. Gilliver (John)]

I am now the proud owner of two totally useless USB modems.
I purchased a zoom external modem and the drivers failed to install.
So I purchased one from HP and it too fails to install.

Tried updating the HP drivers and was told "access denied".

Even though the HP website clearly showed a photo of the modem with their
logo on it, it is not one of their products. Device manager shows it as
"agere".

Anyone know how to make either of these damn things work on a windows 7 HP
32 bit machine?

Just to avoid any confusion - I assume we are talking USB-to-dialup
MoDems, not USB-to-ADSL?

Does it contain a (real or simulated) USB-to-serial port? If so, and
Device Manager shows a serial port that it doesn't show when the device
is not connected, then using hyperterminal or some other terminal
emulator (does 7 have hyperterminal?), try connecting to that port, and
sending

ATI

if that produces a response, try ATI0, ATI1, etc.; one of these should
show model details. Also

ATDT <number>

should make it dial (don't use 911!). (ATDP should make it dial with
pulses, making your 21st-century machine sound like early-20th
technology, but I don't know if pulse dialling is still supported by
modem MoDems.)
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/<1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

The reasonable man adapts himself to the world; the unreasonable one persists
to
adapt the world to himself. Therefore all progress depends on the unreasonable
man. -George Bernard Shaw, writer, Nobel laureate (1856-1950)

 

[DanS]

You don't need a driver to communicate to a serial port. And a modem
connected to a serial port doesn't need a driver either. As the BIOS
should see the serial port. If not, something is wrong. And then Windows
needs to know what the BIOS knows. Everything should be just fine if the
above is true.

I don't know if I've ever seen a USB device that didn't require drivers.

 

[J. P. Gilliver (John)]

I don't know if I've ever seen a USB device that didn't require drivers.

Well, they're built into the operating system. A lot on XP - sound
cards, virtually any USB memory stick, most card readers, and any
webcam/microscope/telescope I've ever tried - are fine without specific
drivers of their own; even under '9x, many card readers don't for some
reason, though most memory sticks do (for discussion of drivers that
work with most sticks, see the '9x 'groups).
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/<1985 MB++G()AL-IS-Ch++(p)Ar@T+H+Sh0!:`)DNAf

The British Empire has turned out to have a remarkable life after death.
Pretending we don't need to think about it is just stupid. - Jeremy Paxman, in
Radio Times, 22-28 October 2011

 

[DanS]

Well, they're built into the operating system.
A lot on XP - sound
cards, virtually any USB memory stick, most card readers, and any
webcam/microscope/telescope I've ever tried - are fine without specific
drivers of their own; even under '9x, many card readers don't for some
reason, though most memory sticks do (for discussion of drivers that
work with most sticks, see the '9x 'groups).

The bottom line however, is that they require drivers, whether they are
intrinsic to some version of Windows, or need to be provided to Windows.

They will all find a new device to install, and install said drivers for
the device, and Windows will tell you the device has been installed.

(One thing that always bugged me about USB, was that even when a device
has been plugged in previously, if you plug it into a different USB port,
it's like the first time all over again, and it will install the drivers,
again.)

 

[J. P. Gilliver (John)]

(I forgot hubs. Those, IME, always work truly plug-and-play, '9x
onwards.)

The bottom line however, is that they require drivers, whether they are
intrinsic to some version of Windows, or need to be provided to Windows.

Yes, but for most users, built into the OS is the same as not needed.
After all, presumably even the (PS/2) keyboard, and the floppy (if
present) and hard drives, need drivers, but we don't normally say that
they do.

They will all find a new device to install, and install said drivers for
the device, and Windows will tell you the device has been installed.

(One thing that always bugged me about USB, was that even when a device
has been plugged in previously, if you plug it into a different USB port,
it's like the first time all over again, and it will install the drivers,
again.)

Me too. Although, usually, they find the drivers where they were put
last time, rather than sending you to hunt for the driver disc again.

Another - just amusing, really - quandary: when you've told the system
you're going to eject, and have the "safe to remove hardware" prompt -
which do you do first, close that prompt or physically remove the
hardware (-:?

 

[BillW50]

(One thing that always bugged me about USB, was that even when a device
has been plugged in previously, if you plug it into a different USB port,
it's like the first time all over again, and it will install the drivers,
again.)

I don't see this too often, as it depends on the driver. And I am pretty
sure the drivers that has to reinstall in an USB port it never used
before are also the same drivers can only work with one such device per
machine.

For example, I have like a dozen USB to RS-232 adapters. They are all
the same and worthless without a driver. And I bought a dozen of these
thinking that I could have any many COM ports as I would like on a
machine. While they work fine one per machine. They don't work if you
have two or more per machine.

 

[DanS]

(I forgot hubs. Those, IME, always work truly plug-and-play, '9x
onwards.)

Yes, but for most users, built into the OS is the same as not needed.

Given the CS level of most users, I would agree that that is how the can
interpret it.

(However, when I'm explaining stuff to people, I do try to be as
technically correct as possible, but know to use words and terms that the
can relate to and understand.)

After all, presumably even the (PS/2) keyboard, and the floppy (if
present) and hard drives, need drivers, but we don't normally say that
they do.

This is true also.

This is also true of an RS232 serial port, and if the ports on-board and
enabled when the OS is installed, the comm driver is also installed at
that time.

From our conversation here, it seems all devices need drivers, the only
question is, where does the driver(s) come from, and when is it installed.

Me too. Although, usually, they find the drivers where they were put
last time, rather than sending you to hunt for the driver disc again.

Yes, I didn't mean to imply otherwise, but I just don't understand why it
just doesn't look and see...hmm, this [insert device name here] was used
before, but on USB2, and now it's on USB3. The system has that knowledge.
If it was installed in the same USB port, it would know it, so why can't
it just change the USB port the existing driver uses from 2 to 3.

(I'm sure there is some very long-winded uber-technical explanation as to
why it is so.)

Another - just amusing, really - quandary: when you've told the system
you're going to eject, and have the "safe to remove hardware" prompt -
which do you do first, close that prompt or physically remove the
hardware (-:?

I've never thought that question, as it doesn't matter, but it never
occurred to me to question if it does.

 

[Ant]

(One thing that always bugged me about USB, was that even when a device
has been plugged in previously, if you plug it into a different USB port,
it's like the first time all over again, and it will install the drivers,
again.)

I hated that too with older Windows. I assume Windows 7 still has this
problem.
--
"I have to sit up with a sick ant." --unknown
/\___/\ Ant(Dude) @ http://antfarm.ma.cx (Personal Web Site)
/ /\ /\ \ Ant's Quality Foraged Links: http://aqfl.net
| |o o| |
\ _ / If crediting, then use Ant nickname and AQFL URL/link.
( ) If e-mailing, then axe ANT from its address if needed.
Ant is currently not listening to any songs on this computer.

 

[Char Jackson]

I hated that too with older Windows. I assume Windows 7 still has this
problem.

Don't be sad. I'd call it a behavior, not a problem, and as behaviors
go, this one is not particularly annoying.

 

[Paul]

The bottom line however, is that they require drivers, whether they are
intrinsic to some version of Windows, or need to be provided to Windows.

They will all find a new device to install, and install said drivers for
the device, and Windows will tell you the device has been installed.

(One thing that always bugged me about USB, was that even when a device
has been plugged in previously, if you plug it into a different USB port,
it's like the first time all over again, and it will install the drivers,
again.)

It helps if the USB device has a unique serial number.

Lots of cheap hardware has no provision for serial numbers,
so each insertion into a different port, leads to a new install.

Some devices sport a "dynamic serial number", where the
driver writes to a config chip (EEPROM) on or near the device.
The serial number in that case, has a much smaller range of values,
only intended to differentiate a small pool of devices. My USB
serial port has some kind of scheme like that. I have two of them.

The OS has a certain number of "USB Class" drivers, which
are standardized against the standards of USB.org. And that's
how a lot of stuff is supported, without usage of a separate
driver CD. However, it's still possible for a hardware
designer to design custom hardware, set the class to indicate
"Custom", in which case Windows should back off, until the
driver CD is used.

Paul