Dialup Networking Doesn't See My Modem on COM3 anymore

I'm out of things to try & I'd appreciate any fresh ideas anybody can give me. My wife's Windows 98 system (from Micron) reported a registry error yesterday, which SCANREG claimed to have fixed. However, since then, Dialup Networking does not see the U.S. Robotics 33.6K internal PnP fax modem that was working fine with DUN before. When I try to add a DUN connection, DUN doesn't see the modem, but instead searches for a modem on COM1 & COM2.

I have tried all possible combinations of the following, including all of them at once:
* remove the modem logically in Win98
* remove the modem physically, reboot, reinstall after verifying its absence
* remove the COM1 & COM2 ports from Win98
* disable the serial ports in the BIOS
* remove & reinstall the Dialup Adapter
* uninstall & reinstall Dialup Networking itself

I have verified that the modem works fine in another machine.

I have tried different IRQ settings for the comm ports in Windows and tried enabling different combinations of them in the BIOS, trying to get them to go elsewhere than COM1 & COM2. I've succeeded in getting them to be COM5 & COM6, but then DUN only searches for a modem on COM5 & COM6, but not COM1 where I made the modem go, or COM3 where I let it go at other times. DUN insists on only searching the serial ports Windows sees. When it fails to see a modem, it lets me attempt to configure one manually, which I can do except that it only gives me the option of having it be on one of the system-visible com ports. I've even tried having the modem share an IRQ with one of the system-visible comm ports, but DUN still doesn't see it.

If you have any idea of what to do, or even if you can confirm that this really is as weird as it seems to me, I'd greatly appreciate it. Right now I'm staring at a possible system rebuild (from FDISK on up, with a few dozen applications to reinstall after I get Win98 back up)! If you can give me any better alternatives, or even corroborate that this is the only way to go, I'd be grateful. You can post a reply here, please.

Thanks!

 

I will happily confirm that it is very strange.

A suggestion that would be lots easier than Fdisk and start over (and may even work).

1. Remove all traces of networking services and the modem from safe mode.

2. Remove the physical modem.

3. Put the BIOS settings back to the way they were when things were working.

4. Reinstall Win98 to the same place it is now. Should leave everything pretty much intact but will replace any damaged/missing files.

5. Put the modem back in and reload DUN (making sure you have the latest version).

 

Newt,

Thanks for the note. Won't reinstalling Windows wipe out the application installation information in the registry? While FDISK & reinstalling Windows is painful, what is even more painful is reinstalling and setting up all those bloody apps. If I reinstall Windows on top of itself, will they still be there?

- Tim.

 

With 98, if you force the install OVER the existing one (which means ignore the suggestion to put it in windows.000 or some such) it should preserve everything you have now that is working correctly.

It will fill in missing files. It MAY possibly overlay some newer files with older versions but usually not. Tends to correct all sorts of random and strange glitches.

 

Great! I'll definitely keep that in mind as a more live option than I'd thought it would be. I remember the hours spend reinstalling apps when I reinstalled Win95. I'm glad to hear reinstalling Win98 will not wipe out my application installations. Thanks for the note. I'm still interested in finding out what is wrong, but if I can't soon, I'll just reinstall Win98 & hope that fixes it.

Thanks. - Tim.

 

I want to thank everyone who contributed hints on how to resolve my problem with DUN not recognizing my modems. I turns out that running tapiini.exe cleared up the whole problem. Once I ran it, DUN behaved perfectly, recognizing the modem (and another I had installed in testing) immediately. I really appreciate folks taking the time to give me all the ideas on how to fix it.