External Modem (port) not present after boot

I have been trying to find a solution to the problem I have that XP occasionally (sometimes as often as once every three boots, sometimes as infrequently as once every ten boots) does not detect my external modem during boot. If I look at the Phone and Modem Options it reports that I have the modem but that the Port is "not present ".

This is very annoying even though it is easy enough to solve "on the spot" temporarily. All I need to do is to use the Phone and Modem Options (I have copied an icon on the desktop for this control panel item) to search for new modems. It reports that it didn't find a new modem, but the modem control lights have been accessed during this process and it now doesn't report "Not Present" any longer for the modem.

The only similar behaviour I can find in the Knowledge Base at Microsoft is:

External Modem Not Available If It Is Not Present During Startup (Q238317)

The behaviour described is the same, but this refers to an " external modem not present during Windows 2000 startup ", while my modem IS present during my XP start-up but is still not detected by Plug and Play.

I have been wondering whether some program or service during boot is interfering with the Plug and Play detection of the modem/port as my wife's Win2000 computer with the same modem model (US Robotics Sportster V.90) displays exactly the same problems. She, like I, have both F-Prot anti-virus and Zone Alarm loading during Boot and this made me suspicious. But, now I have seen the same behaviour on a Win2000 computer without either of these programs and a GVC modem!

Does anyone know of a workaround or solution for this? And, WHY is this not listed as an XP problem but only as a Windows 2000 problem in the Knowledge Base, I wonder?

 

yeah....strange huh?......XP won't find my modem unless i switch it on prior to booting......then it finds it everytime

 

According to the Q238317 Knowledgebase article (refers to Win2000...) Microsoft says that:

This behavior is by design.

For some reason they say that this is intentional. This didn't happen with Win9X.

 

the usual Gates non answer....its true it didn't happen with 98 BUT...XP is based on 2000 which is completely different to 95/98/ME....