[giantrobotz]

I wasn't really sure where to post this question but I think the problem I'm having is hardware related so I'm posting here.

I've got a computer with windows 98 here, it boots up fine without a modem in a pci slot. But when I install a modem into the computer it won't make it past the post. I'm not really sure what's causing this problem, I've looked at the IRQ's and set them up manually, and when they are set up manually it will make it past the Win98 loading sceen but then freezes before the desktop. I do know the computer had a bad processor fan and over heated on several occasions, and it's old. It's got old EISA slots on it and I'm not too familiar with those, maybe I'm not setting up the IRQ's right. The modems(I've tried two that should work, I don't know first hand they work, but I was told they do) are PCI modems if that clears anything up.

It's using a serial mouse also, that might help you guys out, I think.
I've heard of serial ?mouse's? Or ?mice? And modems having problems, I don't know if this is the case.

Thanks in advance, and thanks for the help you guys have provided me in other posts.

Edit-I want to install a modem and be able to use in under win 98 on this computer... I never said that in the post.

[Chery]

Not sure, but to me it sound like your PC is a little too old to handle an extra peripheral. Try upgrading it. Check tigerdirect.com, you might even find a reasonable PC with built in modem and larger HDD that would be worth looking into. Just be patient, our experts will sign on soon and you'll get more advice. Good Luck! Since notebooks are the in thing now,desktop PCs can be purchased for a great deal. P.S. If you need a handy or two, try looking at one of the TV sale shows that will advertise handies plus a laptop or desktop PC for no price at all except for the contract of the handies. That's how I got my new Siemens handy and a great LCD TV. At any rate, do some shopping around for a better PC without headaches.

[StuMegu]

Sounds like this machine's a bit ropy but lets have a go!

I assume the computer boots fine without the modem(s) installed!

Generally you shouldn't need to set Irq's manually - I would suggest resetting your bios to default settings.

The PCI bus usually manages the irq allocations itself, it could be that your modem has a jumper setting on the pci card that forces a particular IRQ, this could be conflicting with your mouse!

Try booting without the serial mouse plugged in to test that.

Can you test the modem in another computer to see if it works there?

Also Windows 98 can be configured to keep IRQ's for certain devices, again I would not recommend this as it gets messy to keep on top of.

If you have set IRQ's manually in windows as well I would suggest setting them back to auto and see how you go!

Post back with a progress report :)

[fredg]

Hi,
As another said, you shouldn't have to set up your own IRQ's for the modem; it should install, if you have the proper CD and/or drivers for it.
As for the Serial mouse, our local computer shops here have boxes and boxes of them (used) that won't work. I also use Win98SE, and use a ps2 mouse with no problems. Serial mice don't always work! And can sometimes cause problems with installing other things.
Is this an External or internal modem you are trying to install?
If it's External, it should have an install CD which contains all the files you need for installation.
Best wishes,
fredg

[Chery]

It's only my opinion, but PCs are so cheap today, I'd get a better one with all in it. You'll probably want a new CD/DVD burner soon, or another HDD anyway, so check out the sales. Tigerdirect.com is even having free giveaways with purchases. Try it.

[giantrobotz]

Sorry the long delay on a reply. I tried a lot of things to fix this and eventually I gave up and found a better motherboard stuck some more memory in it and installed xp. It worked and it was easier, also xp is also a much better OS than 98 so that's a bonus. Thanks for your help, again.

[fredg]

Hi,
Glad you found an answer to the issue. XP is good, so is Win2000. Personally, I still like Win98SE cause it runs older programs that's hard to find now.
As an additional comment about modems, have you considered an External modem?
External modems are better than an internal one. A good one is the Creative Modem Blaster, also some of the others are good, too. The External modem does not use the computer's power; it uses its own power from a wall electrical plug.
Most pharmacies and other businesses use external modems, due to faster connections with their insurance corporations and other types of fast service.
Best wishes,
fredg

[ScottGem]

Hi,
External modems are better than an internal one. A good one is the Creative Modem Blaster, also some of the others are good, too. The External modem does not use the computer's power; it uses its own power from a wall electrical plug.
Most pharmacies and other businesses use external modems, due to faster connections with their insurance corporations and other types of fast service.
Best wishes,
fredg

On what do you base your statement that Externals are better than Internals? On what do you base your statement that most pharmaices and other types of business use externals and that these externals provide a faster connection?

I'm not necessarily disagreeing with you, just trying to find where you are getting your info from.

Scott<>

[fredg]

On what do you base your statement that Externals are better than Internals? On what do you base your statement that most pharmaices and other types of business use externals and that these externals provide a faster connection?

I'm not necessarily disagreeing with you, just trying to find where you are getting your info from.

Scott<>

As you well know, the best source of the most information is using a search engine, online.
As you also might know, ask your local drug stores/pharmacies how they connect to their prescriptions' services. Also, you might check with local doctors'/surgeons offices; asking their billing people how they communicate with insurance companies and billing agencies; specifically, what type of modems they use. Ask your local new and used car dealers what type of modems they use for connections concerning warranties and updates, if they are one of the larger dealers. Check with one of the larger hospital providers, such as Wellmont, etc, asking if they use external modems for their communications. This could take you some time, and give you some valuable information; face-to-face facts and hands-on learning.
If you aren't disagreeing, then you obviously know the answer also! Makes for some good posts, listening to "proving what you say" type of categories! Most people accept common knowledge, not asking where, what kind, how many, who did it, how was it done, how many events were used, who validated the findings, how was the validation performed, who tested the results, who published the findings, who approved the publishing, and with what authority. Any more questions/comments?
Have a great day, and have a good time finding out all the above for yourself; which I have been; asking these questions for the past 3 or 4 years, out of curiosity of learning.
Also, most External modems are faster than internal modems, due to using their own power supply and software drivers, different from MS Windows.
fredg

[Curlyben]

Also, most External modems are faster than internal modems, due to using their own power supply and software drivers, different from MS Windows.
fredg

What total cobblers!!
Fred please explain this statement as it is a serious generialisation that has little base in fact.

The main reason behind companies using external modems is one of ease of replacement.
When the go bang it takes less effort to swap an external modem than it does an internal one.
Simple really.

[NeedKarma]

As you well know, the best source of the most information is using a search engine, online.
As you also might know, ask your local drug stores/pharmacies how they connect to their prescriptions' services. Also, you might check with local doctors'/surgeons offices; asking their billing people how they communicate with insurance companies and billing agencies; specifically, what type of modems they use. Ask your local new and used car dealers what type of modems they use for connections concerning warranties and updates, if they are one of the larger dealers. Check with one of the larger hospital providers, such as Wellmont, etc, asking if they use external modems for their communications. This could take you some time, and give you some valuable information; face-to-face facts and hands-on learning.
If you aren't disagreeing, then you obviously know the answer also! Makes for some good posts, listening to "proving what you say" type of categories!! Most people accept common knowledge, not asking where, what kind, how many, who did it, how was it done, how many events were used, who validated the findings, how was the validation performed, who tested the results, who published the findings, who approved the publishing, and with what authority. Any more questions/comments?
Have a great day, and have a good time finding out all the above for yourself; which I have been; asking these questions for the past 3 or 4 years, out of curiosity of learning.
Also, most External modems are faster than internal modems, due to using their own power supply and software drivers, different from MS Windows.
fredg

Wow, that's a lot of garbage in one post.

Most pharmacies, doctor's offices, etc, will share the network in their office to access the internet. Those still using dial-up modems use a mix of internal and external modems, mostly internal now as they are onboard most newer model computers and external modems are quite pricey now as the market fades away.

External modems can be "faster" I agree but not at all for the reasons you mention. External modem will use all their own hardware and chipsets to do the modulating/demodulating as opposed to some internal winmodem that use the host PC's resources. ALL modems have their own drivers, you usually use Windows default drivers as a last case scenario. The power supply thing you mentioned was actually quite funny.

There, I hope you learned something.

[ScottGem]

As you well know, the best source of the most information is using a search engine, online.
As you also might know, ask your local drug stores/pharmacies how they connect to their prescriptions' services. Also, you might check with local doctors'/surgeons offices; asking their billing people how they communicate with insurance companies and billing agencies; specifically, what type of modems they use. Ask your local new and used car dealers what type of modems they use for connections concerning warranties and updates, if they are one of the larger dealers. Check with one of the larger hospital providers, such as Wellmont, etc, asking if they use external modems for their communications. This could take you some time, and give you some valuable information; face-to-face facts and hands-on learning.
If you aren't disagreeing, then you obviously know the answer also! Makes for some good posts, listening to "proving what you say" type of categories!! Most people accept common knowledge, not asking where, what kind, how many, who did it, how was it done, how many events were used, who validated the findings, how was the validation performed, who tested the results, who published the findings, who approved the publishing, and with what authority. Any more questions/comments?
Have a great day, and have a good time finding out all the above for yourself; which I have been; asking these questions for the past 3 or 4 years, out of curiosity of learning.
Also, most External modems are faster than internal modems, due to using their own power supply and software drivers, different from MS Windows.
fredg

I put in that I wasn't NECESSARILY disagreeing to try and keep this a reasonable discussion. I didn't want you to think that this was just another attack on your credibility. While its true that most people may accept "common knowledge" I don't see an example of common knowledge here.

That you are a couple of years behind the times. I have a friend who is a pharmacist, another an optometrist and I have done some consulting work for a few doctors and dentists. I also worked in the IT department of a major NY hospital a few years ago. Most pharmacies use broadband and not dialup modems. Most of the health insurance companies have WEB sites where health care providers log in to process claims. Almost all hospitals have networks that use high speed connections to the Internet. Dial up modems are the exception these days not the rule. With DSL or cable and broadband routers even small businesses can afford to share a high speed Internet connection rather use dial up.

As to external modems being faster, I agree with Need. This article (http://member.melbpc.org.au/~amfowle...em.htm#ext_int) explains why externals can be better. Though its not always the case. The real advantage of an external is that it doesn't use the computer's processors, but any speed advantage is negligible if it exists at all.

I sincerely doubt that you have been "asking these questions for the past 3 or 4 years". If you had you would have noticed the shift towards broadband and not looked foolish in your claims about pharmacies, hospitals and other businesses. If anyone wants proof of what I've said here, I will point out 2 things. Go into any store that sells computers and accessories. See how many dialup modems they have, then check out the network equipment aisles. Dialup modems will take up less than 20% of the space allocated to routers and network adapters. The proof is in the fortunes of AOL. Up until about 3-4 years ago AOL had more members then their top 3 competiors combined. Membership was still growing. But AOL failed to move quickly enough to broadband. Membership has been slipping as Broadband has grown. Many analysts have attributed that primarily to the shift to broadband.

I really didn't want this to be an attack on your credibility. I was hoping you could point to some WEB sites that supported what you were saying. But I see that was expecting too much. Instead you justify yourself but telling me to do my own research. I, on the other hand, do cite one WEB site that explains about modems, and give 2 concrete examples of situations that prove what I say.

Sorry Fred, you've stuck your foot in your mouth, proving, yet again, how behind the times you are and how little you know.

Scott<>