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My parents have bought a second hand pc with no paperwork, I have been trying to get them on the internet, but it keeps coming up modem not detected, how do I find out what modem is installed on their system. cant download anything as I cannot get internet access.
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My parents have bought a second hand pc with no paperwork, I have been trying to get them on the internet, but it keeps coming up modem not detected, how do I find out what modem is installed on their system. cant download anything as I cannot get internet access.
Okay, double click My Computer from the desktop, then double click Control Panel, then double click Modems.
The window that appears will have any modem which is correctly installed listed in it. If there is nothing there then nothing is installed.
Assuming you find nothing installed go back to Control Panel. Double clikc Add New Hardware, follow the instructions and see if it finds anything.
If that doesn't work then see if the PC came with any driver disks or CDs which are for the modem.
Still no joy ? All I can think of after that is to open the case up, look inside, find the modem make and maker and get online using another PC to get the drivers for it.
I'm somewhat rusty on fiddling with PCs but none of the above can actually do any damage at all, maybe someone else will know other things to try.
The window that appears will have any modem which is correctly installed listed in it. If there is nothing there then nothing is installed.
Assuming you find nothing installed go back to Control Panel. Double clikc Add New Hardware, follow the instructions and see if it finds anything.
If that doesn't work then see if the PC came with any driver disks or CDs which are for the modem.
Still no joy ? All I can think of after that is to open the case up, look inside, find the modem make and maker and get online using another PC to get the drivers for it.
I'm somewhat rusty on fiddling with PCs but none of the above can actually do any damage at all, maybe someone else will know other things to try.
Firstly, are you 100% sure that there is a modem inside?!! If so, what I would do is take it out of its slot, give the connectors a good clean, and then replace it.
If your PC is up to it, and you don't already have it, I would then upgrade the OS to Windows XP. This will not need a drivers disk if/when it finds the new hardware. In fact, if you re-format the hard drive and install Windows XP on a clean machine, you shouldn't get asked for any driver disks at all unless you have some really obscure old hardware!!
If you still can't make a connection to the internet (I assume you know how to set one up) due to modem detection failure, then there isn't a lot more you can do. You could try a new modem as they are very cheap nowadays. If it's an internal modem, have you tried it in a different slot?
Let us know how you get on.
If your PC is up to it, and you don't already have it, I would then upgrade the OS to Windows XP. This will not need a drivers disk if/when it finds the new hardware. In fact, if you re-format the hard drive and install Windows XP on a clean machine, you shouldn't get asked for any driver disks at all unless you have some really obscure old hardware!!
If you still can't make a connection to the internet (I assume you know how to set one up) due to modem detection failure, then there isn't a lot more you can do. You could try a new modem as they are very cheap nowadays. If it's an internal modem, have you tried it in a different slot?
Let us know how you get on.
We were told it had an internal modem, how do I check this. different slot?
Well, does it have anywhere to plug your phoneline, first of all?
yes it is all connected to a phone line on the back of the pc to a bt telepone point
Did you check to see whether there is a modem installed under the Modems part of Control Panel ? If there nothing listed there then it doesn't matter what's plugged in, it just won't work.
It has a modem icon in the control panel but when opened it says no modem installed on any com ports. We ran find new hardware and it bought up a long list of different models/makes of modems, but I dont know which one to install.
Well the good news is that your problem appears to be a simple case of there just not being any drivers installed.
If it was me I'd try use any drivers there is, you know when you get the list of drivers ? From the left hand column select the standard generic modem one, then from the column on the right select any standard 56k modem.
It may well work fine with generic drivers, or open up the case and find what it is. you cna then use whatever you are using now to connect to the internet to find the right drivers and put them on a floppy, and onto the other machine.
If it was me I'd try use any drivers there is, you know when you get the list of drivers ? From the left hand column select the standard generic modem one, then from the column on the right select any standard 56k modem.
It may well work fine with generic drivers, or open up the case and find what it is. you cna then use whatever you are using now to connect to the internet to find the right drivers and put them on a floppy, and onto the other machine.
Having been to my parents again today, they have a telephone lead going from the pc to a phone point in the computer room, which then goes to the main phone. HOwever, when the lead is put into the computer the phone goes dead?????? The PC used to be connected to an office server so this may indicate there is no internal modem perhaps? Everything I tried always comes up with no modem detected, I checked all the TCP/IP settings and these seem okay, I checked that the system was set up for Plug and Play, but still got nothing. I think the solution may be to purchase an external modem.
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