Driver woes

swiss

Lo,

I've been called out to do a little tech support for a friend of my brothers who has started with eircoms ISDN product (what is it called again - nospeed?) The ISDN modem that the guy received is a miniVigor 128 see here.

However, the guy is running Win98se, and when I plugged in the modem into the usb port, rebooted, windows detected the device, but would not install or recognise the drivers that came along with the modem. I even tried the manufacturers website and downloaded the drivers for that device for that OS, but that still wouldn't work.

Eventually I decided to ring up Eircon tech support (I know, I know) but the tech support guys only work 9 - 5. Eircom then agreed to send out another modem, I'm off up to him later to have another crack at it - anyone any other ideas?

joePC

Very strange, all I can say is Windoze 98 stinks, more than likely a fault with the modem???

kmb

There is a usb fix which i had to use for usb speakers before from microsoft.240075up.exe.Maybe this will solve your problem,it did mine.

magick

install a new os,check the usb in the device manager,hit your friend for using eircom nospeed.:D

swiss

Thanks for the replies. The connection problems are finally sorted. Finally.

After I posted the last message on this thread, I tried reinstalling the drivers again - with exactly the same problem. I decided to bring my own computer along to test the connection (running WinXP). The miniVigor128 ISDN TA installed without any trouble whatsoever - leading me to believe that it was a Windoze problem. Fine. After trying numerous troubleshooting fixes for windows (checking for conflicts, ensuring USB support was enabled in the BIOS etc, ending unnecessary running processes) I finally decided that a reinstall of windows was in order. Not much more I could do that night, so I decided to call back again the next morning (this morning) and sort it out for good. This was around 11am.

Fine. Backed up all the old data, and reinstalled Windows 98. After this lengthy procedure, I tried reinstalling the drivers again. Surprise surprise, still no joy. After ripping my hair out for several minutes, compounding my male pattern baldness, I decided to upgrade the OS to Windows ME (the drivers were supposedly compatible for that OS too) as I decided that it was a compatibility problem betweeen those drivers and Win98 platforms. Oh, and I also rang Eircon tech support, whose advice was to "Install the driver". How? I also checked the Draytek website (www.draytek.com.tw) to see if there was anything about this problem in their FAQ. Thier FAQ was full of useful articles explaining how to "Setup an Internet connection" and what happens when "Windows tells you the drivers are not digitally signed". With such useful information to hand, my problems virtually disappeared. Er, not.

After installing Windows ME, I found (surprise surprise) exactly the same problem. After much headscratching and wailing to whatever divine entity in which one might believe, I advised the guy to upgrade to Windows XP. It was the only OS that had a hope in hell of installing the correct drivers for this device. At this stage, I was running out of options. Installed Windows XP, learned a vast deal about "The rich and exciting world of Windows!" during a fascinating installation process that involved clicking "next" and "yes" several times (this PC is a PIII 500 with 64MB of RAM btw). Eventually the OS was installed. Immediately windows picked up the "USB ISDN TA" and I inserted the driver CD. <drum roll> Did this install the drivers </drum roll>. <suspense pause> </suspense pause>. YES! Finally, one hurdle down.

Of course there was a small matter of reinstalling all of the guys program files, disabling all the Windows XP crap and unnecessary services, and setting his dial up account back up again. It was also a great time to find out that practically the only software program that the guy used had an expiry date for installation. This was the first time I had heard of a software program having an expiry date before after which it becomes useless if you install it. Back to his software vendor on that one!

The internet connection setup was a fairly trivial matter, after he finally remembered his password "Ah sure t'was stored on the old one". Went online. My world became filled with bright light, and happiness and glee surged through the connection. That is - until I came across the infamous RPC vunerability "Your computer has 50 seconds before it shuts down and repeatedly rapes you". Fortunately I had another computer nearby with the necessary patches. With no NIC on that guys PC I booted up my own, burned the patch onto a cd, reconnected all the leads etc back into the other guys PIII and installed the patch. My world became brightness and glee.

"Oh, can you install this for me". I blinked. Microsoft office 2000. On a PIII 500 with 64MB of RAM. He wanted me to install a resource guzzling POS on a resource guzzling OS. Fine. After *several* minutes, I managed to install office. After the obligatory test - windows XP gave me it's first error, in the form of an extremely informative and helpful error message "Microsoft Excel has encountered a problem and needs to close". No shit. "Would you like to tell Microsoft about this problem". Er, Would I like to gouge my eyes out with a teaspoon? The answer to both questions is probably no.

Disabled error reporting, agreed to Microsofts license agreement (WE WILL TAKE YOUR FIRST BORN, ALL YOUR MONEY, AND EVENTUALLY YOUR SOUL) and we were in business once again. If by "in business" you mean "not completely fucking up every two seconds".

Advised the guy *strongly* to upgrade his RAM and went home. Only then realising that I forgot to screw back in the front plate of his computer properly. Necessitating another callout at some point in the future.

Oh, and I got home about 45 minutes ago.

Please kill me.