Lappy Sound.. Card Modem??

eGoCeNTRoNiX · Post by **eGoCeNTRoNiX** » Tue Nov 26, 2002 3:06 pm

Ok Dudes.. I finally got W95 put back on my lappy, and got all the drivers installed, and now I'm having issues with the soundcard and modem. I installed the drivers for the sound card, and it says it's there and working fine, no conflicts. But no worky? The same thing for my 3Com Mhz PCMCIA modem. It says it's there, but whenever I try to dial up it says "Modem could not conect. Device already in use by another application" or something very close to that. So I look in the task manager, disable everything that could be that app. and still no worky. Any ideas? Do I need to *sigh* try reinstalling W95 on it again? This is a 5 year old Lappy, so I can't do XP or it would be there already... Lemme know.. eGo

Post by **FlyingPenguin** » Tue Nov 26, 2002 4:30 pm

Some suggestions:

- Make sure that the sound card and the modem are enabled in the BIOS menu. Many lappies use one chip for both the sound and the modem and they can both be independently disabled in BIOS.

- You sure you're using Win95 compatible drivers? Some Win98 drivers won't work with Win95.

- Try removing the modem and sound drivers and letting them redetect.

- How did you install the drivers for the sound & modem hardware? Did you run an installer or just let Windows find the drivers via the driver wizard?

Reason I ask is that some Win95 drivers were dependent on a DOS driver to work. You sometimes need an application loaded in the Autoexec.bat or config.sys file to initialize the sound/modem hardware. If there's a SETUP.EXE for your sound or modem drivers, use that to install them properly.

- You could put Win98 in there which MAY handle the drivers better. Win98 runs fine on old lappies if you disable the Explorer enhancements (that basically disables all the eye candy in 98 that makes it slower than 95). Just install TweakUI and in the IE tab disable explorer enhancements and also disable active desktop. Also don't install any Windows services you don't need (for instance 98 installs a web server by default).

Hope this helps...

eGoCeNTRoNiX · Post by **eGoCeNTRoNiX** » Tue Nov 26, 2002 4:46 pm

Thanx FP.. So far, I have done the following....

- Made sure that the sound card and the modem are enabled in the BIOS menu.
(It's a Card Modem, not internal.. Am I missing something in the BIOS for this?)

- I downloaded the new ESS 1868 drivers from the ESS website..

- I've let windows redetect everything several times.

- I did use the setup util. that cam with the drivers, however I do seem to recall DOS enabling something for the sound card from the last install that I did before the floppies started acting up if memory serves me. Should I download and install DOS drivers to try and fix this?

- As far as W98 goes.. I kept getting Windows protection errors when I would finish the install, and there is also a patch that the company that made my lappy sent me for the CMD-IDE controller that I can't seem to get working with their instructions and it causes problems with the FlashCard reader. So I think I'd like to try and stick with 95 if possible. But I will try everything again on Friday... Thanx!!

Any other ideas are welcome!! eGo

Post by **FlyingPenguin** » Tue Nov 26, 2002 6:27 pm

Well if the modem is a PC card it should be two seperate issues. I'd pull the modem card until you get the sound working then deal with the modem later.

Instead of using the sound driver from ESS I would go to the lappy manufacturer's website and get their driver. Laptop hardware is usually rather proprietary - the generic chipset drivers may not work.

eGoCeNTRoNiX · Post by **eGoCeNTRoNiX** » Fri Dec 13, 2002 2:06 pm

Well, after weeks of trying to get this thing working appropriately, my keyboard (for the lappy) dying and having to use an external I have finally gotten the lappy working again! I ended up sticking with W98 but only after they sent me a IDE-Controller fix that was much needed to get the sound and video and HD and CD-Rom to function properly. It's running like a champ now, even though I am using a big ole honky tonk IBM keyboard from the early 90's lol. It's up, and folding, using the lan, it's ALL GOOD! Thanks for all of your help and suggestions FP! eGo

Post by **FlyingPenguin** » Fri Dec 13, 2002 5:12 pm

Do a search on Ebay for the keyboard - TONS of laptop parts sold on there. Also if this is a name-brand lappy like Compaq, Toshiba or HP you may be able to find a new keyboard here:
http://www.laptopsforless.com/

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Lappy Sound.. Card Modem??

Lappy Sound.. Card Modem??

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