sundance-communications.com/forum Forums Computers & Programming Computers, Software, Accessories Win 2000 Hardware device manager

Windows 2000 cannot establish connection with dial-up modem (external USB).
Hardware device manager window is blank :confused:
The add/remove hardware wizard sees the modem and says it's working properly, but hardware device manager window is still blank :shrug:

The Device Mgr. issue can come from Plug and Pray being turned off.

Try this:

1. Click Start, click Run, type services.msc, and then click OK.
2. Double-click Plug and Play.

If you receive a Configuration Manager message, click OK.
3. In the Startup Type list, click Automatic, and then click OK.
4. Close Services.
5. Restart the computer.

Thanks for the info but plug and play is set to automatic. If I unplug the modem it sees that it is unpluged. If I plug into another USB port it finds new hardware.
In the hardware device manager if I try to view resources I get the message that MMC.EXE has generated errors and wiil close

I'm at a bit of a lose on that one. The plug and pray issue is the only thing I've encountered in the past that did the Device Mangler thing.

I seem to recall that the Nimba worm generated a new mmc.exe file which caused some really strange behavior, but I'm reaching on that one.

Please post back when you solve the issue. I'd like to add it to my notes.

I would disconnect the modem and restart windows.
Install any drivers for the modem or check with Drivers.com or the manuf to see if there are any new ones. Then restart windows and let the pc find the modem.

If you have anything else you can install try that and see if you get the same results as with the modem. If you do then its a windows issue, if not it is probably with the modem.

Is it an AMD processor? They always seem to have some issues with USB since it was invented by Intel. They also have issues with SIS chipsets - sometimes it works fine but then all of a sudden it does something goofy. You might try reinstalling USB drivers or if its and intel chipset reinstall the chipset drivers.
And then reinstall windows service pack again after changes have been made. We had issues before when we made changes and nothing fixed it until we reinstalled the service pack from Microsoft.

The modem was only one example
Hardware device manager window is blank
No hardware of any kind is showing up.
I noticed the problem because the modem is going right to unable to establish connection.
It's not an AMD
I will try to install the service pack
Thanks

Larry:

Did you call Verizon? It sounds like it mus be sumpin' in yo PBX!

All jokes aside, I had a similar situation on my wife's computer at home. I will check with her and see if she did anything differently to resolve it.