Installing a Modem with Windows 98 on a Personal Computer

So, you've brought home that modem for which you saved so hard. Now let's plug it in, but wait, we will do that in a minute or two.

Materials

Before we leap, let's check that you have everything. Check the "contents list" that came with your modem. For an external serial modem you should have the modem, a serial cable, power pack, phone cord and a CD-ROM and/or a floppy disk.

For an external with a USB connection you should have the modem, a USB cable, phone cable and CD-ROM and/or a floppy disk.

For an internal modem, it will be the type that suits your PC. It will be either ISA, PCI or AMR and of course you will also have a phone cord and the CD-ROM and/or a floppy disk.

In all cases, check that you have a long enough phone cable and the correct plug.

This is the first in a series of "beginner" articles we will publish in PC Update throughout the year.
We hope you enjoy it and that it helps many computing beginners learn the easy way.

What's Involved?
Step 1.

For Internal Modems:
Open the cover and install the modem into your computer.
For External Modems:
Simply plug in the leads (serial or USB).
For Both:
Connect the phone line.

Step 2.
Install the software (drivers).

That's about it. Sound simple? It is.

The lucky ones amongst us will have received a microphone and the very lucky will have a headset. These days such accessories are supplied with some of the "voice type" modems.

If you have both a CD-ROM and a floppy disk, it's more than likely the floppy will contain the latest drivers for the modem - included at the time of packaging. The CD-ROM will probably have some type of communications programs for PC to PC communications, BBS, FAX and so forth. If you didn't receive a floppy disk, the CD-ROM will contain all the necessary software, including the latest drivers. A "driver" is simply a program that runs on your computer. It "drives" a particular component, be that a modem or a monitor or a mouse... and so on.

Be Prepared

Now read the notes that came with your modem. Do you install the software before installing the modem, or plug in the modem first? This will be important. If you have to plug in (or install) the modem first, read the documentation now to find out where the "drivers" are located because when you turn on the PC again, it may begin looking for them immediately and you may have to know where they are.

Precautions

There are some very important precautions you must take. Firstly, when connecting or plugging your modem into a slot in your computer, keep any static electricity at bay by touching the metal case at the back of the earthed PC with your hand. Avoid shuffling your feet. Next, in the case of an internal modem avoid touching the metal edge connector (Figure 1-A) with your fingers. This connector must maintain a good electrical contact with your mother-board for a long time and should be perfectly clean. Also, if you happen to have static electricity in your body you could cause serious damage to the modem.

Now power off your PC. Turn the power switch off at the wall but leave the cable plugged in to enable the cable's earth to discharge any static electricity.

Internal Modems

If yours is an internal modem, open the computer's cover and select an appropriate available slot. Examine the modem's edge connector, it will pretty obvious where it must fit. There are only three types, AMR (Audio/Modem Riser), PCI (Peripheral Component Interconnect) and ISA (Industry Standard Architecture, 8 or 16 bit).
Of course you did check which one you needed before you purchased the modem, didn't you? If you are reading this before purchasing an internal modem, be sure to check out and understand the type of computer you are running and the slots that will be available for a modem.

After selecting the appropriate slot on your motherboard (Figure 2-A) you may have to remove the metal strip that covers the opening in your computer case (Figure 2-B). Remove it now. Carefully line up the modem's edge connector, line up the metal bracket with the opening (Figure 3), then push the modem home, firmly (Figure 4).
You will almost certainly feel it snap into place and you'll know when it's unlikely to go in any further, but don't push too hard. Don't push so much that you bend or distort your motherboard because they can be damaged in this way.

Notice how in Figure 4 we have deliberately left the modem not pushed home properly, to illustrate the point. It's fairly obvious when you have not seated it properly. This applies to all cards you install in your computer.

You'll know when the modem is firmly "home". Screw down the bracket, put the cover back on your machine and read on. Later, if you computer says it doesn't have a modem, you may have to go back and repeat those few steps. If so, the best thing to do is shut down the PC, open it up, take the modem out and put it straight back in again, seating it a little more firmly than you did last time. Now connect the phone line and that part of the job is done.

External Modems

Connecting an external modem is usually very simple. USB is a breeze -you simply plug the A end of the cable into a USB port on your PC or HUB and plug the B end into the modem. Plug the phone cable into the modem and a phone socket on the wall and you're away. If you computer is on, Windows will see it immediately and the software installation can begin.

The only difficulty I've met here is making sure the phone cord is long enough and ensure you have the correct connector for the phone wall socket. It's amazing what can stop you. Also, if you're using a USB hub, it will have to be a self-powered hub in order to power the modem.

A serial modem can be just as easy except that Windows may not see the modem. Connect the serial cable from the PC to the modem, then the phone cable and power lead. The serial cable will use either a DB25 or DB9 connector (Figure 5) on the modem and similar connector on the PC.

Now, do you have the correct cable? "XT" and "AT" PCs usually have two serial ports and if you're running a serial mouse it will be plugged into one of them, usually COM1. COM1 will almost invariably be the the DB9 connection (see Figure 7). Your COM2 connection should be a DB25. The more recent "ATX" systems often have two DB9s; one for each COM port and no DB25. (Figure 8)

The back of the modem will have either a DB9 or DB25; in most cases a DB25. You may need to purchase a modem multi-cable (Figure 5) or a DB9 to DB25 converter (Figure 6).

If you've read this and the notes that came with your modem, you should now install the drivers. Assuming that is not already done as instructed by your install notes.

If all went well, you're already surfing. But if it didn't, or you are reinstalling and you need to find those drivers, here's how to do it.

Finding Those Drivers

Insert the floppy or CD-ROM that came with your modem into the appropriate drive. Press [START - FIND - Files or Folders] and begin a search for all the .INF files. ie. you must type *.INF in the search box.

In the "Look in" field, enter the appropriate drive letter (D: or A:) and make sure you have a tick in the "Include subfolders" checkbox.

If you find some files but they don't have an extension, don't worry, that is because of your Windows Explorer View settings. The files are still there. If you didn't find any, now you may have to search harder. Yours may use *.DRV, *.SYS, *.DLL or *.VXD. Search for those and see what you find, remembering to look only on the floppy disk or the CD-ROM that came with your modem. When you find them, note where they are located and intuition should tell you which ones you need. Mine are located in the root directory of the CD-ROM, but I also have newer .INF files on a supplied floppy in a subdirectory named win95, ie A:\WIN95

To make things difficult, sometimes the files may be stored in a SETUP.EXE or similar. You'll have to search your discs/disks for "read me" files (eg. readme.txt) to glean a bit more information. If you downloaded drivers from the Web, they may be compressed in a .ZIP or inside a self extracting .EXE file. Make notes or print the page from the Web site.

Either way, you must know where the drivers are located, although sometimes Windows does a pretty good job of finding these things without our help.

Ready To Go

Now when you turn on your PC with the modem connected, the Add New Hardware Wizard appears and says "This wizard searches for new drivers for"... insert your modem name here, click on Next, and then select the default Search for the best driver for your device by hitting Next again.

The Wizard should find the driver file and return the positive looking window that says it is now ready to install the best driver. Beauty! press Next. When it says it's finished, it's almost finished. Press Finish.

Well, it's nearly over. Now you may have to go over that last bit again looking for a wave file driver for the modem, but you know how to do that now.

This last part we've just done is the same for upgrading the drivers that you have downloaded from the Web. Here's how, got to Start, Settings, Control Panel. In Control Panel open the System icon. In the System Applet open the Device Manager tab and then view the Modems installed by clicking the small plus sign + next to it, or double-click the icon. Select your modem if it isn't already selected and then click Properties. Click the Driver tab, then Update Driver File. From here we are right back to the Add New Hardware Wizard, as described above. A wizard, as the name suggests, is just another program that runs on your computer, but usually written to make more complex tasks a little easier.

Congratulations! You've done well. I guarantee that next time you're reading an installation manual for a particular accessory or component, it will appear a whole lot simpler. Happy computing.

Reprinted from the February 2001 issue of PC Update, the magazine of Melbourne PC User Group, Australia