I have a 2004 Toshiba. The internal modem that came with it does not work. I bought a Best Data 56K USB modem (56USBCXT). It is properly installed, but the computer will not detect the modem there to dial out. I have not idea how I did it, but I successfully connected to AOL using the modem exactly one time, so I know the modem works. After the successful connection, I rebooted to see if it would work again and it did not. When I go into Control Panel and click on Phones and Modems, it lists the modem there but instead of listing a com port assignment, it says "not present." The one time that I got the modem to work, the location in the Phones and MOdems part of the Control Panel said "Com 4". Can anyone please tell me how to get the computer to recognize that the modem is connected to the computer?

It would be helpful if you were to state your exact Toshiba model - that should be on the bottom of the laptop - so that we can possibly look at your User manual or other manuals so that we can see what is in your bios Setup . You probably have a Resource conflict - probably that an IRQ the modem wants to use is being used by something else. That often doesn't show up anywhere in Windows, especially when dial-up modems are involved. I don't think you can have two dial-up modems being detected without having problems. Since the internal modem is built in it is probably intefering with the detection of the new modem. Go into the bios Setup and see if there is an entry for it - if there is, Disable it. If there is no way to disable the internal modem, you may not be able to solve this problem you are having, unless you can prevent an IRQ or I/O port or Resources from being assigned to it by changing settings. If this laptop has one or more Com (serial) port(s) (9 pins in a D on it's side shaped port), disable the Com port(s)in the bios Setup - that frees up Com port resources so they can be used for the dial-up modem or other PNP devices. Similarly, if it has a built in infrared adapter, it often uses the same Resources as a Com port - disable that if it is there. (if that was Enabled, that may be why the internal modem was not detected!) If there are drivers or related software listed in Control Panel - Add/Remove Programs for the internal modem, Un-install them. Did you install the new modem according to it's proper installtion directions? E.g. - you sometimes must install drivers and related software for a device BEFORE you plug it in. - it is usually NOT a good idea to point Windows to the drivers for a device the first time it is detected while booting - it will often NOT work correctly if you do that! CANCEL that, continue on to the Desktop, and run the Setup or Install for the software for the device. If you installed the drivers while booting that way, if there are drivers or related software listed in Control Panel - Add/Remove Programs for the new modem, Un-install them, Remove the entry for the modem in Phones and Modems, reboot, and install the software for the modem according to the installation directions.