Hi Elric,
my problem seems to be, there is interference between the modem and the so-called sound card. I don't have a sound card installed which made me think, this was not the problem. It is the on board sound that is causing the modem not to function. The two pieces of hardware are clashing, what can I do to the modem to configure it to eliminate this problem.
thanking you for your help,
frank

Go to control panel > system > device manager > sound > properties > resources, and see if it lets you try a different interrupt request setting. Or do the same for the sound driver in device manager. When sound devices share irq's with other components, conflicts are common even though windows tells you "no conflicts!"

typo first time......

Go to control panel > system > device manager > modem > properties > resources, and see if it lets you try a different interrupt request setting. Or do the same for the sound driver in device manager. When sound devices share irq's with other components, conflicts are common even though windows tells you "no conflicts!"

Thank you Johnoh,
Elric had posted take out the sound card to see if it was causing the problem, since I did not have a sound card, I had discounted that, and as you said, it showed no conflict.
I appreciate your input Johnoh and thank you for that information,
frank

G'day,

Good to see you making progress. Now you know why it is called plug'n'pray...
Now you need to separate these two in some way. Is the on board sound card integrated on the motherboard?? Can the IRQ be jumpered on the motherboard (ie seperate it from the modem)? What do you have on IRQ5 or IRQ4 (the IRQ for COM2). Soundcards are usually good on IRQ5.If it is the motherbaord, then it probably isn't part of the PCI bus and this might be the problem.
You can also check the resources of both ie IRQs, DMA (it appears Windows only modem can use DMA channels) and IO addresses.
Here is a good webpage (10!) with step by step guide to conflict resolution.
http://www.techrescue.net/guides/conflicts.asp

Also, some points I extracted from
http://www.pc-pages.co.uk/Modem/Modem1.htm
The first paragraph echoing what you observed and what Johnoh pointed out in his post.

" *Normally, if there is a resource conflict that prevents one device from working, an exclamation point in a yellow circle is displayed for the device. In some cases however, a Windows-only modem that conflicts with another device may not have an exclamation point in a yellow circle. In this case, you must determine if there is a conflict yourself.
If there is another device using any of the same settings as your modem, you need to change the setting for that device or your modem. If the device is a Plug and Play device, you may be able to do this on the Resources tab in Device Manager, although some devices may require you to change jumper pins or dip switches on the device itself. To determine the best way to change resource settings for the device, consult the documentation included with the device or your computer.
Because Windows-only modems are Plug and Play, you should be able to change the settings for the modem using Device Manager. To do so, follow these steps:
1. Double-click the Modem branch to expand it, and then double-click your Windows-only modem.
2. On the Resources tab, click the Use Automatic Settings check box to clear it.
3. In the Setting Based On box, click a basic configuration with settings that do not conflict with any other device.
NOTE: Hardware using the IRQ Holder For PCI Steering setting can be disregarded. This does not cause a resource conflict. "
I think Johnoh has it about right, so look on the bright side- think how much you will have learned once you've cracked it.
regards,
Elric

Hi again, Elric,
you were right on the sound card, even though I do not have a sound card. The onboard sound sytem was interrupting the port access of the modem. I found a red circle with a line across for the pci moden device(?). I changed the interrupt and got rid of the circle. I thought I was home free, when I rebooted, I get a new error message-remote moden is not responding. I reloaded the modem software, but it didn't do any good. i guess there is a configuration problem, I hear the click of the modem as if wants to access the telephone line and nothing else,
I thank you again as well as johnoh for your continued help,
frank