I am trying to use a modem that is on com port 5, but the walmart disk only searches in com port 1 and says I don't have a modem. I manually told walmart to look in com port 5 and it said it wasn't a valid port. I am using win95 and I can't see where to change the port to 1. I've reinstalled the modem several times and it always installs to com port 5. The only other card I have is a sound card.

I've had similar problems with modems and Com ports. Try disabling Com ports 1 and 2 in the Bios. Maybe you will luck out and the driver will switch to 1 or 2. As a last resort you could switch to an external modem.

Is this modem an old ISA card? (in a brown slot on the motherboard) If so, it may be jumpered to be COM 5. You'll have to look at the documentation to change the jumper setting to change the com port setting.
If it's PCI plug n Play (in a white slot on the motherboard), I would go into device manager and remove all of your com ports, then use the add new hardware applet in the control panel and let the PC search for your com ports.
On a system of that vintage, you probably have 2 serial ports, one 9 pin and one 25 pin.
The modem software, if it's a newer plug n Play PCI card, it should allow you to set the modem up on a virtual com port, like com 3 for instance.
Good Luck
Raincheck

thanks, will post back

no go. First- it's a pci. I went into the bios and didn't see any com port settings, but there was a modem setting with the choice of irq 3, irq 4, or irq none. I tried both 3 and 4, neither worked. The modem keeps installing to com port 5. There has got to be a solution. The modem software just has the driver and some other programs. I didn't see anything about manually setting the com port.
Also, I deleted the com ports and reinstalled them . No help.

anymore suggestions? help please.

If your com ports are on-board there will be an option in cmos to configure them. Maybe under 'integrated peripherals'.

Is the modem setup OK? Go to modems in control panel and click the diagnostic tab. Click once on the modem to highlight it and then click 'more info'.

By 'walmart disk' do you mean an ISP disk you got from walmart?

the diags under modem in control panel says the information is corrupt when I click on "more info". I've installed and reinstalled. It finds the driver and installes and looks fine in device manager. Yes, it's a walmart isp disk

That's an odd message to get. Are you sure the modem is good and that you've got the right drivers? I'd think the problem may be there instead of with the ISP disk.

Sometimes installing the modem in a different slot can help. Try the PCI slot that's closest to the ISA slots. With some computers that seems to work the best.

Did you check again in cmos to see about the com ports?

do you mean bios? I can't find any settings in bios for com port, just irq settings.

correction- when I go to control panel, click on modem- the modem is listed in the general tab. When I highlight it and click on properties it says "the modem information cannot be displayed because the modem info is corrupt. Remove the modem and add it again. (which I did many times) When I click on diags it's not list (com port 1- no modem installed) is all there is in diags.

Keep in mind that I have installed about 8 new modems so far, all different kinds and all new. I have tried all the pci slots.

I don't know much about manually setting irq's- but could this be an issue? The bios offers me to set the modem on irq 3 or 4, and I've tried them both

(read previous messege first) I'll be checking back later tonight and tomorrow. I gotta get this thing right. Tomorrow I plan to reinstall again and whatever else I can find out to do

The modem irq in cmos/bios/setup is, I think, just a 'wake on' setting meaning that if it's enabled and that particular irq pops up, the system will wake from standby. You don't need to worry about that setting to set up the modem itself.

Are you absolutely certain you can't disable the com ports in cmos? That option will be on a different page than the 'wake on' setting.

For the moment forget about the ISP. Until you can successfully run diagnostics the ISP disk doesn't matter. Forget about manually setting up the modem. Windows should be able to set it up. Also you may need to go to add/remove programs in control panel and remove any old modem stuff still there. If you've manually created any com ports in device manager in an attempt to set the modem to the created port, remove them. A PnP modem will not set up at an existing hardware port.

When you installed any of those modems did 95 see them as PnP, that is, did the 'new hardware found' box come up? If not you may need to check the PnP settings in cmos. If you have a 'PnP OS' option in cmos, enable it. That will allow windows more flexibility to configure the hardware.

That is, the only com ports that show up in 'ports' in device manager should be the on-board ports on the motherboard. A virtual modem com port will not show up there.

Also is this a Compaq?

update, I put in an old isa modem and everything worked fine! I checked everything you suggested but no go. Never did find any com ports in the bios. There were a couple ports (serial a and b) but no com ports. I would have like to resolve this so I can add a 56k, but am going to throw in the towel and just be glad I got an isa modem to work. I'll check back in case you think of something missed. Thanks for helping!

The serial ports are the com ports. I guess that could be confusing if you're not used to the terminology.

As long as the ISA modem works OK you may as well stick with it.

ahhh. thanks for the info!