Perhaps I am installing from the wrong CD. I have the U.S. Robotics "Installation Essentials CD-ROM NAM INST 2.0," PN 1.031.0176-00. Keep in mind that this is the 005699-00 modem, which is a rectangular card without a cutout, not the 5699A with the cutout card.

I have done the following without success:

1) download and install Shockwave 7.02, required for the USR install CD.

2) download and run wmregdel (repeatedly) with the 5699 modem removed.

3) remove modem and PCI comm device entries in Safe Mode Device Manager.

4) restart normally and run Setup.exe on the USR installation CD.

5) shut down and physically insert the modem in the PC.

6) restart normally, and PCI communication device driver prompts appear.

At this point, the driver prompt agrees to neither the root nor Win_9x folders on the CD, nor the 5699 driver downloaded from the USR site. A message appears like,
"This location does not contain a driver for your hardware."

7) click "Finish" to accept the "current driver" for this device.

8) in Device Manager / Other Devices, install driver for "PCI communication device." Select Modem / 3Com / 56K FAX PCI INT. It installs on COM3, IRQ10, and appears to be OK. (The only other card is an S3 AGP.)

9) Restart normally. Device Manager looks OK.

But in Control Panel / Modems, "Properties" for the 56K FAX PCI INT entry won't click, and "Diagnostics" does not show a COM port for the modem.

I installed many modems working for an ISP, and this is the most difficult one I have ever installed.

Unless I have the wrong CD...