Windows Update installed the new driver for this modem with no problem, and based on a few simple tests, it apparently works fine (although I am not bothering with Modem-on-Hold).

QUESTION: As an alternative to letting Windows Update do the installation, what procedures should be used to install this driver after downloading it from Windows Update Catalog? I have been able to download the driver, but my installation procedures do not install it successfully (details below).

DETAILS:

After Windows Update installed the new driver, Device Manager gives the following information:

In Conexant D480 MDC V.92 Modem Properties,
Driver tab, the version is 7.23.0.0, 17 March 2005;
Driver Details, the file versions are 3.4.1.0, Not Present, 7.23.00 (3), 1.0.2.006, 1.0.014, and 1.0.2.006;
Diagnostics tab, Query Modem, the ATI3 command reports version SoftK56V_B2.1_V7.23.00.

For the physical modem, its detailed description (Label Information) is: Conexant D480 MDC v.92 Modem

Underside: Conexant RD01-D480 E93908
DP/N: Y0231 ASUS
Top Side: IC: 3652B-RD01D480 Rev A02
Made in China
[DS/N?] CN-0Y0231-69861-522-31F1 (Bar Code)

My new-to-me computer is a Dell Latitude C840 laptop, with Windows 2000 Sp4 freshly clean installed (bare hard drive). The process of installing drivers is now almost complete, but no software has been installed.

Every installation of a modem driver described here was done when using (or after restoring a previous) Norton Ghost Partition C image made prior to ANY modem installation, so that no modem has ever been installed "over" any previous modem installation.
(Prior to each attempted modem driver installation, Device Manager had no Modem entry, but Other Devices, PCI Device both had yellow asterisks.)

As noted above, Windows Update installed the new driver with no problem. But for me, installing it from a downloaded file does not work.

If I download the modem driver itself from Windows Update Catalog, it downloads as a cabinet file located at the end of a very long path:
\WU\Driver\en\com_microsoft_whql.modems\x86win2k\com_microsoft_whql.9999481\9999481.cab

These folders contain only subfolders and no files, with two exceptions: WU contains not only the Driver folder but also iuhist_catalog.xml. And the final folder (com_microsoft_whql.9999481) contains not only the cabinet file but also a ReadMore internet shortcut, which yields only a "The page cannot be found" message. (The same link at the Windows Update site itself generates the same error message.)

I tried installing the file using this path and cabinet file, but the Update Device Driver Wizard would not recognize a cabinet file (even after Win2k unpacked it) and find the needed del5422k.inf file.

So I started over again, restored the previous image, rebooted, unpacked the 9999481.cab contents (12 files) and copied them into C:\Dell\Drivers\Conexant9999481\
and opened Device Manager . . . Upgrade Device Driver Wizard. (Note that this procedure ignores iuhist_catalog.xml. I have read that file, but I have no understanding of it.)

The Wizard finished and said that the modem was installed, but the Driver tab did NOT show the new 7.23 version (which I know from the Windows Update installation).

And although the Driver Details file versions matched the Windows installation, after one reboot that file list disappeared, and Driver Details then listed only one file: C:\WinNT\system32\drivers\modem.sys, version 5.0.2195.6655, created 08-May-01, modified 19-Jun-03.

I've had this failed installation result with three separate Wizard variants:

a) Search for a suitable driver > Specify a Location > Browse to C:\Dell\Drivers\Conexant9999481\del5422k.inf, and proceed from there;

b) Display a list of the known drivers > Modem > [> Standard Modem Types / Standard 56000 bps V90 Modem] > Have Disk > Browse to C:\Dell\Drivers\Conexant9999481\del5422k.inf > select Conexant D480 vice 110 > and proceed from there;

c) Same as b) except that c) omits the step in square brackets [] (instead, nothing is selected before going to Have Disk).

So if anyone knows of a different procedure that would work, or understands why all three of my procedures don't work, please let me know.

BACKGROUND

When I received this computer in November 2004 (purchased on eBay, fortunately with an inheritable 3 year Dell warranty, remaining coverage until April 2006), it made a sharp cracking noise --- which reminded me of what a short circuit, and which was loud enough to wake up one's light-sleeping seatmate on an airplane --- on standby, hibernate, shutdown, and restart.

After much flailing around over five months (I'm still using my old computer), Dell Premier support finally realized that the problem was the original PCTel 2304WT MDC modem.

So a few weeks ago Dell replaced the physical modem with a Conexant D480 MDC V.92 Modem. The driver I downloaded from Dell was Conexant D480 MDC v9x Modem Driver A14-R85243, 29-Sep-04.

This v.9x driver installs easily (simply double click the file), and does work, but because the modem is v.92, I wanted the Windows Update v.92 driver not only because it is v.92 vice v.9x but also because it is more recent: 17-Mar-05 vice 29-Sep-04.

As noted above, the Windows Update version works when Windows Update installs it.

However, since I am running Windows 2000, for which Microsoft will drop support later this year, I cannot be sure that Windows Update will always have this driver available for me. Therefore, I want to have my own copy of the driver, in case for some reason I need to re-install it.

But if I can't install it, having it does me no good.

FINAL BACKGROUND COMMENTS

Incidentally, with either Dell's v.9x or Windows Update's v.92 driver, the new modem almost totally eliminated the cracking noise on standby, hibernate, and shutdown (if you hadn't heard the noise before, you probably wouldn't notice it now). The restart noise is still there, perhaps a tad quieter. To deal with that remaining noise, Dell replaced not only the modem but the speakers (attached to the palmrest's underside). That replacement had no noticeable benefit.

Previously, Dell's Premier Support reps had ordered a hard drive replacement because pulling it eliminated the noise. But Dell --- and I, but I'm an economist not a computer expert --- should have realized that the loud (vice slight) cracking noise was dependent on the Audio driver having been installed, and removing the hard drive obviously pulled the audio driver.

Dell also replaced the motherboard --- twice --- once before and once after the hard drive replacement. Presumably the motherboard replacements were motivated by a belief that the C840 speakers were on the motherboard (apparently their location on most Dell laptops), rather than under the palmrest. Nobody at Dell's repair depot apparently read my notes, which included a request that the depot listen to the loud cracks before any repair, and then test the repair to see if it had fixed the noise.

Dell replaced so much hardware that two weeks ago Dell offered me a new latest D800 series laptop in exchange for my C840 --- an offer to which I said thanks but no thanks, because the C840's configuration suits my needs better. The manager reading my file still hadn't realized that the hard drive and motherboard replacements were not hardware failures (Dell reps had begun describing my C840 as a "lemon") but Dell's failures in training its support personnel.

I'll not pursue the remaining restart loud cracking noise any further; I've redefined it as a design failure. I'm not likely to need to restart on an airplane because I won't be doing system upgrades or installing new software.

I can't imagine how Dell remains profitable.

In opportunity cost of my time, it's been incredibly expensive for me. I have spent hundreds and hundreds of hours on this noise issue, and on other issues (e.g. discovering the correct sequence for Dell driver installation, and especially getting my Dell C840 computer running Win2k to work with Dell's beautiful 20" rotatable 2001FP flat panel monitor. The solution was to install Dell's NVidia graphics adapter, then upgrading it to NVidia website's graphics adapter, then installing Dell's driver for the 2001FP, then connecting the 2001FP. I discovered that sequence; A varety of Dell support reps said things that give me clues but not the final procedure.

But I'm hoping that that my five month nightmare is over.

Thanks to anyone, for any help or suggestions on how to install a driver downloaded from Windows Update Catalog. (Note that my inability to do that is NOT a Dell failure; it's me wanting a driver that I think will be more appropriate than the one Dell provides.)

Is that the same situation when you try to update driver from the download? - In other words, you have the Dell driver installed and are using the Update Driver button on the modem listing from Device Manager?

Standard modem - would refer to a full hardware-controller based modem and entirely different driver requirements. I would expect you should be able to update the driver with the download if the older driver is installed/working at the time you do the update.

My apologies for taking so long to respond to your message. When I didn't get any responses for more than two weeks, I had concluded that I never would get any, so I stopped checking.

> Would I be correct to assume that when Windows Update successfully updates the driver, the modem is installed/functional with the older Dell driver? <

No, because that's not what I did. Before letting Windows Update install the driver, I restored a backup image on which no modem driver was installed. So Windows Update didn't actually "update" the Dell driver; it installed the v.92 modem driver on to a hard drive that had no modem driver installed (i.e. Device Manager had a yellow warning for PCI devices because none was installed).

As I wrote in my original message <grin>: "Every installation of a modem driver described here was done when using (or after restoring a previous) Norton Ghost Partition C image made prior to ANY modem installation, so that no modem has ever been installed "over" any previous modem installation. (Prior to each attempted modem driver installation, Device Manager had no Modem entry, but Other Devices, PCI Device both had yellow asterisks.)"

> Is that the same situation when you try to update driver from the download? - In other words, you have the Dell driver installed and are using the Update Driver button on the modem listing from Device Manager? <

It's the same situation I have described in my first paragraph in this message --- i.e. the Dell driver is NOT installed because no driver is installed.

Since Windows Update was willing to install a modem driver on to a hard drive that had no modem driver installed, I was trying to do likewise, using a modem driver file downloaded from Windows Catalog.

My purpose was to have a file that would install the latest Conexant modem driver "de novo," i.e. "from scratch."

> Standard modem - would refer to a full hardware-controller based modem and entirely different driver requirements. I would expect you should be able to update the driver with the download if the older driver is installed/working at the time you do the update. <

Understood, and thanks for that information. What I was trying to do, however (I've since given up) is to initially install rather than update the latest modem driver, using a downloaded file to do what Windows Update did automatically.