[The Ayatollah Buggeri]

Installed a computer for a not-very IT savvy relative over the weekend, who lives in a rural area with no broadband coverage. He only really goes online to send and receive email and has used a 56k dial-up modem fo ages. When what I suspect was a PSU failure fried the motherboard of his existing machine last month, I bought a five year-old PC that my workplace was throwing out (all staff and student cluster PCs are replaced on a five-year cycle, after which staff and students can buy the withdrawn towers for £20-50, depending on the spec) plus a Windows 7 licence and set it up for him. When the computer was in use in the university, it ran on their site licence version of Windows, and so was sold to me without an operating system. The version of Windows 7 I put on it is 32-bit Home Premium. I deliberately went for the 32-bit edition to avoid possible driver compatbility issues, and as the machine only has 3GB of RAM anyway, it's not as if we're wasting any memory.

I bought a 56K modem separately, as the machine didn't come with one in it. Unfortunately, it won't work with Windows 7, despite the Ebay listing promising that it would. Windows 7 won't pick it up natively (says it's a PCI serial port adaptor), none of the drivers on the supplied CD will work and I can't find anything onlne (apart from forum discussions, the upshot of which is don't even bother trying) either. As a plan B I installed Ubuntu on a separate partition and the modem does work with that, but Grandpa has not used Ubuntu and is not comfortable with it, and so that isn't a viable solution. And besides, all his email is on Outlook, and so unless we're willing to fanny-ãrse about with Wine, that definitely isn't going to work.

So, question - can anyone point me in the direction of a 56K modem (either PCI or external USB - there is no free PCI-E slot) that they know for definite has a driver that works with Windows 7?

Many thanks in advance.

This post has been edited by The Ayatollah Buggeri: 26 March 2012 - 07:45 AM

[Bossybabe]

The Ayatollah Buggeri, on 26 March 2012 - 07:41 AM, said:

Installed a computer for a not-very IT savvy relative over the weekend, who lives in a rural area with no broadband coverage. He only really goes online to send and receive email and has used a 56k dial-up modem fo ages. When what I suspect was a PSU failure fried the motherboard of his existing machine last month, I bought a five year-old PC that my workplace was throwing out (all staff and student cluster PCs are replaced on a five-year cycle, after which staff and students can buy the withdrawn towers for £20-50, depending on the spec) plus a Windows 7 licence and set it up for him. When the computer was in use in the university, it ran on their site licence version of Windows, and so was sold to me without an operating system. The version of Windows 7 I put on it is 32-bit Home Premium. I deliberately went for the 32-bit edition to avoid possible driver compatbility issues, and as the machine only has 3GB of RAM anyway, it's not as if we're wasting any memory.

I bought a 56K modem separately, as the machine didn't come with one in it. Unfortunately, it won't work with Windows 7, despite the Ebay listing promising that it would. Windows 7 won't pick it up natively (says it's a PCI serial port adaptor), none of the drivers on the supplied CD will work and I can't find anything onlne (apart from forum discussions, the upshot of which is don't even bother trying) either. As a plan B I installed Ubuntu on a separate partition and the modem does work with that, but Grandpa has not used Ubuntu and is not comfortable with it, and so that isn't a viable solution. And besides, all his email is on Outlook, and so unless we're willing to fanny-ãrse about with Wine, that definitely isn't going to work.

So, question - can anyone point me in the direction of a 56K modem (either PCI or external USB - there is no free PCI-E slot) that they know for definite has a driver that works with Windows 7?

Many thanks in advance.

Couldn't you just install a version of XP?

[Live Peasant]

XP mode might solve that problem without too much effort.

[Secure Tenant]

Alternatively equip him with a dongle and 3G connection?

Shame the machine isn't newer and more powerful as you could run in XP mode on top of Ubuntu, using VirtualBox.

I can only assume the modem is some kind of "soft" modem, in which case its weird its works on Linux.

This post has been edited by "Steed": 26 March 2012 - 09:06 AM

[Si1]

isn't there a list of certified hardware for windows 7 on microsoft's website somewhere?

[The Ayatollah Buggeri]

XP on another partition is a fallback option (and is what I'll do if all else fails), but it would mean buying a licence; and if it is possible to avoid another £60 or so, that would be good. And as MS are only going to support XP for another two years, it does seem like a bit of a waste of money. XP mode within 7 is not an option, as we've only got the Home Premium version of 7 (the XP in a virtual machine only comes with Ultimate). Also, not sure if the VM would be able to communicate through 7 with the modem.

Will investigate compatibility list - many thanks.

[Si1]

in all seriousness, a pay by the hour mobile broadband usb dongle sounds a better option, and probably cheaper

[Secure Tenant]

Si1, on 26 March 2012 - 09:32 AM, said:

in all seriousness, a pay by the hour mobile broadband usb dongle sounds a better option, and probably cheaper

Sure and virtually any mobile phone will function as a 3G modem now. Certainly is the 21st century solution.

[bewildered_renter]

A quick lunchtime search suggest that there are external USB modems for dial up, that people have used successfully with Windows 7.

[Bloo Loo]

The Ayatollah Buggeri, on 26 March 2012 - 07:41 AM, said:

Installed a computer for a not-very IT savvy relative over the weekend, who lives in a rural area with no broadband coverage. He only really goes online to send and receive email and has used a 56k dial-up modem fo ages. When what I suspect was a PSU failure fried the motherboard of his existing machine last month, I bought a five year-old PC that my workplace was throwing out (all staff and student cluster PCs are replaced on a five-year cycle, after which staff and students can buy the withdrawn towers for £20-50, depending on the spec) plus a Windows 7 licence and set it up for him. When the computer was in use in the university, it ran on their site licence version of Windows, and so was sold to me without an operating system. The version of Windows 7 I put on it is 32-bit Home Premium. I deliberately went for the 32-bit edition to avoid possible driver compatbility issues, and as the machine only has 3GB of RAM anyway, it's not as if we're wasting any memory.

I bought a 56K modem separately, as the machine didn't come with one in it. Unfortunately, it won't work with Windows 7, despite the Ebay listing promising that it would. Windows 7 won't pick it up natively (says it's a PCI serial port adaptor), none of the drivers on the supplied CD will work and I can't find anything onlne (apart from forum discussions, the upshot of which is don't even bother trying) either. As a plan B I installed Ubuntu on a separate partition and the modem does work with that, but Grandpa has not used Ubuntu and is not comfortable with it, and so that isn't a viable solution. And besides, all his email is on Outlook, and so unless we're willing to fanny-ãrse about with Wine, that definitely isn't going to work.

So, question - can anyone point me in the direction of a 56K modem (either PCI or external USB - there is no free PCI-E slot) that they know for definite has a driver that works with Windows 7?

Many thanks in advance.

installed a USB modem for a client couple of weeks ago...W7 Pro 64 bit...works a treat.

Zoom USB V.92 56k Dongle Modem

[MrPin]

Surely, the ablity to use a "hardware modem" has not disappeared with WIndows 7?

[The Ayatollah Buggeri]

Many thanks - will get a Zoom and see if that does the trick. Much cheaper than XP at £20-ish.

Not convinced that a mobile phone dongle would be cheaper - all he ever does is dial up to download his email once or twice a week.

[dinker]

The Ayatollah Buggeri, on 26 March 2012 - 05:20 PM, said:

Many thanks - will get a Zoom and see if that does the trick. Much cheaper than XP at £20-ish.

Not convinced that a mobile phone dongle would be cheaper - all he ever does is dial up to download his email once or twice a week.

Windows 7 Compatibility Center, look under Hardware, Networking, Modems:

http://www.microsoft...us/default.aspx

[Bloo Loo]

MrPin, on 26 March 2012 - 05:08 PM, said:

Surely, the ablity to use a "hardware modem" has not disappeared with WIndows 7?

no, but the older software my client wanted to use had trouble with it.

It was banking software....it reported "noise on the line"..

I at first suspected the modem and W7, but another app worked just fine.

The problem was the old bank software....the error was with the multicore processor and W7....to make it work at all, the client has to run the program and "set affinity" to one processor...every time.

[lulu]

"Steed", on 26 March 2012 - 11:15 AM, said:

Sure and virtually any mobile phone will function as a 3G modem now. Certainly is the 21st century solution.

Believe it or not there are still parts of the country where even getting a mobile phone signal is an issue...
My parents live in a fairly rural part of the world and I can only get a signal on my phone at the far end of the village. It drives my sisters boyfriend mad when he comes to visit too as he does not get a signal on his Iphone