The son of a friend uses AOL for his broadband connection. I believe that
AOL has some kind of deal with BT as the modem supplied is a standard USB BT
Voyager 150. The problem is that from power up, the modem isn't recognised.
He's had quite a few problems with the laptop since his dad bought it as a
present so I recently rebuilt it for him so I'm reasonably sure that it's
got the latest drivers. Also, as you don't need that annoying AOL software,
I've configured it with the standard BT drivers.
Part of these drivers is a system tray tool that displays the current
hardware status of the modem. On power-up, the modem just isn't recognised.
Unplug and plug back in and the LEDs on the modem light up, the icon starts
flashing different colours going green after a few seconds. At that point,
you can connect without a hitch.
I've done a search on Usenet and found a few references to problems with
this modem and the VIA chipset. Something about the modem possibly drawing
too much power or incompatabilities with the VIA chipset.
Anyone else heard about this? A potential solution is to try plugging in a
powered USB hub to see if it is power related.
Thanks, Rob.
