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Hi Shane B,
Welcome to the eForum -- let's see if wee can get to the bottom of this for you.
Firstly, when you say it "still fails", can you confirm for me exactly what happens now, from when you first plug in the dongle through the install to the point of failyure, including any exact alerts you receive. Is this the same as you saw before, or has this changed.
When you're reinstalling, I'd make sure that you check for the latest version of the VMC software to ensure that this is up to date.
Similarly, at the time your VMC started failing, had you made any changes to the computer, including any automatic updates or new installations?
When the dongle is plugged in, do you see any lights on it - if so, what colour are they and what are they doing (e.g. constant, flashing, etc).
Can you also try the dongle in a different USB port in case the issue lies there for me, and check the icons in the system box next to the clock to see if anything there has connected to the dongle as a mass storage device in error - this would mean that the dongle has been misidentified, and you need to close that connection down to free it up.
Finally, when you plug the dongle in, you say you're checking Device Manager and that it doesn't show as a modem, but does anything show up under CDROM drives, Ports (COM + LPT) orv USB controllers? If you have these sections open on device manager when you plug it in then you should see a record appear for the modem in each list.
Get back to us and let us know if the above has helped - we'll be happy to check into this further with this extra information to guide us!
DaveN
eForum Team
Welcome to the eForum -- let's see if wee can get to the bottom of this for you.
Firstly, when you say it "still fails", can you confirm for me exactly what happens now, from when you first plug in the dongle through the install to the point of failyure, including any exact alerts you receive. Is this the same as you saw before, or has this changed.
When you're reinstalling, I'd make sure that you check for the latest version of the VMC software to ensure that this is up to date.
Similarly, at the time your VMC started failing, had you made any changes to the computer, including any automatic updates or new installations?
When the dongle is plugged in, do you see any lights on it - if so, what colour are they and what are they doing (e.g. constant, flashing, etc).
Can you also try the dongle in a different USB port in case the issue lies there for me, and check the icons in the system box next to the clock to see if anything there has connected to the dongle as a mass storage device in error - this would mean that the dongle has been misidentified, and you need to close that connection down to free it up.
Finally, when you plug the dongle in, you say you're checking Device Manager and that it doesn't show as a modem, but does anything show up under CDROM drives, Ports (COM + LPT) orv USB controllers? If you have these sections open on device manager when you plug it in then you should see a record appear for the modem in each list.
Get back to us and let us know if the above has helped - we'll be happy to check into this further with this extra information to guide us!
DaveN
eForum Team
Hi Shane B,
Hmmm, this does sound rather strange
, if you're getting that error message when installing VMC from the modem and from the website then that would tell me that there's some kind of software conflict somewhere. The fact that all of the device compenents except for the modem driver are present also indicates a problem.
What I would suggest you do is as follows. Firstly uninstall all of the modem components within device manager, that includes the ones you have mentioned above as well as the USB Mass Storage Device and USB Composite Device (both found within Universal Serial Bus Controllers). Once you've done this I'd delete any Vodafone dial up connection (if any are present) by going to Start > Control Panel > Network and sharing centre > Manage Network Connections.
Finally, I'd recommend removing any installation of VMC if it shows in Programs and Features (found in the Control Panel). Once everything is removed I'd recommend rebooting the PC and then perfoming a process known as a "clean boot" as this will help identify which program, if any, is interfering and causing the issue. A Clean Boot can be applied as follows:
To Apply “Clean Boot” on Windows XP:
1. Click Start > Run.
2. In the Run window, type following text:
msconfig
3. Click OK.
The System Configuration Utility appears.
4. Click the General tab.
Click on Selective Startup and make sure that "Load System Services" is the only item checked.
(You will be unable to unselect "Use Original BOOT.INI." This is OK).
5. Click the Services tab.
6. Select Hide all Microsoft Services.
Warning Do not skip this step. You must hide the Microsoft Services before you go on to step 7.
7. Clear all the services that are still displayed on the Services tab.
8. Click Apply > OK.
9. Click Restart.
To Apply "Clean Boot" on Windows Vista:
1. Click Start Menu, and type msconfig in the search bar.
2. Hit return (or double left click) on returned Msconfig file to launch System Configuration utility.
The System Configuration Utility appears.
3. Ensure the General tab is selected.
4. Click on Selective Startup and make sure that "Load System Services" is the only item checked.
(You will be unable to unselect "Use Original BOOT.INI." This is OK).
5. Click the Services tab.
6. Select Hide all Microsoft Services.
Warning Do not skip this step. You must hide the Microsoft Services before you go on to step 7.
7. Clear all the services that are still displayed on the Services tab by selecting “Disable All”.
8. Click Apply > OK.
9. Click Restart.
If error is cleared then indicates a conflict with another service or application running on the machine. This will require enabling each service/application one by one and retesting to find the service/application at fault.
Note: When you have completed your troubleshooting, follow the steps in the next section to configure Windows to perform a Normal startup.
To Reverse Clean Boot:
Restore your computer to its original settings
1. Rerun MSConfig utility as detailed above
2. On the general tab click Normal Startup.
3. Click OK.
4. Click Restart
Let me know how you get on with the above
.
George
eForum Team
Hmmm, this does sound rather strange
, if you're getting that error message when installing VMC from the modem and from the website then that would tell me that there's some kind of software conflict somewhere. The fact that all of the device compenents except for the modem driver are present also indicates a problem.What I would suggest you do is as follows. Firstly uninstall all of the modem components within device manager, that includes the ones you have mentioned above as well as the USB Mass Storage Device and USB Composite Device (both found within Universal Serial Bus Controllers). Once you've done this I'd delete any Vodafone dial up connection (if any are present) by going to Start > Control Panel > Network and sharing centre > Manage Network Connections.
Finally, I'd recommend removing any installation of VMC if it shows in Programs and Features (found in the Control Panel). Once everything is removed I'd recommend rebooting the PC and then perfoming a process known as a "clean boot" as this will help identify which program, if any, is interfering and causing the issue. A Clean Boot can be applied as follows:
To Apply “Clean Boot” on Windows XP:
1. Click Start > Run.
2. In the Run window, type following text:
msconfig
3. Click OK.
The System Configuration Utility appears.
4. Click the General tab.
Click on Selective Startup and make sure that "Load System Services" is the only item checked.
(You will be unable to unselect "Use Original BOOT.INI." This is OK).
5. Click the Services tab.
6. Select Hide all Microsoft Services.
Warning Do not skip this step. You must hide the Microsoft Services before you go on to step 7.
7. Clear all the services that are still displayed on the Services tab.
8. Click Apply > OK.
9. Click Restart.
To Apply "Clean Boot" on Windows Vista:
1. Click Start Menu, and type msconfig in the search bar.
2. Hit return (or double left click) on returned Msconfig file to launch System Configuration utility.
The System Configuration Utility appears.
3. Ensure the General tab is selected.
4. Click on Selective Startup and make sure that "Load System Services" is the only item checked.
(You will be unable to unselect "Use Original BOOT.INI." This is OK).
5. Click the Services tab.
6. Select Hide all Microsoft Services.
Warning Do not skip this step. You must hide the Microsoft Services before you go on to step 7.
7. Clear all the services that are still displayed on the Services tab by selecting “Disable All”.
8. Click Apply > OK.
9. Click Restart.
If error is cleared then indicates a conflict with another service or application running on the machine. This will require enabling each service/application one by one and retesting to find the service/application at fault.
Note: When you have completed your troubleshooting, follow the steps in the next section to configure Windows to perform a Normal startup.
To Reverse Clean Boot:
Restore your computer to its original settings
1. Rerun MSConfig utility as detailed above
2. On the general tab click Normal Startup.
3. Click OK.
4. Click Restart
Let me know how you get on with the above
.George
eForum Team
