just to make sure try a different phone line and if possible a different wall jack location for the phone plug.

did the modem work for the previous owner? it is possible they did not use the modem if they had broadband.

Thanks, RC. The woman's computer was tied into the university's system, if that means anything. But, first things first. Does this laptop have a built it modem? Or, does one have to buy one? I recall that the former owner said she had a desktop at home. So, I imagine she never used a dial up modem at college. I have an older notebook and took its modem card and installed it. My friend's computer recognized it but I still got the standard wording: being used by another program; make sure dialing options are correct; and so on. I'll keep working at it. Will appreciate all help and advice. Thanks, Gene

From distant memory of modems there are 2 sockets on each. One for incoming phone line and the other to attach the telephone so you are not cut off from the world. Any chance you might have it in the wrong socket?

Go to Device manager, modem. Double click it .. look around there. Should show COM port and probably even has a modem test button.

In device manager you can also look at PORTS.

Howdy, folks. I appreciate your help. Nothing has worked. On this computer there are side by side connectors. One for a phone line and another that looks similar but for high speed hook up. Could it be the internal modem is continuously accessing the high speed slot although nothing is connected? Something makes the computer give a message like "COM3 is being used by another device". Any more thoughts? Ideas? Thanks, Gene

You might look around in the progam that opens after typing into your run line;
msinfo32

Thanks, Mikie. I wonder how many of us have never accessed the msinfo32 data. I hadn't. I'm much too lacking in tech knowledge to understand what I see. But thanks to folks like you, and Google, I can try to track down what could be relevant to my problem. I've sent a question to Gateway. I hope they offer something different from what I've checked out through Device Manager. I'll be glad to hear whatever you or anyone else has to say. Gene

Sorry about posting two notes in a row. I still need help. I'll try to simplify my explanation of the problem.

Modem is on port Com3. Port Com3 always says it's being used by another device and will not let modem access it.

Device Manager, modem, says it's working properly and connected to Com3. Device Manager, ports, shows only the Com1 port and an LPT1 port in use. It says nothing about a Com3 port.

I keep thinking there's possibly a simple fix. Seems I've been through everything. Gateway replied saying they sold their support service. That someone said laptop is too old to support.

I found out the laptop had been used commercially. The prior owner could have bought it through the college. She used it there four years.

All thoughts, idea, opinions, etc. will be appreciated. Thanks, Gene

It may be that the system administrator somehow locked out the dialup access.

The other thing is, does she have a dialup internet service, or a broadband service? She will need to sign up for one or the other.

I suspect it's an admin thing (can you log in as administrator?) or perhaps some leftover software from her college setup.

It may work if she can connect to a broadband modem like a dsl modem or cable internet, using the ethernet (larger phone jack) which will circumvent the dialup issue.

I guess the other question is, have you attempted to configure it, using the internet connection wizard or whatever? Like I say, just plugging it into a phone line will not get her on the internet unless she has a dialup account with someone. When you look at the cost of it, it's probably just as cheap to go with dsl or cable, and infinitely superior.

In the end, format/reinstall everything, assuming your friend has the original disks that came with the computer.

In the absence of that, and not wanting to purchase operating system software (XP may be as high as you can go and to purchase a legit copy will cost as much as a new low-end computer)

If this friend is a really good friend and you feel confident enough to do it, you could install some form of Linux on there that's absolutely free but you'll need to ensure that there are drivers etc available for that particular model - you may want to do some research on that.

As I say, Linux is free and you can get lots of free applications like OPenOffice which is a pretty good, free substitute for MS office.

You can either download and burn to disk or flash drive a linux installer, or buy a computer magazine that has a linux distro on it, back when all I could get was dialup, I used to do that quite often.

Not sure what else to suggest except maybe recommend she gets a Mac if all else fails... ;)