Phone/modem control panel won't open

[dsrubin]

I can't get my dialer to work (error is "no usable device was detected on this machine") and when I go to control panel and try to open 'Phone and modem options' I get THIS error: "Phone and modem control panel can not be opened, You may have a problem starting telephony service". Well, duh!

Interestingly, Device Manager finds the modem with no problem and even considers it 'working properly' and we have deinstalled/reinstalled it and upgraded the driver to no effect. The modem is an Agere Systems AC'97 Modem in a Thinkpad X31 with XP Pro.

Suggestions?

Dave

 

[linney]

Are there any other errors showing in your Event Viewer?

Did this modem previously work on this machine?

Xp Modem problem
thread779-576433

 

[dstorres]

I had this EXACT same thing happen and was told by supposed tech-experts that MS Service Pack 2 had caused the problem. I removed SP2 and this did not correct the problem. After tinkering around a bit more, I ended up restoring my machine to the factory image and that resolved the problem completely (no surprise). Perhaps we can try to figure out what we might have had in common on our machines that caused this problem...

 

[bcastner]

http://support.microsoft.com/?id=825826

 

[dstorres]

bcastner, Thanks for your post, but the site you reference doesn't contain information about this particular problem. Any other leads on what to when the Phone/Modem control panel doesn't appear.

 

[gpalmer711]

Try this:

Start > Run > Type services.msc > Click OK

Scroll down to the Telephony entry - What is the staryup type? It should be "Manual", if not double click on it and change the startup type to manual.

Also try starting the service - Does it start correctly? If not check the event viewer. Start > Control Panel > Admin Tools > Event Viewer.

There will be an error that matched the date and time that you tried to start the telephony service.

Greg Palmer
Freeware Utilities for Windows Administrators.

http://www.palmersoft.co.uk

 

[linney]

This can sometimes be caused by the Telephony service being disabled or not started in Services.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&...m+control+panel+cannot+be+opened"&btnG=Search

http://groups-beta.google.com/group...one+and+modem+control+panel+cannot+be+opened"

 

[dsrubin]

Yes! services.msc showed Telephony as disabled, and changing it to manual cleaned everything right up. My IT guys were stumped as was IBM (who wanted me to send the whole laptop back - sheesh!)

Thanks a ton.

Dave