New HP computer / Agere windmodem / windows xp home / error 619 - any ideas?

[Jeff]

...this seems like too common a theme... but once again...

A friend got a brand new HP 3.06 Ghz computer and asked me to help set it up. Seemed like an easy job and everything seemed to go perfectly. When you turn on the HP for the first time it runs their non-interactive setup which takes around 8 minutes and produced no visible errors or other output. Rebooted into xp and everything looked good. Connected to the local ISP without issue and ran windows update. Rebooted and reconnected to the local dialup ISP without any problems. That was Friday. After I left they turned off the computer.

They turned it on today, Wednesday, and went to connect to the local dialup ISP and got to "verifying username and password" and then were presented with an Error #619 unable to connect. Tried multiple times with the same message, and then called me. I had them try a second known working username and password and create a new dialup connection from the network connections screen with the same result - instead of the normal quick verification it would take about 90 seconds and then return an error #619. (I was able to connect to the same ISP while on the phone with them from my location without problems so I don't believe it's the ISP.) I then had them go to control panel -> phone and modem options and click properties for the modem -> diagnostics -> query modem and that completed without any errorors and retunred what sounded like all normal responses from the modem (can get more details tommorrow, but I'm not sure exactly what I'm looking for.)

Powered computer off and then on and got the same result.

The interesting thing is that no software was installed or any other changes made to the computer between working and not working. Going further, no new software was installed at all except an HP printer driver for the USB all in one printer. Although there is a lot of software preloaded on the computer, but I woudn't think any of that would 'change on it's own' between one session and the next, and I'm not sure what type of software interaction would cause the sudden error 619.

The OS is Windows XP Home.

The Modem is an Agere Winmodem.

Any ideas on what to have them try next, or what to try myself next if I have to make another housecall?

--I hate winmodems, even brand new brand name winmodems

[Andilinks]

This page seems to be on point, it doesn't tell a lot but may provide a clue.

http://www.mcdermottroe.com/kb/Win9x/dun/619.php

Have you tried System Restore? It seems too soon to have (m)any restore points but if there is one, I'd try it.

Good luck.

Andi

[Randall]

You might take a hard look at the HP all-in-one drivers. Their software can be a real headache -- so much so that I'm thinking of recommending Brother's MFPs instead.

Randall

[Jeff]

The above link (and others like it I found on google) says:
Error 619: The port is disconnected.
This often happens when another program is using the modem. Disable all fax software.

If this does not work then shutdown and turn off the computer. This forces the port to close properly.

If it still gives this error try reinstalling the modem. (Be careful with WinModems as they have often a lot of extra disks)

If not, contact the manufacturer and get them to sort it out.

What confuses me a little is that the modem actually dials and then gets to "verifying username and password" and then stops with the error 619 after 90 seconds. I would not have anticipated it would get to the "verifying username and password" at all if another program were using the port, like the printer drivers or fax software??? Also if another program were interfering with the port I would have thought I wouldn't have been able to query the modem from the control panel ???

I'll see if there are any system restore points, and also try removing the hp printer and see if that makes any difference.

[Randall]

Could it be some other piece of software is polling the modem after the connection's been made and knocking them offline? I'd start by removing the HP all-in-one's fax driver and go from there.

Randall

[Jeff]

Hmmm... well, my friend worked it out on their own with the ISP but I wasn't able to get details on what the root problem was. So I'm afraid it may remain a mystery unless it resurfaces. Thanks for all the suggestions in the thread, and sorry I don't have the answer to conclude with.

[Jeff]

As a followup, the problem reoccurred, went away, and then reoccurred and they couldn't get rid of it again no matter what they tried.

So I went over again.

First I uninstalled everything that might be using or modifying the use of the modem (printer/all-in-one-hp drivers, antivirus, firewall, etc.) But no change. Uninstalled and reinstalled the modem (via the control panel) and no change. Properties/diagnostics showed all good - no errors when querying the modem, and device manager showed no conflicts. Short on ideas, I decided to do an XP rollback to when it was working on April 2nd (rollback point created by printer driver installation the first day I installed everything and everything was working) but still after the rollback the error 619 persisted.

At this point, if it were my computer I would probably have thrown away the Agere winmodem and put in a hardware modem, but since this was a virtually brand new computer (it had been used about 4 hours total since new on April 2nd and had no software installed except for printer drivers and XP upgrades) I decided to call HP.

First support had me go through the normal things that I had already done. Then they tried a hyperterminal connection to their server, which connected but didn't get to the 'ask for user/pass' as they expected, and they didn't know what to make of that. Finally they were out of ideas, so they recommended I do an HP system restore and call back - they gave me the steps and I began. 25 minutes later the computer came back after everything from the hp hidden restore partition had been copied over, but to my dismay I noticed that some settings were still there as was the error 619. I called HP back and they said "sorry we forgot to mention you need to click "advanced" to do a destructive restore - the default is a nondestructive restore - do that and call back. So I did that and 25 minutes later the computer came back up reformatted and with everything cloned back over from the hidden HP partition. But still the error 619. So I called back again, and after talking with a supervisor they said "take the modem out and put it in any other slot". And that finally solved it. Strange that the image and hardware as delivered had this odd glitch. Nothing else I could see was using com3, but now that it's on com4 and in a different pci slot it is at least working for 2 days now :)

[Randall]

So I called back again, and after talking with a supervisor they said "take the modem out and put it in any other slot". And that finally solved it. Don't you just love that? :P

This seems to be a night designed to make me more paranoid about HP's computers than I already was. Between your experinece and my discussion with Chipmunk, I'm convinced that the only "recovery" option for HPs is buying a computer from someone else.

The fact that one of their machines bit me an hour ago isn't exactly getting them on my good side. :mad:

Randall