Problem With Windows Fax And Scan Not Connecting To Internal Modem

Just got a new Acer Aspire 5542-5416 laptop with Windows 7 64-bit Home Premium, 4 Gb of Ram, and a 320 Gb hard drive. It has a built-in 56k fax modem like the old days, but I can't get it to work. The laptop didn't come with the Windows CD.

If I open the Windows Fax And Scan program, it isn't able to connect to the modem. Basically, if I click Tools > Fax Accounts > Add..., I get a box with 2 choices: Connect to a fax modem or Connect to a fax server on my network. When I choose Connect to a fax modem I get a message that says: An error has occurred. Please try the operation later or contact your administrator. All it lets me do at that point is clock OK and them I'm right back where I started.

While in Windows Fax And Scan, if I click on Tools > Fax Settings... nothing happens. No settings menu or anything ever pops up. The program just simply does nothing. If I try Tools > Fax Status Monitor... I get a box that says Review for status, Ready to receive a fax. It has a blue progress bar like something is loading, but it only gets about 1/100 through and never goes any further or finishes. There's no check boxes, but there are 3 buttons: View details, Answer call, or Cancel. If I hit View details I get an empty list. If I click Answer call I get an error that says The fax service is unavailable.

If I try Tools > Options, the General tab only has one check box option which is checked: Play sound when new messages arrive. If I try to print a Word or .pdf file to a fax by choosing Fax from the list of printers, I get the same box with 2 choices: Connect to a fax modem or Connect to a fax server on my network, but I get the same error message: An error has occurred. Please try the operation later or contact your administrator.

I have searched the internet high and low for a solution but no luck. There are actually a lot of threads about this problem, but none of the solutions work for me. If I go to Device Manager, the modem is working properly and If I click Query Modem under the Diagnostics tab, it appears to be able to communicate with the modem just fine. I tried rolling back the driver and then updating it again, and still no luck, same problem. If I go to HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Fax\Accounts in the registry, there are no subkeys under the Accounts folder that I can delete.

Has anyone else had a similar problem? Is there a fix for this? I did a Windows Update last night and that still didn't solve it. Thanks.

 

Well, I tried contacting Acer support via e-mail. They replied very timely, but after 4-5 e-mails of canned copied-and-pasted responses, they basically said their tech support is limited and they can schedule a phone call to try to help further. The problem is that this phone call is called "Pay for support" and they charge a fee.

I'm wondering if this might be more of a Windows problem than an Acer problem anyway. So, does anyone know of a solution to this? Are there any fax freeware programs I could try instead of Windows Fax And Scan?

Thanks.

 

you might need to install the modem driver. I see Acer has a Windows 7 modem driver for your model on their support pages

 

Doublecheck that the Fax and Scan is selected in windows features
http://windows.microsoft.com/en-US/windows7/Turn-Windows-features-on-or-off

 

Also, can we assume that you have an analog and not a digital phone line?

 

Problem solved! Here's a link to the solution in case anyone has the same problem and searches on here for it:

http://social.answers.microsoft.com...e/thread/9b4ec701-24f8-445d-aa38-edf630812c50

 

Awesome, thanks for posting the resolution!

 

So it appears it was Event Log Service, not starting because of incorrect permissions by windows for the administrators group, not something you changed.

I never would have figure out no event log starting would affect the Fax and Scanner.

Thanks for digging, finding the solution and posting it for others who might have this problem.