Why would a modem driver update help ?

Ive read many posts where the solution to a dialup networking issue was resolved by updating the modem driver. However I cannot find information on why this was a solution.

What, specifically, does the modem driver do ?

Why would a dialup networking connection work one day and not the next, only to be resolved by updating the modem driver ?

Rather than update the driver to see if that resolves the issue, is there a test that can be run to know beforehand if the modem driver is the likely cause of the error in question ?

Sorry for such a basic question (and the possibility that I cross posted this).

-David

 

usually if you get a red X on the item in device manager either means the part has died or the driver has gone wrong. could be because of a duff shutdown, or somtimes drivers just screw themselves up for no apparent reason. If its a proper fax modem its more important, because they run totally seperate unlike winmodems which are essentially run by windows built in drivers.

Feel free to correct me

 

Thank you very much for the quick response. Those reasons certainly seem logical. But in your examples Im going to guess that simply reinstalling the same driver would fix things. Im a little more interested in why the only solution is to install a new version of the driver.

I am the last person in the world to correct anyones answer ! But thanks for the offer

 

I've got a little time on my hands, im gunna research how windows manages modem driver settings..

Ok, from what i can tell, all the settings for running a modem are within the driver settings, which are in the registry or in a dll/ini file thats part of the driver. Much with the same with any driver, a newer version of the driver might have fixes for certain problems with some setups after certain configuration changes. For example, i used to have a modem (oh those good old days!) which would dissapear when i cleaned out my registry, and I would have to undo the changes made by it. When i updated my driver (and admitadley the registry cleaner too) the problem dissapeared. Perhaps it used a different method for its settings? Or it now put valid information against the device. (the problem was in this case the driver had invalid data against the device in the registry, so the registry cleaner thought it was rubbish and so deleted the values for me, leaving me with a dissapeared modem)

But anyway, back on track. http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;306580
There is an example of a driver conflict with a certain computer setup, in this case its the chipset thats the problem, and the fact that its a soft modem (win modem essentially). That particular problem is associated with Speedstep technology, which is what the problem is. It may be possible that a registry cleaner or somthing else could change the value to the problematic one for no apparent reason because of an error somewhere.

http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;319908
Another article about drivers generally.

Will probably edit this message to be more useful in a bit
Ok, some more info:
http://www.tiscali.co.uk/help/modem/drivers
That could be a problem you encounter. Ive not a clue why this could happen, but it could.

But, to conclude: If you are having any problems with any device, the driver usually has somthing to do with it. A driver is an interface between windows (software) and the device itself (hardware). Windows (generally) doesnt have faults, and if it does theres usually a patch for it, when talking to drivers. But the drivers (who are written by different people to windows) can have problems understanding the instructions windows gives it, or might translate it wrongly into the signals the modem needs to function. Which is what driver updates are for. If you change a setting which changes how Windows talks to the driver, then you may find an area the driver doesnt support very well.

Goodness, sorry for the big essay, but i hope its helped a bit. Im sure someone else can come here and clean up anything i got wrong.

 

I guess what Im hearing is that there is no way to know the modem driver is at issue unless updating it solves a particular problem.

 

Basically, yeah