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I am installing a new modem in Windows 2000/XP. How can I check that my old one is uninstalled?

USRobotics strongly recomends uninstalling any old modems from your system before installing a new one. The first step in doing this is to shut down and unplug your computer and physically remove any modems currently in it.

Note: if you have an on-board modem (one that is built into your system board) do not attempt to remove it. We will disable it later in these instructions.

Plug your computer back in and turn it on. You can check what modems are installed on your system from the Control Panel:
  1. Click Start then Control Panel.

    start control panel

  2. Windows XP users:
    1. Click Printers and Other Hardware.

      printers other hardware

    2. Click Phone and Modem Options.

      phone modem optoins

    Windows 2000 users:

    Double-click Phone and Modem Options.

    phone modem options

  3. Click Modems.

    modems tab

  4. This window displays a list of all modems installed on your system. For each one, select it and click Remove. When you are done the list should be empty.

    remove modem

  5. Reboot your computer.

Every time your computer starts up, it checks to see if new hardware has been installed in it. If it finds a new modem after you removed them all, that modem is an onboard modem. This modem will need to be disabled rather than uninstalled. You can do this from Windows Device Manager:
  1. Click Start, right-click My Computer and select Properties.

    my computer

  2. Click Hardware then Device Manager.

    system hardware

  3. Double-click Modems, right-click your modem and select Disable.

    disable

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