Re: setting up the fax
Carrie wrote:
> Silly, I know, but when I first tried faxing I didn't know it
> couldn't be ONLINE (phone line used for dialup) to fax. I've never
> worked in an office and nobody ever told or showed me how. This isn't
> even a real fax machine, it's a computer hooked to a scanner.
Faxing can be done over a phone line using a data/fax analog modem. My
guess is the one you have is built into the motherboard so the chipset
drivers for that motherboard must get installed. Is the RJ-11 port
into which you plug the phone line to the computer in the backpanel set
of connectors (all grouped together) or is it a port on a card edge in
a slot?
Faxing can also be done over the Internet. I've pretty much beaten
that to death in my prior posts. I might end up spending hours trying
to install, troubleshoot, and configure a hardware voice/data/fax modem
(onboard or daughtercard) along with its software. My 85-year old
step-mom can create an eFax account and install their software in 5
minutes to receive faxes for free, and there's no setup to send faxes
using FaxZero. She finds using a web browser to send and e-mail to
receive a lot easier than trying to figure out the hardware and then
learning how to use the fax software. She isn't a business that has to
deal with dozens of faxes per day so she doesn't need all that
management for faxes.
If the modem is a separate component (i.e., not built-in but instead a
daughtercard in a slot), you can get the drivers from whomever
manufacturers that data/fax analog modem. If the maker isn't
identified on the card edge (the blank with port cutouts) then you'll
have to open the computer to look inside. Utilities that scan for
hardware will tell you the chip type on the modem, not who made the
modem card. There can be differences in how different modem makers
deploy a chip on their card so a driver for one card make not work
properly for another card using the same chip or some functions may be
lost. "Rockwell v90" is probably only identifying the modem chip, not
the modem card. If the modem chip is on the motherboard then you need
the chipset drivers for that motherboard.
I don't see that you've yet identified your computer. It's a Dell.
Okay. But which model? Once you get that off the sticker on the case,
go to Dell's web site and check for drivers, especially any that are
for the motherboard or chipset. Most Dells that I've seen have the
analog modem chip on the motherboard but a few simply met their specs
(Dell sells by specs, not by a specific hardware complement) by using a
modem daughtercard.
If you go to
http://support.dell.com/support/index.aspx, click on the
button for drivers & downloads. You can enter your model and walk
through the wizard. I suspect entering the service tag number more
accurately identifies your host and might reduce the number of further
prompts.
> I don't understand what you mean about the "not Dell" etc. I got it
> from Dell I set it up on their website and paid for it.
"then a box comes up saying to put in the Win XP instal CD. Which I
don't have (didn't get from Dell)". That was YOUR statement in your
original post.
> It's a an XPS 400 with WIN XP Media edition. It came with a round
> piece of paper that looks like a CD and says no CD is needed because
> the restoration files are built in.
That means the restore image is in a hidden partition on your hard
disk. There should be instructions in their manual that tells you how
to create recovery CDs. My step-mom never bothered to follow those
instructions. When her Windows got corrupted so it wouldn't boot at
all using any method, we had to order the restore CDs from Dell ($30)
and then wait for them to show up (4 days). It took 6 hours running
through their overly slow reinstall from those but it did her host back
to its factory-default state, the same as when she bought the host.
Luckily her data had been saved on a different disk so it still there
after the restore stepped atop the OS partition to return to its
initial image.
Ah, so it's a Dell XPS 400. Now we can get further on getting the
hardware support. When I went to the support link that I
gave above and entered that desktop model, I got to:
http://support.dell.com/support/dow...IMENSION 400/9150&os=WW1&osl=en&catid=&impid=
(short URL =
http://tinyurl.com/39go53)
Pick Windows XP for the OS, your language, and then look at the
Category drop-down list. It looks like Communications fits your need.
When I selected it, a bunch of Conexant modems (or modem chips) were
listed, one of which is a driver. You could try that.
The caveat with doing all this driver installing is that there is
always the risk that you end up harming your OS rather than fixing the
problem. I just had a user that decided to use a different keyboard so
they uninstalled their keyboard, selected one from the list, but then
the keyboard no longer functioned in Windows, even in safe mode or
trying to use a PS/2 port instead of USB. Luckily that host is
scheduled for daily incremental image backups so in about 20 minutes it
was back to the state is was in at 5AM that morning. If you don't have
a back-out plan in case of screwing over your host after changing
hardware, you could end up having to do a fresh install or image
restore from recovery CDs which means you lose any applications that
you installed after you got the host and possibly (likely) any data
that was in the same partition as where you need to reinstall the OS.
> All I wanted to do was find out how to set up the fax that apparently
> came with the Win XP system. With the old one (Win 98) it had Ring
> Central Fax. Apparently the driver or whatever the fax needs to set
> up is part of the WIN XP system files- somewhere. It didn't seem that
> complicated to tell me where I might point the box asking for them,
> to look for the file it wants?
Yes, the generic drivers included in a Windows distribution *might*
work. They might not. "Rockwell" was identifying a generic codeset
used by the modem chip. How a manufacture implements a modem chip can
differ how others implement it and it may not function with the generic
modem mini-port driver included in Windows or some of its functions may
be missing (modem manufacturers often add more than just the basic
feature set).
Above was mentioned how you create the restore CDs. Follow the
instructions in the manual. However, what you might get is a restore
CD that simply restore an image into the OS partition on the hard
drive. You might find it difficult or impossible to find specific
files containing the drivers that you need for your hardware. I would
still suggest that you later go through the procedure to create the
recovery CDs so you can restore you system when the hard disk fails or
something corrupts your Windows install to make it unusable and
unrecoverable. For now, use the link above at the Dell support site to
install the specific driver for the modem in your Dell model.
You may have wanted to only setup the Fax Console in Windows XP but
apparently you had to get the hardware working first hence the extent
of this very long discussion. Using FaxZero and eFax wouldn't had the
solution available in 5 minutes.
> One problem with this is she doesn't have a printer.
She could save the attached file in the e-mail containing the fax to a
floppy, CD, or e-mail it to you or Kinkos and then open the .tif file
there to print it. That's why I mentioned K7 as an alternative to eFax
because with eFax you have to install software to view their
proprietary TIF-customized file whereas K7 using .tif that anyone can
open and then print.
How does she now print other documents? She has to take them
SOMEWHERE. She'd do the same with the saved attachment from her
e-mail.
> It didn't seem like that big a deal when I started. I know, my
> daughter can deal with her own faxes and problems, but I just thought
> it would be nice to get it set up and (once and for all) know.
I have my voice/data/fax modem already supported and all the fax
software configured to use it and it all works. However, I still find
using FaxZero and eFax (or K7) to be a lot easier and without me having
to remember much on how to do faxing. I use the fax modem and fax
software when I need a bit more management (i.e., organizing and
archiving) of my faxes, or if I send a fax to somewhere that I must NOT
have the ad-laden cover page when using FaxZero. That cover page can
be tossed since it is not part of the document that I sent. There is
also the limits of 3 pages per fax and up to 2 faxes per day, so if I
need more than that then I use my fax modem and fax software. For
receiving, it's always easier to use eFax. I don't tie up my phone
line waiting to receive faxes on it and my organization of received
faxes is how I file them in structured folders.
I bet when all is done and you spend all the time to install device
drivers, configure the Fax Console, maybe go through a few iterations
with the sender before finally successfully receiving their fax, and
printing it for your daughter or even the shorter time spent setting up
eFax or K7 to receive faxes via e-mail and then print the attached fax
that you'll then find the sender could've sent you an e-mail all along.
Argh! Every insurance company that I've dealt with has an Internet
presence. You create your account, include your policies, and you can
then print those policies and even the carry-card from their web site.