you've helped me before. always good to hear from you.

yeah, the situation is so complicated that i failed to mention clearly that i now have road runner high speed broadband. i don't have dial-up anymore. my fault.

i knew there was a procedure to deal with device manager "shambles" and someone would help me with it. your answer saved me alot of time on google. when you say anything with yellow in it, i think you mean a yellow exclamation point.

the driver issue for the magicjack is worse than my device manager. they just updated drivers and half of the magicjacks that worked, now don't, and the half that didn't work, do. the technical support they "promise" vanishes when the magicjack is delivered. there is no effort to help. links don't work when you click on them. anybody who is not computer knowledgeable, better be lucky, or they are not going to receive service.

i just thought i would give you a quick reply, before i get into the control panel. will let you know how it goes.

thanks again.

. i put up a screenshot of my device manager page. funny thing is, this morning there are no yellow exclamation points, but there were last night. i think after shutting down and rebooting, they've been resolved. i hope it's legible. i have never put up a screenshot here. if you are able to make heads or tails of this screenshot your advice would be most appreciated. the immediate question i have is "should there be that many entries in the usb listed? 2.0 enhanced controller, universal host controller 24C2, 24C4, 24C7, usb mass storage device (the only one that makes sense, that's my flashdrive), usb root hub (four of them?)

it seems like there should be only one. there is nothing plugged into it (usb) right now, but there is an icon in the notification tray, safely remove hardware (there quite often is).

i went down the list of entries for the usb controllers, and right clicked, and clicked properties. checked is it working properly, enabled, bandwidth used (10%?), driver tab driver details, detail tab (a huge list of things there, but nothing stands out as being "out of place"), resources tab (no conflicts). checked every entry, and scrutinized them thoroughly, though my knowledge is extremely limited (to non-existent).

there is an unofficial magicjack forum (great forum), and those folks there go through some processes that humble me, and quite frankly, make me ask "is it worth it?" who can blame them. there is no help from the people who sell it.

you bring up alot of interesting points (as usual). yeah, you're supposed to plug it in and call (after registering). for some people, that may actually be the case.

i took into account what you said about plugging your phone into your modem. i don't know if you have broadband as well, but for the heck of it i took a look at the back of my modem, and there is a jack available. it' says usb next to it, but instead of being short and wide, it's kinda square with a peg in the center of it. the magicjack or my flashdrive would not be able to plug into it. if not for having the peg in the center of it, the phone jack would more likely fit into it. my thought was, "maybe i can plug the magicjack into the back of the modem?" it looks to me like there is only one place i can plug it in.

at one of the other forums, a member suggested that driversfor the magicjack may be searched for. maybe they were actually volunteering to do it, which is great. maybe that is all that is needed. i'll just keep checking with them, and keep my eyes open.

hope i still have you with me, coastie, how about this for a post? if you have any procedure you need me to follow to investigate the device manager, let me know.

thanks for the reply.

are you saying that if i have this type of modem that you speak of, i can plug in my computer, and make phone calls with this modem? can i do this simultaneously?

i have a closet full of computer stuff that i bought at yard sales. whenever it's cheap, i buy it. even if i don't know what it is. i am going to check it out after i make a grocery run.

i heard about the magicjack through komando.com, a radio show that is syndicated throughout the country every week and they send out newsletters every day, but that doesn't mean every product they recommend is squeaky clean.

is the PCI expansion slot in the front of the computer? my sister has a digital camera, and she pulls the card out of it and puts it in a slot in the front of the computer to download her pictures into the computer.

i really appreciate the insight, coastie. this brainwork is making me awful hungry. thanks.

funny your computer there is an emachines. i'm a little familiar with one of those because i have one that was given to me, because the person said the power supply needed to be replaced. there was more wrong with it (like the hard drive) because there were error screens. i'll have to get back to you on that, because i will take that computer apart. i want to know about what you're saying. my presario is alot like your computer as well. the power supply is at the top with the fan on the right. below it is another fan on the right and the mouse and keyboard below it on the left. below it, serial, printer and monitor. then microphone speaker and possibly webcam jacks. the phone jack is on the bottom of my presario as well. so those silver/grey "doors" for lack of a better word, are expansion slots. they are probably removable to allow wires to pass through.

good picture.

i went through the closet and the modem i have is wireless (D-link). i also have an ethernet hub. i don't have the soughtafter wired router.

thanks, i'll let you know

my apologies for not getting back to you yesterday, but i was chatting with magicjack live chat a good prortion of the day, and people giving me advice and suggestions. it works! i have to make the rounds to all the sites and explain all that i did. i will put it on a notepad and "mass-post" it.

i went in the closet and broke out the emachines t1860 and removed the side cover. now i see exactly what you mean. when you say "card" i think of a card that goes into a digital camera, or a sim card in a cell phone, but what you mean in this case is a circuit board. it plugs into the white terminal like a memory stick. the silver/grey "door" has brackets built into them that allows for screws to pass through for securing purposes. the typical "door" cover plate has nothing. it's just a cover. it may actually have a purpose, to keep out radio interference. the expansion card has jacks. the one i am looking at has two, wall and line. they're phone jacks. it's good to have all these spare computers. to have these free parts versus having to pay for them is a real advantage. people give me computers. i could probably have at least three working if i knew how.

this thread has goine in the direction of computer component chat, with me being the recipient of valuable information. i am enjoying the heck out of this. i am a "gadgets" type of person. i think in the name of website etiquette i should start a new thread. there's a massive amount of questions i'd like to ask you. i'd even like to borrow my sister's digital camera to help with my explanation and questions. i don't want to get the mods upset at me. i know the thread is supposed to have a topic, and the replies are supposed to relate to the subject. they've been generous in allowing us latitude.

i am going to bounce back to this thread and summarize the magicjack fix. after that, with your permission, i would like to start a new thread. first i would like to be able to post a picture the way you do it, then i would like to be able to connect two computers together. i also would like to remove a hard drive from a pavillion and turn it into a slave and run antimalware scans on it, and install linux. are you up to showing me all of this? if not, i understand it's alot to ask, and i appreciate the help you've given me so far. if yes, then you're gonna have your hands full. there's alot i want to know.

thanks again.