Glitch Stops Modems on Some Late-Model Laptops

by Matt Hamblen

March 8, 2001 —

Human error is being blamed for a software driver problem that caused modems to freeze up on some late-model laptops at the stroke of midnight Feb. 21.

The problem with some modems on laptops with Windows operating systems sent teams of developers at several companies scurrying to provide online fixes, including Hewlett-Packard Co., Gateway Inc. in San Diego and ESS Technology Inc. in Fremont, Calif., which wrote the problematic software.

ESS officials and one industry analyst estimate the number of affected machines worldwide at tens of thousands.

Because the error is located in an algorithm inside the time-based software coding for Windows modem drivers, users must reset the date on their notebooks to Feb. 20 or earlier to reactivate their modems, ESS officials said.

ESS refused to say which companies use the troublesome modem driver but did say that there are several worldwide. It has posted a generic fix for four operating systems: Windows 98 Special Edition, Windows 2000, Windows Me and Windows NT.

According to an HP spokeswoman, affected models include the Pavilion N5000 and the Omnibook XE3, both of which hit the market in November. The affected Gateway model is the Solo 3350, which went on sale in September, a Gateway spokeswoman said.

Alan Promisel, an analyst at IDC in Framingham, Mass., said Gateway and HP may have sold tens of thousands of machines affected by the freeze.

When the software problem was discovered at 4 a.m. Feb. 21, teams at ESS began working to create the generic replacement driver, said Bill Wong, the company's director of marketing.

"We're over the hump with the fix, but that's only, in a sense, because it was an easy problem to fix," said Skip Effler, senior vice president of worldwide sales at ESS. "We will make all . . . efforts possible to get the drivers" customized for each customer, he added.

HP officials said they're working to find a solution that allows laptop users to use their modems with their computers set to the correct date.

Wong said the error was introduced months ago when an ESS worker updated the modems from older Windows operating systems to newer ones.

Computerworld