Duplicate Modems Ports Appear in Fax Printer Properties

• Microsoft BackOffice Small Business Server versions 4.0, 4.0a, 4.5

SYMPTOMS

When you view the properties of a fax printer queue on a BackOffice Small Business Server (SBS) computer, you see that duplicate modem ports are assigned to the queue. Faxes are not sent from this queue and the modems cannot be cleared from this page.

Also, only one modem is listed in the Fax Server Control Panel tool and the Control Panel Modems tool.

CAUSE

This problem occurs if a modem is deleted from the Control Panel Modems tool then re-added with the same driver before restarting the computer. The first instance of the modem is not purged from the spooler's registry entry. Only the second instance of the modem is recognized by the RAS and Fax services.

If you uninstall all the modems on a SBS-based computer, then stop and restart the Fax service, you may also experience this problem.

RESOLUTION

To resolve this problem, you should not uninstall all the modems and then stop and restart the Fax service (or restart the computer). If you want to install the same modem again, you should first install the second copy of it and then delete the previous one. This will create a second instance of the modem with a new name and allow the spooler to purge the first instance when the computer is restarted.

STATUS

Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in the Microsoft products listed at the beginning of this article.

MORE INFORMATION

For each device (modem) there is a printer port. Every time the Fax service starts, it will go through the list of modems based on what TAPI reports. If there are new devices, the Fax service makes a request to the printer spooler to create new ports. If the Fax service has other devices in the list, the ports are marked as obsolete.

Each time the spooler starts, it goes through the list of ports and deletes those that are marked obsolete.

When you uninstall all modems and then restart the computer, the spooler cannot delete the only port assigned to a printer without deleting the printer.

When you delete a modem and immediately install one with the same name, the Fax service creates a second port with the same name when the computer restarted. Assigning the port to the printer does not work because the printer does not accept two ports with the same name. The Fax service gets confused at this point, and does not send faxes from this queue.

Additional query words: smallbiz

Keywords : kberrmsg kbprint
Version : winnt:4.0,4.0a,4.5
Platform : winnt
Issue type : kbbug