Re: Modem compatibility--digital signing

billurie_at_nospam.org
Date: 02/03/05 

Date: Wed, 02 Feb 2005 19:36:48 -0500

No, Michael. The history is that my system came with pre-SP1 XP,
and the Conexant modem, and I installed and used HotFax.

Then I installed SP1, no problem. Then last autumn, I
installed SP2 and spend several months trying to get
HotFax to work again. It was suspected for awhile that
upgrading NSW2004 to NSW 2005 may have been the
cause, but cleaning all Norton off the machine didn't
help. Likewise SP2 Firewall. It wasn't any matter of my
selecting an incorrect driver, as the sequence I outlined
corroborates.

Their driver was fine until the system in which it had
to operate changed, and then I had to find a driver that worked.
Trying to get it from Conexant or eMachines didn't work.

I still don't know what "digital signing" is a code word
for, nor been told whether actually SP1 doesn't care but
SP2 does.....but it would make me feel that the loop has been
closed if that was the single reason for the incompatibility.

Thanks, and kind regards, Michael.

                Bill Lurie

Michael Solomon (MS-MVP) wrote:
> Usually, insofar as the system is concerned, digital signing is irrelevant.
> It is simply a notice to the user that drivers they are trying to install
> have not been tested by Microsoft. I doubt seriously you could find a
> system out there that does not have at least some drivers that were not
> digitally signed. Most drivers you download from manufacturer's websites
> were not digitally signed as they were either not submitted to Microsoft for
> testing or the drivers are still being tested.
>
> In the larger scheme of things, it generally doesn't make much difference as
> long as the manufacturer has tested and updated the drivers. I have seen a
> few instances of people reporting they could not install various drivers
> because they were not digitally signed but this is anecdotal at best. It's
> essentially nothing more than a notification to the user.
>
> Conexant modem chipsets have been problematic for quite some time. They can
> be finicky about firmware, they can be finicky about drivers, it's possible
> you were simply selecting an incorrect driver and when you let the system
> search it simply found the appropriate driver that just happened to be
> digitally signed.
> 

-- 
                    William B. Lurie

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