Computer with PCMCIA Modem Hangs During Suspend Mode (270086)

SYMPTOMS

After you resume your Advanced Configuration and Power Interface-enabled computer and try to use a program that uses a Personal Computer Memory Card International Association-based modem, the Windows message server (Msgsrv32.exe) may stop responding (hang). If the message server stops responding, other Windows-based programs may stop responding, and Windows may become unresponsive.

CAUSE

This problem can occur when you are using Dial-Up Networking (DUN) to connect to an Internet service provider (ISP) and your computer enters Suspend mode or Standby mode before you disconnect the DUN connection. Windows Millennium always sets the state of the communication ports to device power state D3 on Advanced Configuration and Power Interface-enabled computers. When a Personal Computer Memory Card International Association (PCMCIA) modem is installed but not in use, the socket for the PCMCIA card is powered off. After a computer is suspended (setting the system power state to S3), the resources that are used for the PCMCIA-based modem are not released even though the PCMCIA modem and socket are powered off. When the computer is resumed ( setting the system power state to S0), the modem is not automatically reinitialized. However, the next attempt to use the modem applies power to the PCMCIA slot, and the PCMCIA driver (Pccard.vxd) tries to determine which card (if any) is present in the slot. After Pccard.vxd determines that the modem is still present, a resource assignment operation is attempted. Because the original resources are still assigned to the modem, the new resource assignment operation does not work. When application-time event processing begins to run on the message server thread, the thread hangs while trying to acquire a resource lock for the modem devnode which is currently owned by the Configuration Manager. At the same instance, another Configuration Manager thread is attempting to broadcast a system message and the message server thread is not responding to the broadcast, and this effectively prevents further application time processing.

RESOLUTION

A supported hotfix is now available from Microsoft, but it is only intended to correct the problem that this article describes. Apply it only to systems that are experiencing this specific problem.

To resolve this problem, contact Microsoft Product Support Services to obtain the hotfix. For a complete list of Microsoft Product Support Services telephone numbers and information about support costs, visit the following Microsoft Web site:

http://support.microsoft.com/contactus/?ws=support

Note In special cases, charges that are ordinarily incurred for support calls may be canceled if a Microsoft Support Professional determines that a specific update will resolve your problem. The usual support costs will apply to additional support questions and issues that do not qualify for the specific update in question.

The English version of this fix should have the following file attributes or later:

   Date        Time    Version        Size     File name
   ------------------------------------------------------
   08/15/2000  04:49p  04.90.00.3001  81,7659  Pccard.vxd

To work around this problem, quit the communication program that is using the communication ports or modem ports before entering Standby mode or Suspend mode.