Internal dialup modem broken / not functioning.

My internal 56k modem is not responing any more. In the system profiler it does not show up under the "Modems" category. The profiler displays:

Modem Information:

Modem Model: Modem Driver Not Found

I take that the modem is broken. Or is it just missing a driver? That seems strange to me.

Anyway, if I can not fix it I need to get a new one. What external 56k modems work with OS X? Does anyone have any advice? I looked around but there does not seem to be much on the market.

Have you called Apple yet?
Something like that should be covered under your warranty, I would assume. How old is your iBook?
You can also try running the Hardware Test CD if you have it first. That may shed some more light on the situation if you have one.

My iBook is not under warranty any more. So sending it back to apple would probably be quite expensive. The geniuses at the genius bar said that the modem was for sure fried. Perhaps they are correct in this.

So, any modem suggestions?

If you are adventerous and want to repair it yourself, you can obtain the parts from pbparts.com. http://www.pbparts.com/shop/n16v56.html might be the right part for you. It's not a cheap part though.

Or you can take it to an authorized repair center (Apple store or most resellers) and have them fix it.

Again, you could always try reloading the OS, zapping the PRAM and resetting the PMU if you feel it might not be hardware related.

Running the hardware test CD wouldn't be a bad idea either if you have it.

If you have one of the first Dual-USB iBooks, pbparts has this item:
http://www.pbparts.com/shop/n56.html

I know very little about taking apart computers and putting them back together. Also, I am quite sure that the internal modem is dead.

Would it not be easier and cheaper to get an external USB modem? The internal modem was $150, surely there must be some external USB modems for OS X that are cheaper than that.

The crux of it all is that I would like to spend at the most $50 on this. Does it seem possible to get a fix at that price?