While people all over the country are eagerly anticipating spring - and the rite of setting their clocks forward for daylight-saving time - for some notebook computer owners, turning the clock back has been the only way to keep their modems functioning.

On Feb. 21, modems in Gateway's Solo 3350 and Hewlett-Packard's Pavilion N3000, N5000, XH2000, and Omnibook XE2 and XE3 models ceased working. A coding error in the driver software in the modems, manufactured by ESS Technology Inc., is to blame.

Drivers are software that enable peripherals such as modems, disk drives, printers, and scanners to communicate with a computer's operating system. A date stamp error in the programming code of the ESS drivers prevents the modems from placing outgoing calls once the date on a computer's clock reaches Feb. 21, 2001.

The glitch affects notebooks running Microsoft's Windows 98 SE, Windows 2000, Windows ME, and Windows NT. Because the error resides in the time-based software for Windows modem drivers, a temporary "quick fix" for notebook owners has been to reset the date on their notebooks to Feb. 20 or earlier.

As soon as the problem was discovered, Hewlett-Packard and Gateway began building modem patches to enable owners of the affected notebooks to use their modems with their computers set to the correct date.

If your Hewlett-Packard laptop lost its dial-up capability, you can download and install a modem patch for your operating system by going to http://www.hp.com/notebooks/us/eng/modem_upgrade.htm. In just five easy steps, you'll be all set. Or, if you prefer, Hewlett-Packard will send you the update on a CD-ROM.

Gateway is still working on qualifying its new driver, so the Gateway patch is not available yet. Don't expect to find mention of the bug on the Gateway site (www.gateway.com) until the driver has been approved. In the meantime, you can download a generic patch from ESS, at http://www.esstech.com/techsupp/drivers.shtm#comm. Keep checking the Gateway site for the official customized driver, however - you can be certain that the computer manufacturer's software will be fully compatible with your notebook, something you can't count on with a generic patch.