WindowsME Fatal Error VCOM(05)

HP Pavilion 6744C came with WindowsME. Periodically I get the following error when trying to open and dial into ATT.net “VCOM(05) + 0000053A Error : OE : 0028 : C029A903A”. When I get the error I am unable to open att.net until I restart my PC. Ireinstalled the drivers for the internal modem, but same error pops up infrequently.

Now I’m trying to synchronize with ActiveSync 3.1 and got the same error while installing. Haven’t got the error message since, but haven’t been able to synchronize even after reinstalling.

Could my original error be causing my problems with ActiveSync? Any ideas how I can eliminate this problem?