Use your desktop to go to the compaq 2140 download page and see if they have a modem update. Hook your laptop to other lines and see if it works. Some modems have a hard time "hearing" the dial tone on a bad phone line. I just replaced a modem on a brand new computer for a relative because the oem modem gave a no dial tone message most of the time. The new modem works although it's slow.
Do you have a firewall, and has this spyware been given permission to access the internet? Norton's firewall is a virus, a real pain. Go into their programs section and check allow internet access at all times (or whatever) for these spyware programs.
Not that it probably matters, but my computer is actually a 2540, not 2140. Me is edumacated and reads good.