For your modem, I would suggest you go to the linmodems site. Its
here . (my laptop has an integrated ac97 winmodem and works with there drivers.) Download scanmodem, run it and then post to there help list if you cant see where to go from running scanmodem. If they tell you to do something that you cant do (after researching it) then come back and we will help. Your cd-drive should work. Type 'lspci' to see what it is. If you pop a cd into it, what happens. (when I ran fc1 an icon would come up for the cdrom) Can you look at it if you go to /dev/cdrom.
Do you have to get your wireless going now? I think your modem may keep you entertained for a while. Pick which is most important and start with that. After a year with linux, I have only just gotten around to getting my wireless working (admittedly, I dont use it) If you need it, once again type lspci, you should see what your card chip is and then you can google from there to see if its supported.
What do you mean by 'goes to acpi mode'?
