Hi Scotty and welcome to pc-pals.
Did your brother disconnect the modem from the usb socket before re-installing the software?.
I have had similar problems when re-installing asdl modem.
Firstly, remove modem from usb connection. Uninstall software, making sure all files have been removed.
Reboot and re-install software and only then connect modem to usb connection.
Hope this helps.