I'm happy it worked. I don't claim originality here - I fought the
same battle as you did - this method was posted somewhere on the net
quite a while ago. It took me many days to discover it.

My own post in which I passed it on to someone else is dated
12/26/2005. So this has been going on for quite a while, and it's
tripped up a lot of people. Apparently the software still hasn't been
altered to make this process any easier.

Dick

I have to do this every time I start MPT, plus I have to choose a
different model than that of my actual phone.

To say that MPT needs to be overhauled is an understatement. It's by far
the flakiest piece of Windows software I've used. I don't know why it
keeps reinstalling the USB modem over and over again, or why it
sometimes detects the phone, sometimes not.

If I use Bluetooth instead of USB it works better. I still have to go
through the "change modem" and "do not automatically detect" rigmarole,
but it always detects the phone, unlike with USB.

John-
when you say reinstall do you mean reinstall MPT all together?

i need to go to bed now but will try whatever you suggest in the
morning.

thank you for your help.

For MOBILedit! Forensic v2.6.0.14, I found the following serial #:

Name    Jan Mach
Company Jan Mach
Serial  F5FN8-FHAD7-VR2HE-RG4DV-LJK25

Haven't tried it so I don't know whether it will work.

P.S.  My rant as to why MPT sucks big time, and for so many different
reasons:

1) For my phone, they and Verizon lied about whether I needed a
special USB cable.  They said I did but I didn't believe them and used
a USB cable with the proper-looking connector that I had lying around,
and it worked!

2) I suspect that MPT is reacting to some other software that you have
installed on your computer.  I have several computers lying around but
it would only work with a laptop on which I had freshly wiped and
installed WinXP.  I have read in the forums that MPT has major
problems with Vista.

3) In reality, the only thing that MPT may be good for with your
Verizon phone is copying & editing contacts.  Although they have
colluded with Verizon to agree to restrict your phone use, they tell
you about tethering your phone, making and copying ringtones to your
cell phone, etc. with only a  disclaimer in small print that these
features may be unavailable to you because of the capabilities of your
phone.  In reality, your phone does have these capabilities but
Verizon's flash image has limited them, and they have decided to honor
Verizon's wishes.

4) If you actually do get the proper drivers for your phone (as listed
in one of the previous replies, off of the Motorola site), MPT will
destroy these when it is run.  

I have found that I can do everything that my phone is cabable of with
the following software:

Motorola End User Handset USB Drivers 32, 3.3.0.msi  
(you may need to point Windows to these drivers when it is finding
your phone's hardware)
Motorola_Software_Update.exe
(this runs in the background to put your phone in the state needed to
copy/transfer files, edit seems, etc. with P2K Commander and P2K Seem
Editor)
P2K Commander 4.9.e.zip
P2K Seem Editor for V710.zip

Sorry for this to be so long but I have been frustrated with
Verizon/MPT for quite a long time.  Of course, if you don't have
Verizon like I do, your phone is probably not as restricted.  

P.P.S.  If your phone plays MP3s, you don't have to buy the VCast
Music Manager software.  It is freely downloadable from Verizon as
VZMM2-DL-MOTOR-Bld39-V3m-K1m-L7c-MAXXVE-001.exe (Google for it).