Disabled Hardware?

Every once in a while I see this, after installing a new device, usually a modem. It really drives me nutZZ mainly because I have no clue as to what it means:

On the properties screen of the device:

"This device has been disabled in the hardware. In order to use this device, you must re-enable the hardware. See your hardware documentation for details."

Anybody have ANY idea what this means, or is it one of those nebulous M$ messages.....

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