Network and Modem
The Midnight Question Archive
see the new: Network Troubleshooting Flowchart or Modem Troubleshooting Flowchart
and Start Your Own PC Business
Copyright 2008 by Morris Rosenthal
Network and ModemThe Midnight Question Archive see the new: Network Troubleshooting Flowchart or Modem Troubleshooting Flowchart and Start Your Own PC Business Copyright 2008 by Morris Rosenthal |
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Troubleshooting your Laptop or PC
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See the new Troubleshooting your laptop or PC (May 2008)2/16/99(Q) I am currently under task from my employer to network the internet. I have to admit that I am at a loss as to where to begin. Our current network is Windows NT 4.0 server with Windows 95 workstations. I have two modems available for use, one is 56.6 and the other is 28.8. I am just looking for a starting point, 1) how to share a modem over the network, 2) what kind of software will I need to provide shared internet access and e-mail capabilities for my workstations. I have plenty of networking and computer experience, but haven't worked much with modems yet. Once I know where to begin I can usually figure out the more technical details. Jeni (A) You can install Proxy Server on the NT box (or a 95 for that matter) and the networked computers can then share the modem. Don't ask me for details, I've never had a reason to do it, but there is probably some more info on Proxy Server based on this page. If anyone has any good info to send me on the subject, I'll be happy to post it. Morris 11/18/98(Q) I have been having a rather frustrating time with my internal 56k V.90 modem in my new notebook PCG-813. I usually have to redial a few times before I can get connect and sometimes it just refuses to. I would keep getting the message that the party I am calling is not answering. I tried almost everything I know to try to find the problem, ie; calling different numbers, using different phone lines, trying different ISPs, check my phone lines for noise, use a "monster cable" etc... but I have still yet found what the problem might be... and technical support from Earthlink and Sony didn't really help much. Sean (A) Assuming the problem isn't lousy phone service at all the ISPs you tried (is it better if you call at 2:00 AM? Believe it or not, there are whole regions in the country where the ISPs are overloaded), it would likely be a problem with your actual modem or the V.90 protocol implementation. Before blaming Sony (and the people you bought the notebook from), see if you can borrow a 56K external modem, attach it to your Com port, and see if it works better. If so, the fault is definitely in your modem. Morris 11/2/98(Q) I have an Linkskey 56.6flex (data-fax-voice-speakerphone-svd) modem model type fbws-5614js3. I am trying to upgrade to v90 becuase recently I went to a server with x2 instead of flex they also do support v90. Idownloaded the drivers I needed, ran the program and it upgraded my modem and then said it succeded. Ok i was happy, but when I went to the net and connected I was at 28.8 and haven't been above that since. I have all my setting for dial up correct and everything else is proper. I have been trying to play around with things for a week now and frankly im ready to toss the modem and get an x2 ( what a waste bought it 3 months ago for $100) Terry (Q) I'm a little puzzled by whether or not your server really supports V.90 or not. Lots of folks say they do, when they mean, "we're going to get there eventually". Even with the wrong protocol, you should be able to get 33.3K, so there may be a connection issue involved here. If you dialed in at 3AM maybe you'd get a faster modem on their end. If the upgrade didn't report an error, I'd be inclined to trust it, and start talking to your ISP. Morris 10/27/98(Q) My question isnt really about the computer but the second line I had installed just for my computer. I have searched the web for how to split the wiring inside the house so a second line is available but havent found one. The second line was installed at the interface outside the house and for a substantial fee they would do the lines inside the house. There has to be a how-to somewhere on the web but I haven' t found it yet. Harley (A) The answer is you have to pull the wire yourself, which you've already guessed. However, the network interface that they install actually offers an RJ-11 jack (the standard telephone connector), so one route is to just buy a real long extension cord, plug it in, and go with it. However, that doesn't get you the additional grounding that the old setup offered, and your town or your home insurance carrier may have some laws about how phone wire must be run. You might want to check your local library for a popular do-it-yourself book that covers phone wiring and actually do it right. Almost any route will be cheaper than paying the phone company, and you'll come out of it owning a useful crimper. Morris 10/26/98(Q) Where can I find information and/or software to help me use a null-modem cable? I want to put some software from my laptop (P166, compaq) into a 486-model that has no network adapter card. I don't know how to use the null-modem cable Niels (A) Well, in the absence of special communications software, like Laplink, or any of the old, full purpose deals like Kermit or Xmodem, you can still use the built in DOS utility. I don't remember what version it came in (5.0, 6.0?), but they came out in 1993 (INTERLNK and INTERSRV) and their use was pretty self explanatory when you execute them. If you decide to go the freeware/shareware route, TUCOWS (www.tucows.com) is a good place to start. Morris 10/7/98(Q) I just recently upgraded my motherboard and installed an AMD K6-2 300 MHz chip. I have the following cards in the box: SoundBlaster Live!, Diamond AGP Viper 550, Interlink PCI Ethernet card, Diamond Supra 56i Voice modem, (attached Epson 600 printer and UMax 1220S scanner). I want to install an STB PCI TV Tuner card and activate my USB, but have no more available IRQs. The Supra 56i takes IRQ5 - COM3. COM3 is FIXED on the modem properties setting in Device Manager and cannot be changed - even though only COM1 and COM2 show up in the ports section of Device Manager. What can I do to get the modem to share IRQ4 with COM1 and get the modem to use COM1 instead of COM3. Ron (A) I don't see what you are using either Com1 or Com2 for. With PS/2 style mice, and most other things running off the parallel port, there is little use for serial ports these days, unless you have an external modem, palm pilot, or odball input device. If you don't have any serial devices connected, you should dissable both ports in CMOS Setup. Then you will have IRQ 3 and 4 open, not to mention the Com addresses. Until they are dissabled, the operating system will automatically assign resources for them. Morris 9/17/98(Q) Do you know of a modem that "checks" to see where the incoming call should go - either to the phone or to a computer. I know they exist I just can't find anything on them on the Net. I need a modem that will divert the incoming call to the modem first or...if it not a digital call..then rings the phone for a person to pick up. Vi (A) Yes-ish. There are fax/phone switches that should do the job if the incoming call is coming from an analog (33.6Kb/s send) modem. The down side is that such switches are rarely 100%, though they can come close. They usually sell them at places like Staples, or mail-order. Morris 9/4/98(A) I just purchased a FIC 503+ motherboard and an AMD K6-2 300 MHz. Everything works fine except the mouse! I have tried a serial mouse on both com1 and com2 as well as the PS/2 port, with no luck. I have no conflicting IRQ's acording to Windows95 device manager. I updated drivers for the VIA chipset so I have no exclaimaton marks in the device manager. I have tried everything I can think of. I removed all cards except the video card, I tried changing IRQ settings in BIOS and still my serial and LPT port don't work. My supra 56i works on com3 IRQ5 without a problem. Does this problem have to do with Windows95 not supporting a non-Intel chipset? Andrew (A) Delete all mouse stuff currently in Device Manager and shut down. When you power up, go into CMOS and reload the default settings in the BIOS and plug in the PS/2 mouse. If Win95 doesn't pick it up, odds are either the mouse or motherboard is faulty. Or, if this is a non-ATX motherboard, the ribbon cable connections to the onboard ports may all be mated backwards. Microsoft may play, well, rough, in the software game, but they support as much hardware as possible. Morris 8/28/98(Q) I have an external modem which I share amongst the PCs in my office. Recently, it stopped working on the available Com2 port on my 200MHz Pentium MMX . According to Device Manager, the port is OK and there are no conflicts. However, if I try Modem Diagnostics in the Modem icon in Control Panel, I get a "Port in use or messed up" type error. I know the modem is good, it still works on other PCs. Manny (A) A "Port in use" error often means you have a software conflict. One way to troubleshoot software conflicts in Windows 95/98 is to use "Crtl-Alt-Del" to bring up the task list, and start killing tasks one by one. After each "kill", try the Modem Diagnostics again. (The culprit turned out to be Hotsync, a task used by Palm Pilot which had been connected on Com2 recently. By removing the Palm Pilot software from the "Startup" directory, the problem was solved.) Morris 8/18/98(Q) I just had my small accounting office server cut over from Novell 3.11 to Windows NT Server. In the past, when I had server problems, it usually cost a couple thousand dollars of software and hardware to fix. This happened on a regual basis. When tax season rolls around this year, I don't want to face the same old problems. I intended to use NT for disk mirroring, but discovered there are no empty drive bays in my brand new Compaq! Can I use an external SCSI drive for mirroring, and will this prevent future crashes? Roger (A) NT Server supports disk mirroring (RAID Levels 1 and 5, I think) using whatever hard drives Disk Administrator can configure. However, even if you fully mirror your current drive, you are only protecting against hardware failure of that hard drive, which is less common than a host of other possible server problems. If you accidentally delete files, corrupt data, get a virus, it will effect both drives, as will a hard drive contoller failure, or any device failure that renders the bus inoperable. A hardware implemented RAID array will protect you better, but it's still just a hard drive approach. With hardware so cheap, the best solution for most small business is to have a spare workstation that is built up enough to act as a server in a pinch, equipped with the same tape drive as the server. The more elegant approach is to run a backup domain server, which means another dedicated machine to mirrior the whole server. Morris 7/30/98(Q) I am trying to set up a modem in Windows NT. Windows NT will not see the Modem card, no matter what setting the card is set at - IRQ 1,2,3,4 or COM 1,2,3,4. Any suggestions? I've gone through the auto detect and manual setup - no good. Sig (A) Have you taken the card out and set it manually? A problem with NT is it lets you stick the software settings wherever you want, without the hardware agreeing. Morris (Q - Follow-up) The problem I have is that no matter what the setting are on the modem card, Windows NT will not see the card. The card is not a plug and play card and requires a manual setting (address, com port, IRQ, etc). I am in touch with MS, no help - yet. The card is needed for the WIN911 system, and was set as part of the package. Trying to get in touch with the makers of WIN911 for a solution - unable to get through. I work with Window 95 as a support tech, I am not totally familiar with Windows NT. Sig (A - Follow-up) I have Win911 installed at a clients, I used an old 1200 baud modem for the paging function, but it was under Win95. NT is just a pain for adding hardware, always has been. However, if you sound capable, so maybe the modem is bad. You could try setting it up with any old modem just to see, I think the special modem is only needed if you are using the Win411 confirmation stuff, two way traffic. Morris 7/23/98(Q) This little question has been bugging me for a while. How can you surf on the web at 28.8K but at the same time download at only 2-3K/sec? Way back (when the earth is still cooling) I can connect to another BBS at 14.4K (in DOS comm sfw.) and download at 12-14K. That is reasonable considering line noise and so forth. But the download speed of 3K/sec from 28.8K connection? What gives? Si (A) The Windows software doing the web download is reporting in KB/s (KiloBytes per second) and the DOS modem software doing the BBS is reporting in Kb/s (KiloBits per second), as is the raw connections speed shown by Win95. Modems, like network adapters, are rated in bits/second, so a 14.4Kb/s modem without compression is doing around 1.5KB/s (parity and stop bits add some overhead, not to mention re-sends) and a 28.8Kb/s modem maxes out around 3.0KB/s, which is exactly what you've seen. Now, modems also support all sorts of hardware implemented compression schemes which may result in your downloading a file faster than the math makes sense, but that doesn't effect the actual transfer rates, which are fixed by the line quality, modem UARTs, etc.. Morris 7/21/98(Q) I have a Packard Bell s618 computer. It is a 233 mmx, with 48mb RAM, 6.4 gig hdd, and a combo sound card/modem. I have not had any problems with the computer until I tried to upgrade to windows 98. After the upgrade, everything worked fine except the modem. The sound from the same board worked fine, but no modem. Win 98 recognized it on startup, but evidently could not find proper drivers for install. The modem is a Sound4 Winmodem. Do you know how I can solve this problem, or where I can find the drivers for this combo card? I have tried 3com, USR, and Aztech Labs, and Packard Bell's website trying to find the drivers. Who makes this combo thing?? Mike (A) I believe you can get the Sound4 Winmodem driver at the following website: http://support.packardbell.com/ftp/drivers.asp?audio. In addition the following site explains how to install the Sound4 Winmodem in Windows 98: http://support.packardbell.com/windows98/sound4.asp. Jennifer 7/20/98 (Repost from 3/24/98 - new info)(Q) I would like to install two modems in my Pentium PC to talk to the Internet. The file that takes care of the internet connection is Winsock.dll and was wondering if that file could handle multiple connections. The other reason is that I have never tried multiple sessions on Windows 95. I would wonder if they would speed up my download time. Patricio (A) There's a whole new Internet solution based on using dual 56KB modems to replace ISDN lines, but it's software specific on both ends. Diamond is heavily advertising their "Shotgun" technology, which your ISP must support for it to work. On the bright side, one Shotgun modem from Diamond may be combined with your existing K56Flex/V.90 modem to get the theoretical maximum of 112Kb/s. Of course, that drops to a theoretical max of 106Kb/s, due to FCC restrictions, and how you really come out, I can't say. A nice feature for new PC builders is Diamond sells a two modem board - SupraSonicII, so you only take one slot. Morris 7/16/98(Q) On page 33 of your published book "The Hand-Me-Down PC", you state that network cards transfer data "1000 times faster than modems". How can this be. Morris (this is my schizoid way of point out an error I came across today) (A) It's not. The transfer speed for both modems and network adapters is expressed in Mb/s (Megabits per second). In calculating the ration for network adapter v.s. modem speed, I slipped and used MB/s (Megabytes per second) for the network technolgy in question, throwing the calculation off by a factor of eight. Using the current top modem speed of 56Kb/s and the 10BaseT speed of 10Mb/s (sure, I know there's lots of cheap 100Mb/s stuff out there now), we end up with ratio of 10,000:56, or about 178:1. In time units, this means that a 10BaseT network adapter on an idle network at ideal efficiency can transfer a file in one minute that would take a 56K modem under ideal conditions three hours. Morris 7/8/98(Q) I have an ASUS PVI486SP3 motherboard waith an Intel 486SX 25 processor, 24 mb RAM and Windows95. I installed a USRobotics 33.6k modem. On boot it recognizes it in plug and play. Windows95 says it installed the modem. It will not pull dial tone. When I check the diagnostics for Com Port 2, I get a message that the modem is not responding. Carl (A) On a 486 SX system, the odds are that Com2 is being taken by an existing Com2, resident either on the motherboard, or more likely on an SIDE card. Pull your modem back up, and see whether or not a Com2 (2F8) appears on the splash screen that comes up when you boot the PC (hit the Pause key to stop it and find serial ports, usually on the right side). If this is the problem, dissable the existing Com2 port by a jumper on the SIDE card, or by entering CMOS Setup and dissabling or moving it in software. It's surprising, given all that, that Win95 doesn't report a conflict in Device Manager, or have you not checked that yet (Control Panel>Device Manager>Modems>Resources). Also, it never hurts to plug a telephone into the "Phone" jack on the modem just to make sure the line is live. Morris 7/6/98(Q) While installing a moden driver upgrade in my father-in-laws computer. The system had to reboot so the changes would work. The boot halted and said insert bootable disk. After checking the CMOS I discovered no hard drives were recognized. They would not auto detect nor could they be set manually. The machine is a 200 mhz Pent. by Sony. the BIOS is megatrend 1.00.05.dd04. Sony is no help so far. Dana (A) Sounds like you dislodged a hard drive IDE cable when you had the case open. It's either that or a coincidental hardware failure of the drive or controller, both pretty unlikely. Reseat the cable at both ends and give it a whirl. Morris 6/17/98(Q) I'm currently dog paddling the Net with my 486/66 laptop, running Windows 3.1, Trumpet Winsock and Netscape 4.01. I recently upgraded from a 14.4 to a 56.6 modem, however, I have failed to see much of a difference. My ISP claims that they support 56.6, however, my modem doesn't even seem to be performing at 33.6 levels. It doesn't seem to matter what time of day I'm online, things are still slow. Download a file last night at about 0.7 k/sec. Not the speed I'm looking for. Any suggestions on how to remedy this problem? Is it possible I have my Trumpet winsock configured incorrectly, or is it simply the poor quality of the phone lines in my area? Any help would be greatly appreciated. Dean (A) Probably poor quality of phone lines in your area, unless you bought the wrong kind of 56K modem for your ISP. If you are using the wrong 56K modem, you would still be able to connect at speeds up to 33K anyway. It seems to me that the 3Com site and maybe the U.S. Robotics site offer instructions for a phone number you can dial directly to find out what the maximum connection speed will be based on the quality of your phone lines. For more about the differences between 56K modems, see my "catching up on the new hardware page". Morris 6/15/98(Q) I recently purchased a HP LaserJet 6P for my office, and the purchasing manager suggested that I buy an HP JetDirect Port to go along with it. I have a 6 PC 10BaseT Win95 network, and I am currently sharing a color inkjet without problems. What is the advantage of the JetDirect Port and is it complicated to install? Tom (A) The main advantage of hanging the printer on an JetDirect port rather than on the printer port of a workstation is that the printer will be accessible as long as it and the JetDirect Port are turned on, as opposed to the shared printer scheme, where the host workstation must be turned on for the printer to be used. The installation is somewhat repetitive, you must install the JetDirect software on every networked PC, followed by installing the particular printer driver (HP 6P in this case) on every PC, chosing LPT1: and ignoring the fact that the software can't see it. Select the HP 6P, goto Printer>Properties>Details>Add Port, select "Other", (even though "Network" may seem more logical), and choose the HP JetDirect Port. In the next menu, choose IPX/SPX printer>Search, and give it a name. After reboot, go back to Printer>Properties, and chose the HP JetDirect Port, and you're ready to go. Morris 6/3/98(Q) I have a P-II 233 Mhz system which was purchased with a 16-bit generic (ESS 1868 Plug n Play) sound card. Then I bought an internal modem 33.6Kbps and installed it. Since then my sound card has stopped working. If I remove the modem the sound card works fine. The device manager shows 'No Conflicts' for both of them when both are installed. The sound card works (along with the modem) if installed after booting but otherwise cannot work. On restarting I have to again install it. How do I save my installation (or configuration)? The only error messages I am able to get are: when I try to play a game with audio the error message is "The sound card is in use." When I go to DMI wizard it displays "Incorrect PnP version returned by bios" - when I 'View Devices by Connection' in the device manager the sound card is not seen even after I have installed it correctly. Rajashree (A) It sounds like the "Curse of the Plug-n-Pray Devices" I've come across many problems with multiple plug-n-play cards combined with a plug-n-play BIOS and plug-n-play operating system that make me want to plug my screwdriver into a wall outlet with my fingers on the blade. I don't know any universal cures, though if the modem can be jumpered to specifix settings (sometime a possibility) it often helps. It usually turns out that one adapter is preventing the other adapter from being assigned any resources at boot, and Device Manager lies through it's teeth. If BIOS upgrade is available, it may fix the DMI issue. At any rate, the best generic approach I've come up with is to get rid of any hardware you aren't using (i.e. Com 2, sometimes even Com 1 on a mouseport system with no extra serial devices), install the Sound Card on IRQ 5 (good place to be for DOS compatability anyway), then try to get the modem to play in one of the com port spaces. Morris 6/2/98(Q) I just bought a mail-order 6x86 PR-233 but I can't get my Kodak digital camera to communicate with the Com port. I have a mouse on Com 1 and an internal modem on Com 2. I tried adding a Com 4 in Device Manager, but immediately got a conflict with my sound card, which I had moved from IRQ=12 to IRQ=5 for compatability with DOS games. I don't have a whole lot of open IRQs to play with, and I'm not sure that what Device Manager reports for Com ports necessarily agrees with what exisits in hardware. Jim (A) I actually got over to visit Jim, so the answer is a little more specific than normally possible. A quick check in CMOS Setup showed that the second onboard serial port had been disabled when the modem was installed. We re-enabled the port, selecting 2E8 (Com 4), but it failed to show up on the boot screen. The modem com port used by the modem never appeared on the boot screen, a common problem with Plug-n-Play modems. After much futzing around, it became apparent that the second onboard serial port would only become functional when assigned a Com port lower than that of the modem - so the modem was reset to Com 4 in Device Manager Resources, and the second serial port was set to Com 2 and immediately appeared on the boot screen. The AMD BIOS gave no choices for Com port IRQs, and rather than diddling around with Device Manager to see if they were truly software settable, it was left on the default IRQ=3, and the camera software immediately began to work on Com 2. Finally, the modem failed to work on the open IRQ=12, so it was set up on IRQ=3 also, a conflict appeared in Device Manager, but everything was hunky dory as long as the camera and modem aren't used at the same time. Morris 5/22/98(Q) We are running both NetWare 3.12 and NT4. The NetWare server holds our Office files and the NT4 Server holds accounting software files. Our log on client is NetWare Client 32 and it maps us to both servers. Everything works fine except the two PCs that have MS Office 97. They experience 20 second delays during file opens and closes in Word and Excel. In Word, print preview takes 20 seconds to exit. We have turned off FastFind and Outlook journaling and that made no difference. These problems were not there until we installed Office 97. The PCs are 233 Pentium IIs with 32MB of ram and 2Gig drives with plenty of open space. Aldo (A) I'm afraid you've already tried about what I would. At least you're ahead of the guy who wrote this morning with an NT4.0 server that takes a full minute to produce a directory listing for network clients. However, you might think about whether or not you really need to store those Office files on the Netware Server, as opposed to local drives. Morris (A - Much Better) We changed from Netware Client32 to Microsoft's Netware Client and that fixed the problem. I don't know why it fixed it, but at this point I am happy to be up and running and don't really care. Aldo 5/11/98(Q) I have peer to peer networked two PCs thu a hub with win 95. One is a laptop. When I hook the laptop directly to the hub, both computers share resources. When I hook it up thru 75 ft of cat 5 wiring with two wall plates and an inline connector, the desktop can access the laptop's resources and make changes to the laptop's files. I can also send chat messages which are received by the laptop.The problem is that the laptop cannot access the desktop nor can it send or reply to chat messages. NO computers are listed in the laptop's Network Neighborhood and I get an "Unaable to browse NN". Before installation in the wall, I had strung the same cable down the stairs using inline connectors and had both machines operating. I had to cut off the connectors to wire to the wall plates. Could I have terminated the wires wrong and still have one computer working fine whle the other can see it but thinks it's not logged on? Brian (A) Yes. The way I read it, there's no question that the problem is in your extended wiring. Are you keeping pairs, i.e 1&2 as a coded pair and 3&6 as a coded pair? Shorter cables will work regardless, but longer runs require that you get it right. Poor pair convention can result in one way communication. Morris 4/17/98(Q) I have a 486DX/40 running Dos/Windows with a 14.4KB modem and Internet Explorer (the AT&T private labled version). After a few minutes on the web, my PC often reboots, no errors or warning, I just look up and it's counting memory. It doesn't even hang up the phone. It never does this in hours of using my word processor. I was thinking of getting a new 56.6K modem anyway, will this fix the problem, and is my 486 to slow to benefit from the fast modem? Mike (A) Pretty interesting problem. I can't gaurentee that your modem is at fault, but it's certainly a possibility. Your 486 will benefit tremendously from the new modem, just as much as a faster system, because all PC busses are much faster than modem transfer speeds. You may have noticed that modems still come on 8-bit cards, it's all the bandwidth they need. Just make sure that AT&T has a bunch of 56.6K phone lines you can call in on, or you could end up running at 28.8K. Morris 4/16/98(Q) I recently purchased 3 Gateway P5-200's to add to my existing four PC Windows 95 network. The PC's came with 10BaseT/100 Ethernet cards that are supposedly configured, but when I attach the new PC's to my network, they don't show up in "Network Neighborhood". Tom (A) Two things: First, you must go to the Networks icon in Control Panel and chose the Identification folder tab. Here you must enter the identical name for Workgroup that the other PCs on your existing network are using. Make sure you don't accidentally give two machines the same computer name or network name either. Chose not to reboot yet, and, under the settings tab, make sure that you have NetBEUI as an installed protocol, and that you enable File and Printer sharing, if you want your old computers to see the new PCs on the network. Should all work when you reboot. Morris 4/9/98(Q) I have a server with Novell 3.12 at work that has a Colorado Tape Backup PDE60 (By Memory Systems, Inc.)(SCSI). We lost some data this weekend and need to restore, but the tape drive software seems to be missing. Does the Novell o/s control the tape, if so how? Can you tell me where I might find the software. Chad (A) Two basic possibilities. If the tape drive is on the server, it requires a NLM (Netware Loadable Module) to run which appears in the Autoexec.ncf file, which you can view and edit with Install or Syscon. If you type <ctrl><esc> at the server, it should bring up the list of installed tasks, of which the backup software should be one. It's generally considered more logical to install the tape drive at the adminisrators work station, which would require a network aware piece of backup software which runs on the local workstation. Colorado has since been purchased by HP (Hewlett Packard), so try their web site if you need lost tape backup software. I hope backups have actually been taking place. Morris (Follow Up) The software that controlled the backups was Backup Exec (Seagate) which uses a password to access the files to backup. In 1996 the SUPERVISOR password was changed after an employee left the company, just happened to be the same password that Backup Exec used. To bad for us, but a warning to all System Administrators. Chad 3/24/98(Q) I would like to install two modems in my Pentium PC to talk to the Internet. The file that takes care of the internet connection is Winsock.dll and was wondering if that file could handle multiple connections. The other reason is that I have never tried multiple sessions on Windows 95. I would wonder if they would speed up my download time. Patricio (A) There's a whole new Internet solution based on using dual 56KB modems to replace ISDN lines, but it's software specific on both ends. While a Penitium PC has more than enough spare time to handle fully engaged modems in every slot, I don't think there are any standards on the web to take advantage of it for a single download. Also, I've never tried getting two winsock apps to work at once, suspicious they won't. What I've used dual modems for is industrial apps where one handles Internet, the other pagers or other dedicated devices. Morris 3/19/98(Q) Is there a quick way to transfer files (using FTP etc...) from a HP UX box to a Win NT box utilizing Com or Lpt ports instead of installing a nic in the Unix machine? Mike (A) I know even less about UNIX than NT, but you could probably get a shareware copy of the old KERMIT modem transfer software that ran on everything imaginable and run a null modem cable. Morris 3/11/98(Q) I have got recently Compaq Global Telephony 33.6 modem which has advanced functions like Speakerphone, Answering Machine and VoiceView. I have Compaq Armada 4110 PC which, I believe, is fully compatible with the modem. The point is that I did not find in the supplied software any application for these functions. What I have installed is just communication/fax support. Maybe my question sounds stupid, but WHERE I CAN FIND OR BUY SOFTWARE WHICH SUPPORTS ADVANCED TELEPHONY FEATURE OF MODEM? Alexi (A) Compaq's "Just Connect" Software should use his modem. It's available for their portable computers... Steve 3/4/98(Q) At our library, we have used several bar code readers attached to Wyse terminals. Now we are replacing the terminals with PCs and I would love to use the old bar code readers with them. Since the old connection was RS-232, and is now RJ-45 cable - I am looking for a way to send the bar code signal through the NIC. Do you have any thoughts on this? Carolyn (A) I'm not exactly sure which connection you are using with which, but I'll guess that your network is twisted pair, and the RJ-45 refers to the network cabling. I only mention it because I have seen bar code readers and other serial devices that use RJ-45 jacks for serial port connectors, but the connector type has no fixed relation to the port type. There should be no problem using your readers on PCs, provided the manufacturer has PC compatible software, but they will be used via the serial ports (normally 9 or 25 pin RS-232). No way to connect them via the network ports, it's a completely different standard. Morris 3/3/98Reposted from 2/9/98 with reader correction: (Q) I have a network setup with win95 at home and it works fine. But I would like to connect to my computer from my friends house or from work, both of those are using win95 also. I can't seem to figure out how to make the modem answer the call from the other computer, I couldn't find anything that would let me answer, only to dial out using Dial up networking or hyperterminal. Curtis (A) Windows 95 dial-up networking works great, but you need to have PLUS (the Win 95 extra) installed on the PC accepting the call. Cost about $35 bucks (see correction from Aaron below), last time I bought it. BY the way, be aware that 33K will be your top communications speed, even if you have 56K Flex modems. It requires a true digital modem to get the one-way 56K speed. Morris (A) For some reason MS gave out the very same Dial-Up-Server with their Dial-Up-Networking upgrade 1.1 and 1.2. http://www.microsoft.com/windows95/info/isdn4w95.htm (It says it's ISDN accelrator pack, it's really dun1.1) I recommend not upgrading to DUN1.2 unless you need it because it is slow and bloated. DUN 1.1 is worth getting because it is much more stable and hasextra features. Aaron 2/25/98(Q) I have upgraded my modem to a 56k flex Zoltrix (FM-VSP56i2) from 14.4 Zoom. Added 20x cd rom, LS68 amplified speakers, and AcerMagic FX-3D sound card. Modem is a voice/fax and included microphone. Had the impression I could hook everything up to have all soung through the sound card. Problem now is, can only use faxtalk software with speakerphone only if speakers and microphone are hooked into the modem. Tried all other combinations with sound card (ie speakers in card mic in modem and etc.) and can use modem but no sound or get blown out of windows 3.1. Technician said I would have to buy another set of speakers - one set for modem and one set for sound card ! Chuck (A) Unless their is some sort of feature connector on the modem to connect it to the sound card, this sounds about right to me. For them to share the speakers and mike otherwise, they would have to cooperate on the software level, using the I/O bus to pass the stuff in binary, which I doubt is supported. On the other hand, I have to admit, I never though of using a voice/fax modem for a speaker phone, the main application of the voice feature is the answering machine function. Morris 2/20/98(Q) I am running a small internet for my school. I am using a 166MHz computer for RAS service I have two serial ports I have one modem hooked to Com 2 and my mouse to Com1 How can I hook up a second modem because all my serial ports are full. Cris (A) It depends on your operating system. If you are running Windows 95, Windows NT, or UNIX, you can add an internal modem as either Com 3 or Com 4 using a non-standard IRQ, such as 5 or 9. I stuck a $69 plug-n-play 56KBs modem in a old 60MHz Pentium today that sported a huge variety of options. The internal modem is the best option because it creates it's own Com port, it's cheaper than an external, and you're going to have to open your system in any case. If you really want to stick with external modems, you can buy any add in adapter that supports serial or mouse ports on non-standard IRQs, such as "COM5" from Logitech. Morris 2/9/98(Q) I have a network setup with win95 at home and it works fine. But I would like to connect to my computer from my friends house or from work, both of those are using win95 also. I can't seem to figure out how to make the modem answer the call from the other computer, I couldn't find anything that would let me answer, only to dial out using Dial up networking or hyperterminal. Curtis (A) Windows 95 dial-up networking works great, but you need to have PLUS (the Win 95 extra) installed on the PC accepting the call. Cost about $35 bucks (see correction from Aaron below), last time I bought it. BY the way, be aware that 33K will be your top communications speed, even if you have 56K Flex modems. It requires a true digital modem to get the one-way 56K speed. Morris (A) For some reason MS gave out the very same Dial-Up-Server with their Dial-Up-Networking upgrade 1.1 and 1.2. http://www.microsoft.com/windows95/info/isdn4w95.htm (It says it's ISDN accelrator pack, it's really dun1.1) I recommend not upgrading to DUN1.2 unless you need it because it is slow and bloated. DUN 1.1 is worth getting because it is much more stable and hasextra features. Aaron 2/6/98(Q) I have a Packard Bell 486 SX (AXCEL460) that I'm trying to up grade the modem, yes I know normally this is a simple process, just take out the old and put in the new I wish it where that easy the problem is that this one came already in the system it's connected to the board with a 20 pin connector, I can't seem to get loose. I've run a modem diagnostic program that shows the second modem is there but can't seem to see it in AOL or my Windows 3.1 terminal program ..I have the built in modem on com1 IRQ 4 and the second modem on Com3 Irq 7. Why want the programs recognized the modem. Ernest Almost no Windows 3.1 software will accept a modem on IRQ 7, the default for LPT1:. Many Windows 3.1 apps won't even accept Com3 or Com4 when the normal IRQs are used, even if there are option settings indicating it will work. There has to be a way of dissabling the onboard modem (without using brute force), or changing it from Com1 IRQ 4 anything else, in order to free up the Com1 slot for your new modem. Morris 1/21/98(Q) I am having trouble getting my modem to dial the internet access number to connect to the internet. I am running Windows 95 on a Toshiba 100 mz pentium laptop with a TDK CyberExpress 3000 modem. The modem dials fine when using other programs -- for example MS works -- but when I use internet explorer or Dial-Up Networking, it simply won't dial. I get a message, "The computer you are dialing in to is not answering" but I think this is wrong -- the modem simply is not dialing at all. Bottom line: why won't the modem dial via the internet software? I get the feeling that it's not being initialized properly, but what do I know. Paul (Q) Assuming you hear it dial using Works, than you are absolutely right. Windows 95 programs, use (or should use) Dial-Up Networking for all of their modem connections, which is one of the icons found in My Computer. Before doing anything else, I'd use the "Make New Connection" wizard to create an icon to dial anybody (say, somebody you don't like), than try it. If Windows will dial the phone and shreik in the poor guy's ear, there is nothing wrong with the setup, and you can create a Dial-Up link to your ISP the same way. If the phone won't dial, you have a driver problem, or some of the resouces are improperly set, which can be investigated and repaired in DeviceManager, found in ControlPanel. Once you get the connection working, use the "Create a Shortcut" option to add the icon to your desktop. Morris 1/19/98(Q) I recently got 2 Pure Data ethernet cards (pdi8023 plus II) to build a network, I got these used and do not have any manual. I did manage to get the proper setup programs for them (to set IRQ etc...) The setup program, under the heading "physical media" the options are
I will be using the coax cable to connect the cards, so would "thick ethernet" be the proper choice?? Also, any suggestions on what to use to best network a DOS/Win3.1 machine to a Win 95 machine?? Pat (A) You want Thin Ethernet, 50 Ohm coax, two "T"'s and two 50 Ohm terminators. Thick Ethernet is the old 15 pin connector with local drops to an IBM style network. Best way to network 95 to Windows 3.1 is to replace 3.1 with 3.11 (Workgroups) and use the standard Windows networking option (Net BEUI, practically sets itself up). Morris 1/16/98(Q) Just yesterday I bought both a second hard drive (IBM 4.3GB SCSI2UW) and a CDR/RW (Yamaha 4001ti 6xRead, 4xWrite, 2xRewrite, IDE). This afternoon I got around to installing everything, but first I cleaned everything out (LA air is full of dust that collects in computers) using a aerisol duster (as per directions on the can). When I got everything running, both the hard drive and the CDR/RW worked fine, and I was able to boot into both NT 4.0 and Win95 without much hassle. The problems occured in several of my other devices. I have apparently lost both serial ports (at least that what it looks likes, since neither the modem or Calcomp tablet are detected by the computer), CD-Audio capability on the old CD-ROM (NEC 4x4 CD changer, IDE), and I'm now getting a buzz through my soundcard (SoundBlaster 32 AWE PnP) that seems triggered by hard drive access. Andrew (A) Well, the first thing I'd do is try to troubleshoot the "buzz", which may be seperate from the Com problem. Temporarily disconnect the new hd and CD to see if it is an electrical noise problem. If it goes away, try relocating the sound card to another slot, preferably as far from the offending device as possible, with other adapters in between. The Com ports sound like a coincidental failure more than anything else, maybe aggrevated by the air blowing a little piece of short-ciruiting junk into the worng place. At any rate, I'd dissable them in CMOS, and throw an old serial card in, just to see if that fixes it. Only moral to the story is that I don't clean PCs, with the exception of the fans. Morris 12/19/97(Q) About 2 years ago I installed a modem, and did not seem to be having any problems. Now I have installed a new hard drive and it seems I have one problem after another... I just discovered that my com2 is active and my modem is running over top of it. I have no idea how to disable it so my modem can have it to itself. I do not have the I/O card papers, and the company that made the p/c says they can't help. I tried putting my modem to com4, but my software can not find it. So I am stuck to com2. How do I disable the com2 port? John By guessing. Take the modem out, take the SIDE or IO card out, pick a good looking jumper from the middle of a bank and move it. Stick the SIDE card back in, boot the PC, and look for COM2 dissapearing on the bootup report. If you see COM1 dissapear instead, or see the Com ports otherwise move, you're getting close. Just make that 2F8 go away, or become a 2E8. Otherwise, always put the jumper back where it started, and don't worry if you produce some HDD or FDD controller errors. When you're set, put the modem back in, and you'll see 2E8 reappear, from the modem this time. It sounds like you've already got the procedure down, but I do illustrate how to install a modem on my other site. Morris 12/8/97(Q) I don't think the is classified under "bug" or "problem" but it's annoying enough. I have a P200 (used to be 133) with 48meg RAM running Windows95. I have a 3Com EtherLink III ISA in COMBO mode using Plug n' Play. My problem is that at fairly random times (usually 3 minutes apart) my computer will make 4 pauses, about 1.5 sec each and 2 sec apart. This ONLY happens when I am running something slightly taxing on my cpu or with heavy graphic stuff. All computer games and most web pages with lots of "Flash" will have this pause but MS Word will not. People on the 'net have told me this is caused by my ethernet card looking for other devices on it's LAN. People have also givin me plenty of answers (Get WinNT, un-bind IPX...) but I haven't got WinNT and I THINK that my ethernet card uses TCP/IP protocol for LAN stuff. I use the ethernet card to get to an extrenal ISDN box which is my connection to the internet. Also these pauses happen regardless if I'm connected to the internet or not. Nick (A) I'm posting it more because of the reason you suspect, than because of any good answer. The explanation you've received from others seems reasonable, though I don't know if it's necessarily right. Out of curiousity, have you ever pulled the computer out so you can see the LEDs on the back of the 3Com card and see if the traffic light agrees with the pauses you are experiencing? The first thing that comes to mind is that you could try turning down Graphics Acceleration in Device Manager. The only other though that comes to mind is that you might not have enough L2 cache to cover your 48MB of RAM, which could cause pretty regular pauses. The check for that would be to just yank 16MB on a temporary basis and see what happens. Let me know if you figure it out. Morris 12/4/97(Q) I purchased a NEC Ready 9670 computer that has a Boca 33.6 (FD34FSVD) modem installed. I set it up to use the dialup program in Windows 95 to contact my ISP (in fact a number of ISPs) and it worked fine. I then installed two programs, TSOnline (a communications package) and Juno (an e-mail service where you call in, get your messages or send them, and the program hangs up.). Both of these programs have their own independent dialing component. TSOnline says it is dialing but nothing happens. Juno requests that I set up the modem, but with the automatic setup, I get no modem found, and with the manual setup, I get to a point where the message is that the modem is being used by another program. I assume that the same problem is being encountered by both programs. Robert (A) My guess would be that the modem is set up on some non-standard settings, which is very common with plug-n-play components. One of the most common choices for modem setup under Win 95 is Com4 and IRQ=5, which might not be supported by a direct communications package. When in doubt, use Device Manager and see if you can re-arrange things to get the modem onto Com2, IRQ=3. You'll probably have to go into the CMOS setup to relocate or dissable the current COM2 port, but you probably aren't using it anyway. Morris 12/3/97(Q) I use Windows95 version 4.00.950 with Hebrew support (all messages and Help in English) but recently I've lost the keyboard languages switch icon (E or Ô) near the clock in the tray. The Shortcut Alt + Shift switches languages as usual. Could you advise me how can I restore the icon? Shilman (A) Go to ControlPanel/Keyboard/Languages and click "Enable indicator on task bar". This answer came courtesy of Shilman a couple days after my stock reply of "I don't know". If anybody knows how to get a lost modem icon back on the task bar tray in Win 95, I'd like to know the answer of that one too! Morris (A) Modem icon on the task bar. You've probably received a reply to this already, go to "Dial-Up Networking", "Properties" of the connection, "Configure..." for the modem, "Options" tab, "Status control" and see if "Display modem status" is ticked-on. John 12/1/97(Q) Composite question drawn from several similar questions over the weekend. I have just upgraded my PC with a new motherboard (or hard drive, or sound card, or modem), and now nothing come up on the screen, (or the system freezes after counting RAM without beeps or an error message) on boot. How do I proceed? Composite (A) In all instances, when you can't get as far as an on screen error message, you should strip the PC down to the bare bones and see if the problem goes away. Bare bones requirements to light up the screen are a motherboard, CPU, one bank of RAM, power supply, video card, monitor and keyboard. If you still can't get as far as text on the screen, one of these parts is bad, or improperly installed. Once you have a "live" screen, start putting the other parts back in ONE AT A TIME, until you either find the problem, or have a working system. Morris 10/22/97(Q) I just finished installing a PCI Terminator motherboard with an AMD 486-100 into the case of an old 386 for a friend of mine. The board has onboard IDE, unlike the old 386 board, so I connected the HD accordingly. However, I still needed the old Goldstar SIDE card to plug the floppies into and to connect the mouse and printer to. Previously, the printer was on a tiny card, and there is also a Cirrus 33.6 internal modem. No matter how I setup the Com's and IRQ's, the modem will not work at all and the printer goes off-line immediately after power up. Chris (A) At this point, you need to do a step by step hardware troubleshoot. Remove the modem and the tiny card, boot the system with just the Goldstar SIDE, and hit "pause" when the system shows the boot configuration screen. You should have an LPT1 (378), Com1 (3F8) and Com2 (2F8). The old SIDE cards had the ability to dissable ports, or swap Com1 > 3, and Com2 > 4, but not to change IRQs. If the card doesn't display what you expect, stop there and start playing with jumpers. If it's OK, dissable Com2, or move it to Com4, confirm it's gone/moved on the boot screen, then install your modem on Com2, IRQ 3 (Win 3.1 prefers it there). If the printer continues to give problems, dissable it, and then install your tiny card, checking how the boot screen reflects whats going on at every step. Be systematic, and you should get there.. Morris 9/29/97(Q) I'm using an IBM PS/2 Model 55sx (386sx, 16 MHz, 6 MB RAM, 70MB w/33 MB free) with WFW 3.11 and JUNO E-Mail v1.38. The IBM has a VGA adapter and is using the standard Windows VGA driver (7/93). The computer works fine in other Windows apps but will lock up within one minute of opening Juno. During that first minute the computer works fine; the modem can be used to access mail or not - no problem. Once the computer locks up, the mouse cursor stays "alive", but isn't able to activate anything. CTRL-ALT-DEL brings up the Windows message that "Juno has stopped responding to the system". The ENTER key closes Juno and I'm on my way again in Program Manager. I am a new Juno user. The problem did not begin until the first time the advertisements downloaded onto my computer. The first few days of using Juno everything worked fine no matter how long I was using the program. I'm thinking there is a connection there. The Juno help files mention this problem (video lockups related to advertising message scrolling) surfacing with insufficient HD space or old video drivers. Doug (A) I would suspect a slow connection speed to Juno, an overtaxed connection, or your PC just being too slow. If your modem is 14.4 K or higher, you should be OK, though the best traffic check is to just call way off peak (say after midnight or early in the AM to see if you do better). You have enough free space, though your hardware, taken as a whole, is about the slowest system in existence that will run WFW (I think there was a 12 MHz 386 at one time, but it was a DX system. So, My bet is slow connection, or your system just can't cut it. Morris 9/17/97(Q) I have a 14.4 modem. My sound card is an integrated ESS 1868F audio chipset on a riser card which has three ISA expansion slots on it. I just bought a new 33.6 modem from Boca, and when I installed it and took the 14.4 out, the new modem worked fine, but Windows95 removed my sound card. Also, in the Device Manager tab in System, when my 33.6 modem is installed, my sound card is not listed. My sound card is on IRQ 5. My 14.4 modem has jumpers on the modem itself and they are set to IRQ 3, COM 2. In Device Manager, COM 2 is already set to IRQ 3. My 33.6 modem is "Plug and Play" so I can't change the IRQ and COM settings on the modem itself. Under Device Manager, when I select my modem, it doesn't bring up a Resource tab like it does on my sound card, so I can't change the IRQ settings. Mike (A) The problem is that the plug-n-play modem is being recognized by the system before the sound card. Although a modem can share IRQs with an unused COM port (COM4 on your system?), plug-n-play modems normally get set to the next free IRQ, unfortunately 5 in your case. It's surprising that it doesn't have a resources tab, most plug-n-play devices can be manually moved that way after the fact. The easiest fix might be to get rid of your current COM2 or COM4 port which is eating IRQ3, either in the CMOS setup, if the port is on the motherboard, or with a manual jumper on the SIDE card, if it's not. Also reboot without ANY of the cards and delete spare COM ports in device manager. That way, the modem should be automatically configured for COM2, IRQ3, and the conflict with the sound card should go away. Morris 9/2/97(Q) My dilema: Compaq Presario 7234 took a lightening strike through the modem. The only inoperable part of the computer at this point IS the modem. We would like to replace it with something which allows fax/data/voice in order to use the "Internet Phone" program to talk which our daughter out of state. We are in a quandry as to what to look for, anywhere, to get a reasonably priced modem. What specifications should we look for to meet our needs, and can you offer any suggestions of where to get the most reasonable price? Mickey (A) To the best of my knoweledge, Internet phone programs use the soundcard for all of the actual "phone" work, the modem only comes in as the Internet connection. The "voice" component on upscale modems is for generated speech, like voice/messaging systems. You'll definitely want to buy the fastest modem you can afford, which should be a 33.6Kb/s with the option to upgrade to 56Kb/s. The big question is what connection speed your ISP (Internet Service Provider) will let you connect at. Very few have implemented the one-way 56Kb/s yet, and less than half actually support 33.6Kb/s. So, after you put the modem in, you might want to shop your ISP as well. Morris 8/10/97(Q) I have recently been handed down a pair of ethernet cards of unknown origin, without any software. They both have a UMC UM9003AF controller chip & are jumperless. I have managed to obtain the setup program ( to set port & IRQ ) but cannot locate any drivers for windows for workgroups 3.11 on the web. Can you point me in the right direction? Steve (A) Yes, choose NE2000 for the adapter type, which comes as a standard 3.11 choice. Any adapter that isn't a big brand name (also many that are) are 100% compatible with the original Novell NE2000 card. The UMC chip set is one of the most common on clone network cards, but you're lucky to have inherited the setup software, which is often impossible to find. Morris 7/24/97(Q) Morris, I have a question that you would think is very simple, but I need to know for sure.. I am hooking a network together and making up my own cables for this, I have twisted pair wire (4 sets of wire, total of 8) and I'm crimping RJ45 connectors on the ends of them, do I set them in the same order on both ends and is it important to use sertain pairs for the number seqence? Mark
(A) Yup, it's important, though short cables sometimes limp by even when they're done wrong. 10Base"T" networks actually only use 4 wires, and even though the wiring is straight through, the pairing is important since it provides noise sheilding. Pins 1 and 2 should use one pair, pins 3 and 6 use another pair. The other wires don't need to be connected, although I find the connectors easier to put together when the using all eight, the four extras help hold the wire to pin 6 in place. Don't be shy about crimping those puppys, the only stess relief comes from the wedge in the RJ-45 connector that crushed into the cable to hold it. Morris 7/17/97(Q) I have a 486 computer with a 14.4K Cardnal external modem which I use with Juno's free e-mail software. Recently, I've received several letters from Juno stating that my connect speed is too slow (under 9600 baud), and that the Juno servers will stop accepting calls from my computer. Everything worked fine for the last six months. What can have happened? Becky (A) There are several possibilities, including that you may have always had slow connections, and not excepting these calls is a new Juno policy. First, double check your software settings for the modem and the com port it's attached to, making sure the modem is set to 14,400 in Juno and the com port is set to 19,600 baud (Windows Control Panel). Next, attach a regular phone to the "phone" jack on the back of the modem, and listen for static on the line. Noisy phone lines are probably the #1 reason for slow connection speeds. Finally, double check that the cable connections to the modem and the serial port are solid, and that you haven't moved a piece of furniture over the phone line or serial cable. If you still get the Juno errors, try loading up an AOL or other Internet service disk, just to see what connection speed you get with them. Morris 7/10/97(Q) I bought a 486 board without docs. It works with a 33 mhz cpu however it insists that it is connected to a network. Actually it tells me it isn't and it should be. Before the memory test, (note this is before DOS even thinks about starting up,) it tells me: Invalid configuration information for slot 02, 05. then it continues it's boot routine. Win95 insists that slot 5 has an ethernet100 card and installs the drivers, then informs me that the card does not work, and I need to fix it. So, I went back to win3.1, but now I have a scanner that wants the IRQ that the nonexistent card is using. Help! Mike (A) Interesting problem. I'm guessing the motherboard, despite being only a 486/33, has either EISA or PCI slots. With older CPUs, the guess would be EISA, but this is certainly something you can find out by entering the CMOS SETUP during boot. Unfortunately, if it is an EISA motherboard, you'll need to find and download the EISA setup program from the manufacturers web site, in order to tell it the card no longer exists. PCI, you would be able to do directly in the SETUP, and in fact, it would probably have corrected itself when the card was removed. Once beyond the hardware issue, you'll need to run SYSEDIT from within Windows (choose RUN under File, then just type SYSEDIT). Then remove any reference to the Ethernet card from all of the startup files. However, Windows 95 should also stop autodetecting the card once the EISA configuration is corrected, and the resources will be freed up. Morris |