Help with Modem from Time PC

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.homebuilt (More info?)

Friend of mine has asked me to put together a pc. To keep costs down he
wanted his old modem from his Time computer. Windows XP lists the modem as a
HSP56 Micromodem, he does not have any driver disk for the modem.
I have everything working except the modem. I set up a network connection
for freeserve which I have done many times in the past without any problems.
When I try to dial out to the freeserve site with the modem I get no dial
tone error.
Is this because the modem may be dedicated to Supanet which Time uses, if so
is there a way around this. Or has XP installed the incorrect modem.
Appreciate any help.
TIA

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.homebuilt (More info?)

On Sat, 15 May 2004 10:16:04 +0100, "BIGEYE"
<Securitypatch@µsoft.is.invalid> wrote:

>Friend of mine has asked me to put together a pc. To keep costs down he
>wanted his old modem from his Time computer. Windows XP lists the modem as a
>HSP56 Micromodem, he does not have any driver disk for the modem.
>I have everything working except the modem. I set up a network connection
>for freeserve which I have done many times in the past without any problems.
>When I try to dial out to the freeserve site with the modem I get no dial
>tone error.
>Is this because the modem may be dedicated to Supanet which Time uses, if so
>is there a way around this. Or has XP installed the incorrect modem.
>Appreciate any help.
>TIA
>

It is unlikely, bordering on unheard of, for a modem to be programmed to
only access one particular service. We can assume it isn't.

Pull the modem and note the chipset by markings on it. That will lead you
to a driver. Simply entering that first line of text into a Google search
may provide good links or if you posted those markings here we can
probably figure it out. The only markings needed are those on the chip
itself, though if there's a second large chip and/or voice capability as
evidenced by an internal or external jack then make note of that as well.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.homebuilt (More info?)

Thanks for the help. Went out and bought a nice new external modem. Working
fine.

"kony" <spam@spam.com> wrote in message
news:ma7ca0lbugasjg8d3cuuh3ghjbitn4hb06@4ax.com...
> On Sat, 15 May 2004 10:16:04 +0100, "BIGEYE"
> <Securitypatch@µsoft.is.invalid> wrote:
>
> >Friend of mine has asked me to put together a pc. To keep costs down he
> >wanted his old modem from his Time computer. Windows XP lists the modem
as a
> >HSP56 Micromodem, he does not have any driver disk for the modem.
> >I have everything working except the modem. I set up a network connection
> >for freeserve which I have done many times in the past without any
problems.
> >When I try to dial out to the freeserve site with the modem I get no dial
> >tone error.
> >Is this because the modem may be dedicated to Supanet which Time uses, if
so
> >is there a way around this. Or has XP installed the incorrect modem.
> >Appreciate any help.
> >TIA
> >
>
> It is unlikely, bordering on unheard of, for a modem to be programmed to
> only access one particular service. We can assume it isn't.
>
> Pull the modem and note the chipset by markings on it. That will lead you
> to a driver. Simply entering that first line of text into a Google search
> may provide good links or if you posted those markings here we can
> probably figure it out. The only markings needed are those on the chip
> itself, though if there's a second large chip and/or voice capability as
> evidenced by an internal or external jack then make note of that as well.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.homebuilt (More info?)

On Sat, 15 May 2004 13:44:47 GMT, kony <spam@spam.com> put finger to
keyboard and composed:

>On Sat, 15 May 2004 10:16:04 +0100, "BIGEYE"
><Securitypatch@µsoft.is.invalid> wrote:
>
>>Friend of mine has asked me to put together a pc. To keep costs down he
>>wanted his old modem from his Time computer. Windows XP lists the modem as a
>>HSP56 Micromodem, he does not have any driver disk for the modem.
>>I have everything working except the modem. I set up a network connection
>>for freeserve which I have done many times in the past without any problems.
>>When I try to dial out to the freeserve site with the modem I get no dial
>>tone error.
>>Is this because the modem may be dedicated to Supanet which Time uses, if so
>>is there a way around this. Or has XP installed the incorrect modem.
>>Appreciate any help.
>>TIA
>>
>
>It is unlikely, bordering on unheard of, for a modem to be programmed to
>only access one particular service. We can assume it isn't.

Check the Google archives of comp.dcom.modems. Search for "Tiny"
and/or "Supanet". You will be as surprised as I was.

>Pull the modem and note the chipset by markings on it. That will lead you
>to a driver. Simply entering that first line of text into a Google search
>may provide good links or if you posted those markings here we can
>probably figure it out. The only markings needed are those on the chip
>itself, though if there's a second large chip and/or voice capability as
>evidenced by an internal or external jack then make note of that as well.

"Fix for Time modem locked to Supanet":
http://groups.google.com/groups?selm=37352810.0403180036.4e75464f%40posting.google.com&output=gplain


- Franc Zabkar
--
Please remove one 's' from my address when replying by email.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.homebuilt (More info?)

On Sun, 16 May 2004 20:56:20 +1000, Franc Zabkar
<fzabkar@optussnet.com.au> wrote:


>"Fix for Time modem locked to Supanet":
>http://groups.google.com/groups?selm=37352810.0403180036.4e75464f%40posting.google.com&output=gplain

So it looks as though all it needs is the regular driver, the problem
would've been fixed "accidentally" by using typical generic approach to
getting a driver.

 

[Charles]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.homebuilt (More info?)

Look at the main chip on the modem. Often it is something like
Conexant or some other company. If you had the Modem still working
you could have looked in windows and found out what file the driver
was. Might still be on the original hard drive. Helps to recover
drivers before you take something apart.

>Friend of mine has asked me to put together a pc. To keep costs down he
>wanted his old modem from his Time computer. Windows XP lists the modem as a
>HSP56 Micromodem, he does not have any driver disk for the modem.
>I have everything working except the modem. I set up a network connection
>for freeserve which I have done many times in the past without any problems.
>When I try to dial out to the freeserve site with the modem I get no dial
>tone error.
>Is this because the modem may be dedicated to Supanet which Time uses, if so
>is there a way around this. Or has XP installed the incorrect modem.
>Appreciate any help.
>TIA
>

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.homebuilt (More info?)

On Sun, 16 May 2004 16:04:28 GMT, kony <spam@spam.com> put finger to
keyboard and composed:

>On Sun, 16 May 2004 20:56:20 +1000, Franc Zabkar
><fzabkar@optussnet.com.au> wrote:
>
>
>>"Fix for Time modem locked to Supanet":
>>http://groups.google.com/groups?selm=37352810.0403180036.4e75464f%40posting.google.com&output=gplain
>
>So it looks as though all it needs is the regular driver, the problem
>would've been fixed "accidentally" by using typical generic approach to
>getting a driver.

True. Now work this one out. Note that the modem is "hard", ie no
drivers, only firmware:

http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&selm=3ad2e677%240%24226%40hades.is.co.za
http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&selm=3ade3179.0%40news1.mweb.co.za

The author states:

"For interest the major South African ISPs servicing dial-up users
have all adopted ISP-specific modems for marketing purposes, these
being offered together with a variable free access period at prices
well below the modems' local retail prices. Equivalent to US$10-30 as
against current retail cost of $70-80. In all cases these are external
modems OEM'd by Askey ( V1456VQE ) and a local manufacturer, Duxbury."


- Franc Zabkar
--
Please remove one 's' from my address when replying by email.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.homebuilt (More info?)

On Mon, 17 May 2004 09:49:44 +1000, Franc Zabkar
<fzabkar@optussnet.com.au> wrote:


>True. Now work this one out. Note that the modem is "hard", ie no
>drivers, only firmware:
>
>http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&selm=3ad2e677%240%24226%40hades.is.co.za
>http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&selm=3ade3179.0%40news1.mweb.co.za
>
>The author states:
>
>"For interest the major South African ISPs servicing dial-up users
>have all adopted ISP-specific modems for marketing purposes, these
>being offered together with a variable free access period at prices
>well below the modems' local retail prices. Equivalent to US$10-30 as
>against current retail cost of $70-80. In all cases these are external
>modems OEM'd by Askey ( V1456VQE ) and a local manufacturer, Duxbury."

Not having one in front of me I can only speculate that I'd download the
regular firmware, which seems easy enough to find, then put that into an
EPROM and piggyback it on top of the prom installed, assuming it isn't
socketed. Granted that's not an option for everyone, but are winmodems
excessively expensive in that region?

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.homebuilt (More info?)

On Sun, 16 May 2004 23:02:36 -0500, Charles
<LastBoyScout@whitehouse.gov> put finger to keyboard and composed:

>Look at the main chip on the modem. Often it is something like
>Conexant or some other company. If you had the Modem still working
>you could have looked in windows and found out what file the driver
>was. Might still be on the original hard drive. Helps to recover
>drivers before you take something apart.

HSP56 is a PCtel softmodem chipset. Generic drivers are available from
the Conexant website.

>>Friend of mine has asked me to put together a pc. To keep costs down he
>>wanted his old modem from his Time computer. Windows XP lists the modem as a
>>HSP56 Micromodem, he does not have any driver disk for the modem.
>>I have everything working except the modem. I set up a network connection
>>for freeserve which I have done many times in the past without any problems.
>>When I try to dial out to the freeserve site with the modem I get no dial
>>tone error.
>>Is this because the modem may be dedicated to Supanet which Time uses, if so
>>is there a way around this. Or has XP installed the incorrect modem.
>>Appreciate any help.
>>TIA
>>


- Franc Zabkar
--
Please remove one 's' from my address when replying by email.

 

[Guest]

Archived from groups: alt.comp.hardware.homebuilt (More info?)

On Mon, 17 May 2004 02:55:56 GMT, kony <spam@spam.com> put finger to
keyboard and composed:

>On Mon, 17 May 2004 09:49:44 +1000, Franc Zabkar
><fzabkar@optussnet.com.au> wrote:
>
>
>>True. Now work this one out. Note that the modem is "hard", ie no
>>drivers, only firmware:
>>
>>http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&selm=3ad2e677%240%24226%40hades.is.co.za
>>http://groups.google.com/groups?hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-8&selm=3ade3179.0%40news1.mweb.co.za
>>
>>The author states:
>>
>>"For interest the major South African ISPs servicing dial-up users
>>have all adopted ISP-specific modems for marketing purposes, these
>>being offered together with a variable free access period at prices
>>well below the modems' local retail prices. Equivalent to US$10-30 as
>>against current retail cost of $70-80. In all cases these are external
>>modems OEM'd by Askey ( V1456VQE ) and a local manufacturer, Duxbury."
>
>Not having one in front of me I can only speculate that I'd download the
>regular firmware, which seems easy enough to find, then put that into an
>EPROM and piggyback it on top of the prom installed, assuming it isn't
>socketed. Granted that's not an option for everyone, but are winmodems
>excessively expensive in that region?

It may not be as simple as you think. The firmware is supplied in
Motorola S3 ASCII format, with the expectation that it be flashed from
a working modem. You *can* convert the S3 data to binary form with an
appropriate utility. I often do this just to peek at the text strings
in the code. However, I'm not sure that this binary file is always a
complete image of the entire PROM. What's to say that there isn't a
protected boot block that isn't updated by the flash process?

The way I would approach this problem is to copy the original PROM
code into a flash EEPROM, install this EEPROM in the modem, and then
use it to reflash itself with the new code, assuming of course that
the ISP-specific firmware does not preclude this.

One thing I have done for a Topic modem is to replace the original
2Mbit OTPROM with a 4Mbit flash EEPROM. I used my device programmer to
copy the original 2Mbit code into the lower half of the EEPROM, and
then wrote updated firmware to the upper half. The modem's socket was
then modified by isolating the most significant address bit and wiring
it to a switch or jumper which selected a high or low state. In this
way one could select the original or updated firmware.


- Franc Zabkar
--
Please remove one 's' from my address when replying by email.