Hi, I was at my wits end, trying to get this USRobotics sportster modem to work while sending out faxes. It failed with "Unspecified Transmit Phase B Error". Well, Drudging through the mailing list archive, I came across this little reference to the following: http://www.elgro.demon.co.uk/resources.html, which is a cool set of hylafax resources.
Well, lo and behold, that had a reference to http://www.trump.net.au/~rjc/hylafax/usr.html, which is a page for US Robotics users for Hylafax That page had the solution I needed. I include it here for the edification of people. (I spen months procrastinating getting my fax stuff fixed, and then an frustrating week digging this out; I was at the point of throwing my modem out of the window and buying a new, supported modem). Can we have it included in the Debian Hylafax package? Or at least the pointers to the two URLs mentioned here? This information was too hard to find. manoj http://www.trump.net.au/~rjc/hylafax/usr.html ______________________________________________________________________ The USR Hylafax Page ------------------------------------------------------------------------ This page is dedicated to the problems getting the USR modems particularly the Sportster to work with Hylafax. The Problem For USR modems in particular look for a high rate of the dreaded "Unspecified Transmit Phase B Error" Quite often it is accompanied by "But the modem faxes fine under Windows..." Whats a Phase B Error? Heres a quote from Sam Leffler the principal author of Hylafax "Phase B is point in the fax protocol where the sender+receiver first exchange digital information (e.g. each other's capabilities). Since the error code is uninformative the real reason for the failure is anyone's guess. If the problem is repeatable then you've probably got a firmware problem. If not, then it's likely a line condition problem." Sam Leffler Repeatable...you better believe it!!! Firstly Diagnosing Your Modem Firstly get information about the modem you purchased. Connect directly to thte serial port using cu, tip, kermit etc ie If your running Linux and you have the modem connected to /dev/ttyS2(DOS COM3) #cu -l ttyS2 at OK ati7 Configuration Profile... Product type Australia External Options V32bis,V.FC,V.34+ Fax Options Class 1/Class 2.0 Clock Freq 92.0Mhz Eprom 256k Ram 64k EPROM date 6/6/96 DSP date 6/6/96 EPROM rev 2.0 DSP rev 2.0 OK ~. [Disconnected] # Here is a script to help analyse the reliability of your modem(s): * errorstats To run type ./errorstats /var/spool/fax/etc/xferlog The script analyses the xferlog file, substitute the appropriate location if different from /var/spool/fax/etc The output shows the failed fax transmissions by modem. Look particularly at the number of Transmit Phase B errors. Which modems are affected? Transmit phase B errors seem to occur to some extent in all USR modems, this is not always USR's fault. Quite often if your connecting to another (cheap)fax modem or a line with multiple devices on it(ie answering machine) or you have a bad line a Phase B error can easily occur. If you suspect your modem is faulty make sure beforehand you try sending faxes to a variety of machines and on different phone lines to ensure its the modem at fault not external conditions. OK, now thats clear... It seems that in late 1995 through 1996 US Robotics shipped a whole bunch of Sportsters modems with faulty firmware. If the modem is setup with hardware flow control in fax class 2.0 it becomes extremely difficult to send facsimiles without Transmit Phase B errors. The modems can be divided into 3 categories * Modems up until mid to late 1995 These modems should work without alteration with the standard hylafax installation scripts Here is a typical entry for one such modem Product type US/Canada External Options V32bis,V.FC,V.34 Fax Options Class 1/Class 2.0 Clock Freq 20.16Mhz Eprom 256k Ram 32k Supervisor date 04/18/95 DSP date 03/31/95 Supervisor rev 6.0.5 DSP rev 1.0.9 * Modems with 1996 Firmware These modems have particular problems sending facsimiles in class 2.0 Here is a typical entry for one such modem Product type US/Canada External Options V32bis,V.FC,V.34+ Fax Options Class 1/Class 2.0 Clock Freq 92.0Mhz Eprom 256k Ram 64k EPROM date 3/4/96 DSP date 3/4/96 EPROM rev 2.31 DSP rev 2.31 * Post 1996 'x2' Firmware These modems will work with some alteration to the standard configuration files Here is a typical entry for one such modem Product type US/Canada External Options V32bis,V.34+,x2 Fax Options Class 1/Class 2.0 Line Options Caller ID, Distinctive Ring Clock Freq 92.0Mhz Eprom 256k Ram 32k FLASH date 3/8/97 FLASH rev 4.1.55 DSP date 3/8/97 DSP rev 10.3.55 Note: I have generally tried to use firmware and DSP dates to distinguish the modems, there is a weird inconsistency amongst the Sportster range revision numbers especially with the international models. I've got a broken modem what now? If you own a Sportster with the 1996 firmware, there are a number of ways of getting it working. The first method is the easiest but has some disadvantages the others are pretty much untested but might be able to be made to work better 1. Run the modem in Class 1 Simply select class 1 in the faxaddmodem script or hand edit the modems config file. The modem now sends and receives in class 1, unfortunately this can cause other problems. o Fax reception is not as reliable o Adaptive answer no longer works o For multi modem configurations this can increase the load on the server, which can cause timing problems and hence an increased failure rate. 2. Run the modem with Software Flow Control Either software flow control alone or software and hardware flow control together - I haven't been able to get a working configuration file with either of these options, but apparently it works... 3. Slow the modem down Try setting the modem to 19200 or even 9600 in addition to software flow control If you own a 'x2' Sportster ie 1997 firmware, setup the modems config file in the standard way(the faxaddmodem script) and hand edit it afterward to include the line. Class2NRCmd: AT+FNR=1,1,1,0 # setup status reporting command With the above configuration the modem should work without too much trouble. Why it Works under Windows Quite often when the modem fails under hylafax, the operator then tests the machine under Windows with some typical Windows fax software. Usually this test is successful even when the operator specified a class 2 faxmodem. This is because no matter what most of the Windows software will still fax in class 1 no matter what kind of modem is specified.(....hello Winfax!!!) But i bought a Sportster Winmodem? There are 3 alternatives: 1. Spend the rest of your natural life reverse engineering the Winmodem protocol, implement a kernel driver and add the functionality to hylafax... 2. Phone up USR support and say your Winmodem won't work with Linux and can you exchange it for another Winmodem. 3. Ask for your money back Have Fun !!! - Robert Colquhoun ------------------------------------------------------------------------ -- Manoj Srivastava <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> <http://www.datasync.com/%7Esrivasta/> Key C7261095 fingerprint = CB D9 F4 12 68 07 E4 05 CC 2D 27 12 1D F5 E8 6E -- To UNSUBSCRIBE, email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with a subject of "unsubscribe". Trouble? Contact [EMAIL PROTECTED]