Date: Sun, 21 Jan 2001 20:37:11 -0000
From: "Matthew Hanson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: Problems with 50CT and 3COM 56k/Ethernet Card
David responded to me off the list when I was having mail problems (Hotmail
lost all of my online mail archives!). I'll paste his reply here in case
anyone else might have some thoughts that might be useful. I have until
Tuesday to try to work this out before I'll have to return this modem...
Matt
>Date: Sat, 20 Jan 2001 21:22:08 -0800 (PST)
>From: David Chien <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>The list is working just fine and I can read your post to the List.
>
>Dump my-deja mail and use Yahoo! instead.
I'm seriously heading that way at this point David. Hotmail ... %$#*&^ (no
comment) ... and My-Deja ... My post to the list came back to me after about
6-8 notes were posted to the list after the point where I had sent in mine.
>As for the modem, I'd first call up 3COM's free 56Kb test phone number >to
>see if you're phone line can even support anything faster than 28Kb, or try
>your new card at a phone line that is known to give you 30Kb/sec
>connections reliably with another 56Kb modem.
>
>There should be no problem in achieving >40Kb/s modem connections on the
>L50 -in fact, the data rate is SO slow, you'd have to go back to a 286 to
>make the CPU the reason for the delays.
I have in fact gone that route. I've done many many line tests at this
point on my old modem, my desktop's modem, and this new 3COM megahertz
modem. I consistently get transfer rates of 2.9KBytes/sec to 3.6KBytes/sec
with my other old 3.6k modems. They also always negotiate connection speeds
of 40,000bps
The 3COM never manages a connection speed of more than 24000bps. So I know
that the transfer rate capability of my lines is beyond that which I'm
seeing with the 3COM modem.
Also, as I've noted, there are no settings in my PCIC configuration in
Device Manager under 'PCMCIA Socket' for either an interrupt request or
memory range. This, the 3COM support person said, was really strange, and
that it was a wonder that the modem was working at all. I've thought about
just deleting that PCIC controller entry under PCMCIA Socket in Device
manager, and rebooting to see if Windows will make it right.
>d =)
>
>..Oh, and try different phone line cables. It's the dumbest thing,
>but even a different cable can give you differernt connect rates.
Heh :-P I read this in the manual for the 3COM modem. I'll give it a try.
Any other thoughts and suggestions anyone may have would be very much
appreciated. Supposedly I have 5 days (until Tuesday) to be able to return
the modem to Centrix without having to pay the 15% restocking fee.
My apologies for my many odd posts to the list in the process of getting my
online accounts straightened out.
Matt
>From: "mattzacson Last Name" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Reply-To: Libretto <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>To: Libretto <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Subject: Problems with 50CT and 3COM 56k/Ethernet Card
>Date: Fri, 19 Jan 2001 18:49:37 -0800
>
>Date: Fri, 19 Jan 2001 18:44:57 -0800
>From: "mattzacson Last Name" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>Subject: Problems with 50CT and 3COM 56k/Ethernet Card
>
>Hi everyone,
>
>Hotmail is messing up their already messed up system by installing some new
>servers that pop up a lot more advertising, [time to Yahoo David ;-P], and
>a new interface, and now all my mail is gone! Hopefully temporarily. So
>I've re-subscribed to the Libretto list from my My-Deja account.
>
>First of all, let me remind people that I'm working on a 50CT.
>
>Last week I mentioned that I was ordering a 3COM Megahertz 56k/Ethernet
>Combo card. Someone else (forgive my forgetting your name) was having
>problems getting a Megahertz card running in their Libretto. I've been 3
>days now, and have run up against a brick wall with 3COM support.
>
>I got the 3COM Megahertz 3CCFEM556 56K/Ethernet PC card that I mentioned
>seeing at the Centrex International website (www.centrex.com ... or
>www.centrex-intl.com?). After installing the drivers, I was only
>connecting at 24,000 bps, and tested transfer rates consistently at 2.3 -
>2.4 K Bytes/sec. while doing back to back tests with my old 33.6K modem
>that consistently showed transfer speeds of 2.9K Bytes/sec..
>
>In 3 rounds of calls to 3COM tech support, as per their advice, I:
>
> 1. Flashed the card to upgrade it to the V.90 specifications
>
> 2. Removed this card's drivers and installed the drivers for the
> 3CCFEM556B (with the added 'B' there) modem.
>
> 3. Tryed forcing the modem's connection speed with the following AT
> commands:
>
> AT&U20
> ATZ
> AT&F
> AT&F2
>
>None of the above resulted in getting a connection faster than 24000 bps.
>
>The last call with 3COM ended at looking in Device Manager under "PCMCIA
>Socket" where we looked at the properties for the "PCIC or compatible
>PCMCIA controller". Under the "Resources" tab of those properties, the
>3COM tech person said that my settings were missing configurations for an
>interrupt request, and a memory range. The only item listed under
>"Resources" was:
>
> Input/Output Range 03E0-03E1
>
>Also, under the properties for "Computer" where the interrupts are listed,
>we noticed that there was nothing assigned to IRQ9. However the tech
>person said that infrequently this setting may actually be there, but is
>hidden
>
>The 3COM tech support person said I should ask Toshiba (so I'm here asking
>you guys!) about "any advice on reassigning resources" for this 50CT, and
>suggested the following:
>
>_Finding out if a utility exists to reconfigure these resources.
>
>_Also to check for a BIOS upgrade, although I'm pretty sure (not certain) I
>have in fact upgraded that in the past.
>
>_Also I should check to find out if these resources can be set manually in
>BIOS.
>
>_And last, I should check to see if there is a procedure for removing the
>existing settings for this "PCIC or compatible PCMCIA controller" in Device
>Manager, and then reinstalling them.
>
>A couple of their support reps thought that this 75MHz CPU just might not
>have the power to get this modem up to speed. The modem DOES in fact have
>a hardware controller, I checked with them on that. And I imagine many of
>you have managed to get 56K modems working in their 50CTs, right?
>
>The other thing I'd like to do if I can find a friend with another
>notebook, is to try setting up this card in a different system to see if
>the card might be faulty.
>
>Phew... well, thanks a lot folks. I'm crossing my fingers.
>
>Matt
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