My husband has a socket 7 mobo, with an onboard V.90 Fax/Modem DAA module. Says PCTel HSP 56 Micro Modem. Connects fine, gets email fine, but when you click on a link to go somewhere...it is like the modem is off in the kitchen getting a cup of coffee! Takes so long to initiate..i.e. put "website found" and going there and whatever on the bottom of his IE 5.5 screen that I start to think it didn't register the click at all. It FINALLY starts loading a page, and I think maybe is about right for our speed at that point. Still a bit slower to load a page than mine, but not really all that different.

He has a 500 chip and 128 MB RAM..if that's relevant. And has 98 and IE 5.5. I remember a tech sending me somewhere in 98 to see if my modem was set on software or hardware, but can't find it again so see if husband's is set on hardware.

Norton Utilities said the modem flunked the "feedback" test. We have another modem we could try, but I thought maybe I would ask you guys first if there might be some obscure (to us, at least) setting that we may have missed. His is set at the 115, and the "only connect at this speed" is unchecked. 98 has put his modem on IRQ 10 and it's reading at Com 4.

Any ideas? Thanks, Kay

Pretty sure 'hardware' setting is not an option with that modem. Could the HSP be HST?

Don't remember specifics about NU modem test, but flunking may have been
because you don't have a (hardware) 'loopback' plug, or the port to
connect one to, for that matter. This is a modem integrated on mobo, correct?

You could check a few things, and maybe try one or two.

There may be some "Restart to take effect?" messages after you do some of these steps, don't remember.

In Device Manager, double-click 'Modem', double-click 'PC Tel...', click the Connection Tab.

Click Port Settings button, if both pointers aren't all the way toward Fast, drag them there. Click OK.

Now click Advanced button. If Modulation box shows HST, OK. If Standard, change to HST. Click OK.

The Flow and Error Control boxes and subitems on this page may also have an effect on performance.
Right-click on an option, click the 'What's This' popup, and read to see if this might
apply to your system. Some may be grayed out, so you won't even have a choice.

You can't really hurt anything changing them,
but you should probably do just one at a time.
Run for awhile, to see if any noticable difference.

With your 'ancient' phone lines and factoring in the time of day, there may be little you can do.

I notice significant differences when it's 8am West coast time,
also around 6-7pm East coast, then 6-7pm West coast again.

People at work , or people at home after work all logging on at the same time.

Couldn't hurt to see if any of these help. Good Luck! http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/wink.gif


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"I am not able to rightly apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question."
-- Charles Babbage, mathematician, computer pioneer, analytical engine designer (1791-1871)
-- (Question: 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?')

Thanks, TJay, will do. Part of the problem is increased traffic, but mine still operates MUCH better on weekends than his. He is lucky to stay "on" for over 30 minutes in a stretch, and I do think there is something in that "delay" part that could contribute to the losing connection part.

And yes, is built into board so husband said something about having to "jump" or similar to use another modem. And I am pretty sure about the HSP part.

That "on board" modem has been a problem for me and resulted in my not buying the motherboards with that feature.....frequent disconnects etc....its a software modem and not a very good one at that. If it really bothers him you can always disable it in the bios or with jumpers on the mainboard[depending on what mobo you have] and put a PCI or ISA modem in and be done with the problem.

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Will XP save Me ?

I had the same problem with my onboard modem. It was pretty fast after I first set it up in our new house, then as time went on the 52K, 49K connections slowed to 24K, 22K, etc. I do not recommend that you continue using it. I would install another one, if that is possible for your motherboard. If you cannot disable the modem on the m-board, you will have to get a whole new m-board. That is the pain that integrated components bring you.
That's why I do not buy any integrated crap, unless I can manually disable it.
Hope this helps. I sympathize with you.

j_sanborn


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("If at first you don't succeed, suck harder, then you will succeed!" cited Curly Howard of the 3 Stoogies)

It's a PC100 mobo and we have a manual! (I am thrilled with that cuz don't have a manual for mine.) Think TJay's suggestions may have helped but haven't had time to really check, but do know that it is set on Hardware.

j_sanborn: Why "I do not recommend that you continue using it"? Are we in danger??? Our phone lines are only the 28 stuff, and when we hover over the little puters down there by the clock it reads 26,400 bps (best we can do out here in the boonies).

We can change the modem out. As I said, we have another and we have the manual that tells how to disable the onboard modem. We're kind of swamped right now with fixing someone else's puter, but can change modem out soon.

Randy: Saw an article over (I think) at MBHW that seemed to imply that it was better to buy a mobo with features onboard. Understand what you're saying about the modem, but what about the other stuff like the sound and video and whatever?

Kay, here's my .02, and that might be about all it's worth. http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/wink.gif

Mobo's with integrated features do deserve some credit, especially ones from 'name' mfr's.

They offer a lot of advantages to people who don't play the latest games, or overclock.

They keep costs down significantly. You can usually use a mini tower and a smaller PS.

You don't have to go six different places to find and download all the latest drivers.

I would stay away from models with the AMR riser, or ones where
you can't disable on-board features if you do want to upgrade later.

EDIT -- Might be worth .03 now that I've read it. http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/biggrin.gif

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"I am not able to rightly apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question."
-- Charles Babbage, mathematician, computer pioneer, analytical engine designer (1791-1871)
-- (Question: 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?')

[This message has been edited by tjaymadison (edited 05-16-2001).]

Overclock??? I don't think sooooooo. By now, you should know that we are extremely CHICKEN and couldn't care less about the newest games.

Puck, puck and thanks for the 3 cents.

HSP is right, that's part of the model name/number, and it is software, not hardware based, therefore it's using system resources rather than its own chip. That's part of the reason for the slow or unpredictable connections. HST is a modulation type. Don't ask me to explain that...but usually standard should work best. Won't do any harm to try it and see though.

His is set at the 115, and the "only connect at this speed" is unchecked.

Uncheck that. Leave the setting at 115,200.

The phone lines do also affect your connection speed. I usually run 26,400 too, for the same reason. And that's with a hardware modem. 56K (http://www.56k.com/reports/winmodem.shtml) has a good article concerning the drawbacks of software modems. Combined with older and probably not well maintained phone lines, that's why you're having connection problems.



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So many idiots, and only six bullets...
Note: Please post your questions on the forums, not in my email.

Computer Information Links (http://www.geocities.com/paleopete/)

Okay, Pete, now I am confused. You said to uncheck the unchecked? His is set on Hardware, so I am guessing that we should change that for the time tween now and changing to other modem? But..okay, leaving it set to 115, are you saying we should check that "only connect at this speed" box?

Sorry to be dense.

No, Kay, leave it un-checked. Otherwise you'll disable automatic fallback to lower speeds when necessary. http://www.PCGuide.com/ubb/smile.gif

Standard is probably best for modulation.

Software better than hardware for your modem right now.

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"I am not able to rightly apprehend the kind of confusion of ideas that could provoke such a question."
-- Charles Babbage, mathematician, computer pioneer, analytical engine designer (1791-1871)
-- (Question: 'Pray, Mr. Babbage, if you put into the machine wrong figures, will the right answers come out?')

Thanks, TJay, will do.