How do I set an un-jumpered modem to different settings? 2

[stillflame]

Okie... I have a modem, a Rockwell HCF 56k DataFax PCI Modem, which has no jumpers on it to change it's settings, and is set to COM2. BeOS 4.5 doesn't support COM1 or COM2 modems, and they say to change the jumpers on the modem to make sure that doesn't happen, but i can't.
What i've tried so far: the system is a Compaq Presario 5240, and the BIOS for this computer is a little less than user friendly. i looked for anything that might have to do with plug-n-play settings, to see if it might prevent the autoset COM2, but failed. i feel this may have been the fault of the BIOS's lack of control (there was nothing that explicitly said "want plug-n-play?disable:enable&quot. I've tried suffling the modem between slots, but knew that wouldn't work to begin with... the software and manual for the modem has no helpful tips.
I have no idea what to do at this point except buy a new modem, a new version of BeOS, or a new BIOS chipset.
Good luck, anyone who thinks they can solve this.
"If you think you're too small to make a difference, try spending a night in a closed tent with a mosquito."

 

[Comtech]

It's not that difficult on most systems, but being a compaq...
Anyhow, boot to safe mode, and remove all modem(s) and com ports in device manager.
Restart, and in the Compaq BIOS setup, make sure that com 1 and 2 are ENABLED. Set the PnP option to NO.
Restart, and hopefully the modem will reinstall on com 3 or 4. If it doesn't right away, go into Device manager, system devices, PCI bus, IRQ steering tab, and disable IRQ steering. Restart, and the modem should jump to where you want it.
You may never get this modem working in BeOS (or anything other than windows) because it IS a winmodem. Cheers,
Jim
reboot@pcmech.com

http://members.cnx.net/reboot/

Moderator at

http://www.56k.com

Staff at

http://www.pcmech.com

Windows 9x/ME instructor.
Jim's Modems:

http://members.cnx.net/reboot/modems/

 

[stillflame]

Oi, you are probably right when you say that my winmodem will not work in any other OS (i read some articles on your page, Jim, thanks). On top of that, my BIOS didn't have the convenient options you listed. For PnP it had:
Select Operating System Type: Windows or Other
which i set to other. However, for enabling COM1 and 2, there was nothing nearly as intuitive.
Communications:
Parellel Port Mode: EPP, ECP, Compatible, Bidirectional
or
System:
PCI Bus Master: enable, disable
I played with these a little (although I didn't iterate through every possible combination), but could not produce the desired results. There was NOTHING else in the BIOS that looked even remotely connected. I looked online for info on my motherboard, but found nothing helpful. I have resigned myself to just get a real modem, but if there is a way past my BIOS's failures, I'd like to know it anyway.
Thanks again, Jim.
stillflame
"If you think you're too small to make a difference, try spending a night in a closed tent with a mosquito."

 

[greatwhite]

I would definitely advise the purchase of a "real modem" as you so elegantly put it. The Rockwell HCF modem you have is a purely software based modem and for the most part software modems cannot be used with any other OS aside from Windows(hence we get the name "Winmodem&quot. The best thing for any OS aside from Windows would be a name brand hardware modem. The reason I suggest good name brand devices with any OS other than Windows is driver support. Often times it is virtually impossible to find non-Windows drivers for generic or no name brands of any type of components(unless you write them yourself) and finding drivers is of course vital to getting any hardware to work in a computer system. This in mind it would make sense to make certain you can aquire drivers for the OS you're using before making any hardware purchases.

To try to get this modem working it may be able to force it to use COM3 or COM4 but the only way would be to have COM1 and 2 enabled. First check your system for whether it has one or two physical Serial Ports on it. If it has two then make sure you have both enabled in your BIOS. These serial ports(also known as COM ports) should show up in your BIOS right above the Parallel port option you listed above. If you only have on serial port then it is unlikely you'll be able to force any winmodem onto COM3 or 4 on a non-Windows OS. In case it helps, Rockwell is now known as Conexant(Conexant bought them out). If you can find modem drivers for a Conexant 56K data/fax modem then you could probably use these to install your modem with because I know that in Windows these drivers are compatible with either modem due to the fact that the chipset is exactly the same in a modem labelled as either a Rockwell or a Conexant.

I assume this is the original modem that came with the system, correct? If it is then another thing to look out for is be certain you don't have a sound/modem combo card in the system. II know that many of the HP Pavilion computers come with these cards and most OEM manufacturers use very similar components. If your Compaq has the same then be aware that it may be required for you to replace your sound card at the same time as your modem, which of course will take up another precious PCI slot. In an OEM system these slots are usually precious due to the scarcity of spares on the motherboard.

I apologize for the length of the post, but let me know if it helps. =)
Greatwhite, HP Pavilion phone technician

 

[Comtech]

Even Compaq BIOS have something to do with serial ports. Somewhere they're listed, maybe as serial device A and B, or port 2F8, 3F8, 2E8, 3E8, something, somewhere.
Chosing "Other" is the correct way for disabling the windows "sharing", that is attempting to tell windows to assign each device unique resources, instead of using resource sharing. It resolves many IRQ and memory conflicts.
Did you try disabling IRQ steering? This will also tell windows to use the BIOS defaults for devices (BIOS will NOT allow sharing), thus windows will assign unique resources for each device. Cheers,
Jim
reboot@pcmech.com

http://members.cnx.net/reboot/

Moderator at

http://www.56k.com

Staff at

http://www.pcmech.com

Windows 9x/ME instructor.
Jim's Modems:

http://members.cnx.net/reboot/modems/

 

[dxd]

Aside from the good points outlined by others in this thread regarding OS support, which you are likely to find this modem only supported in a Windows environment, if you want to change the Com port assignment of a PCI "WinModem" you need to modify the installation INF file for the modem.

At least this is the case with the Lucent WinModem. A PCI WinModem does not use any (or should I say) should not use traditional serial resources, rather..those from the PCI pool. However, in order for applications to use the modem it must associate a Com port....any should do.

Look at the INF file for the modem and search for COM2 and try changing it to 3 or 4 before installing.

actually...I began thinking about when I used this method and then remembered it was in NT.....you may want to try, however PNP OS' may treat it differently.
Doug
dxd_2000@yahoo.com

 

[Comtech]

Yes, in NT (and Win2000 as well!) you must modify the .inf manually, or disable on board com 2 for lots of winmodems to install (Lucent in particular). In windows 9x/ME, the BIOS "PnP OS Installed" if set to "NO", will usually force a modem to the next available com port (3 or 4), but with an IRQ of 10 or 11. This isn't a problem in most cases, except with USR/3com modems, which LOVE to go on Com 5! obviously sharing with something else. The odd time, windows will still try and share resources (USB, NIC, or sound card) with the modem, thus disabling IRQ steering is the common workaround.
In cases where that isn't practical, forcing windows to use the BIOS for IRQ steering usually works. Cheers,
Jim
reboot@pcmech.com

http://members.cnx.net/reboot/

Moderator at

http://www.56k.com

Staff at

http://www.pcmech.com

Windows 9x/ME instructor.
Jim's Modems:

http://members.cnx.net/reboot/modems/

 

[stillflame]

Alright... As far as i can tell then, i only have one serial port, or some other physical lacking. The BIOS has NOTHING else even remotely related to ports or anything. The menu titled "Communications" only has that entry on parellel ports, and that's where the serial port entry should be. Nothing i've done in the BIOS has affected the serial ports at all. I tried with and without Window's IRQ steering, but the modem was still set to COM2. This seems to me to be the work of a physical lacking in my hardware, although i haven't opened it up to count serial ports.
I am, however, encouraged by the idea of modifying an .inf file for windows, and possibly finding a driver file for modem use in BeOS. For the .inf file, my first instinct: WINDOWS\INF\modems.inf didn't have the an entry for COM port, and the list of *.inf files containing text "modem" or "COM2" is pretty big. Is there something else i should be looking for there? As for BeOS driver, i doubt i'll have any luck, but i'll start searching.
Thank you everyone for your help, you have all been VERY helpful. This has been, in the least, very educating.

"If you think you're too small to make a difference, try spending a night in a closed tent with a mosquito."

 

[Comtech]

Instead of modifying an .inf file, why don't you just try the modem in a different slot? Often each slot on a motherboard (proprietary systems like yours in particular) is assigned a particular set of resources. Moving the card, will attempt to assign a different set of resources, and this may be the easiest workaround.
The .inf you should be looking for is particular to your modem, and may not contain the word modem at all.
Look on the original drivers disk, and you'll find the .inf that's for your modem, make a backup, then play all you want.
There's a list somewhere of "officially" supported hardware in BeOS. I doubt if your modem is on that list, but it may be a place to start. Cheers,
Jim
reboot@pcmech.com

http://members.cnx.net/reboot/

Moderator at

http://www.56k.com

Staff at

http://www.pcmech.com

Windows 9x/ME instructor.
Jim's Modems:

http://members.cnx.net/reboot/modems/

 

[greatwhite]

He's already done this Comtech. In his first post wa a statement "I've tried suffling the modem between slots, but knew that wouldn't work to begin with..." Also, COM ports are not included in the set of assigned resources to the slots. All internal modems use virtual COM ports because they, of course, are not connected to serial ports but to the system PCI(ISA) bus itself. These virtual COM ports are assigned by the OS when there is no hardware to force it to use settings(ie jumpers or modern, advanced BIOS, which this Compaq does not have) not by the slots.

Greatwhite, HP Paviliion Phone Technician

 

[Comtech]

I know modems take "virtual" ports. I missed the part about "stuffing the modem between slots", sorry.
Doesn't matter what BIOS one has, putting any device in a different slot will usually cause it to get assigned different resources. If one can get windows to stop trying to put everything on IRQ9, and sharing it with a NIC, sound card and USB, there's usually lots less headaches, and far fewer BSOD's.
I thought even the lowliest Compaq (Pentium type) at least had the option to disable a com port in BIOS (or the stupid excuse for a BIOS on a non-dos partition). Cheers,
Jim
reboot@pcmech.com

http://members.cnx.net/reboot/

Moderator at

http://www.56k.com

Staff at

http://www.pcmech.com

Windows 9x/ME instructor.
Jim's Modems:

http://members.cnx.net/reboot/modems/

 

[stillflame]

Thanks everyone. I found the .inf file and successfully
changed the COM port in windows. It isn't supported at all
by BeOS, which is fine; i'd much rather have a real modem
anyway. I could start trying to write a driver, but i'm not
nearly so well-endowed with time.
Once again, all of your help was very apreciated. If
any of you ever need help with Perl, I'm actually pretty
good at that. Post here at tek-tips.

"If you think you're too small to make a difference, try spending a night in a closed tent with a mosquito."

 

[dxd]

Point of matter: There is a difference between the BIOS and the program that modifies its settings.That is to say that just because the setup program to change the BIOS settings is on the hard drive does'nt mean the BIOS is.

Secondly, the Presario line of computers are consumer based, which means they are built for the masses and in masses. 90% of the people buying the Presario line have no need nor should have to modify the BIOS/CMOS settings. Thus, there are only basic options.

As this relates to this thread, software modems are just that...software. Although they consume either an ISA or PCI slot, the BIOS/Hardware is only responsible for communicating to it on the respective bus and should assign it resources accordingly. Application/OS support is provided through the driver/installation package for the modem. IT is responsible for setting the COM port assignment. So, whenever you run setup for the modem installation, it will install the modem where ever the INF file tells it to.

As far as IRQ/resource sharing, heck that is one of the major benefits of going to PCI. Why throw that out the window.
Doug
dxd_2000@yahoo.com