USRobotics 56k modem won't connect to server

[sastowers]

I have an issue where a USRobotics 56k modem will not connect to a Cisco 5300 dial-up server. After dialing, the server acts as if it never received the connect notice, and after a certain amount of time the recorded announcement "if you'd like to make a call..." comes on. Also,on the screen, there is a message that the number called is busy, please call again. Here's where it get's strange. After adjusting everything from the 16550 port speeds to querying the modem, I was able to dial up and connect to AOL, albeit at a slower speed of 28.8 and was able to surf without any problems.

A second problem I have is with an HP laptop running WinXP that under any terminal server program (Hyperterminal, Netterm, etc), the computer connects to a centralized server, then promptly stops and reboots itself. As in the above example, I can connect to AOL without any difficulty.Any ideas on either of these problems?

 

[pansophic]

Take a look at your USR. Is it an X2 or V.90 or V.92? If yours is an X2, your 56K protocol was not chosen for the V.90 standard. You should be able to flash upgrade your modem to the V.90 technology, and then it should connect without issue. Basically, your connection is timing out because you can't agree on a common protocol before the Cisco Access server is giving up. You could turn off the X2 protocols and run in V.32 mode by setting the following option:

AT S32=96 (bits 5 and 6 set for disabling V.90 and 56K modulations)

Also, you can try fixing the line rate at 33.6K by setting:

AT &N21 (fixing the line rate at no higher than 33,333 bits per second).

If you can connect to the Access Server with either of these settings, then you need to look at upgrading your modem or replacing it.

It is for those reasons above that I believe that you are connecting to AOL without a hitch. They aren't supporting your attempts to connect above the V.32 protocol, and your modem is compatible there.

As for the HP with XP, can't help you. Again, it may be a speed issue, but that seems unlikely. If you watch this news group much, you will see that XP has lots of issues with modems. In most cases, people just needed to get the XP specific driver for their hardware.

Good luck!

pansophic