I have a USR sportster 28,800 modem that i've been tryng to get to work with
my old philips tivo. In hyperterminal I used the following AT strings:
AT&f2&W then AT&D0&H0&I0&R1&W and the dip switches are: 2,4,6,7 up and
1,3,5,8 down.

When I first connected it and tested it, it worked fine. It made 2 daily
calls successfully and then the calls all started to fail. It would dial,
start connecting and then the modem would drop the call. I reset the audio
with ATM2 to determine when the call was actually being dropped and found
the modem was again making connections. After two days, calls started to
fail again and I have been unsuccessful since.

Any ideas?

On Sun, 6 Mar 2005 17:12:49 -0600, "Kenny" <spcolor@animalation.com>
wrote:


Looking at the manual for a 33.6:

Defaults are &H1 and &R2. I think that &W can be removed (saves
configuration to templates Y0 or Y1).

Switches default:
1- Up
2- Up
3- Down
4- Up
5- Down
6- Up
7- Up
8- Down.

HTH
Geo

"GEO" <Me@home.here> wrote in message
news:422befa6.4510880@news.ucalgary.ca...
Flow control needs to be disabled. That's why made the changes to the
nvram.

In article <392fdrF5t1c8uU1@individual.net>, Kenny wrote:

At least on my 33.6 and v90, USR says to not used mixed case in the commands.

&F2 Load Factory 2, Software Flow Control
&W Store Configuration 0

&D0 Ignore DTR
&H0 Disable TX Flow Control
&I0 Disable RX Flow Control
&R1 Ignore RTS
&W Store Configuration 0

Well first off, get rid of those &W commands. The NVRAM has a limited number
of write cycles, and you're burning through those unnecessarily. NV means
non-volatile, much like EEPROM, not real {S|D}RAM.

1 On Modem ignores DTR 5 On Disable Auto-answer
2 Off Verbal result codes 6 Off CD follows connection
3 On Enable result codes 7 Off ATZ loads Y0 or Y1
4 Off Display keyboard commands 8 On Smart mode

You get that with ATF0, not ATF2 here.

Except you aren't using it. The AT&F command overrides NVRAM - it's only
used if you use an ATYn command, or ATZ with S7 off

In your original post, you say the calls are "failing" and that "the modem
would drop the call" What indications? Also, does your modem support the
various ATIn commands - specifically to show current settings and the post
call diagnostics? To use the latter, you need to run a terminal session
that does not reset the modem.

Old guy

"Moe Trin" <ibuprofin@painkiller.example.tld> wrote in message
news:slrnd2psos.29k.ibuprofin@compton.phx.az.us...
Excuse me for the simple typing error in my post

That's what that does, but it's not what I need. I need &F - and that was
the only problem in my configuration.

Yes, I figured that out. I was blindly using the manuals instructions for a
three-wire cable installation.


well, actually I am.

Sorry I forgot to state that 7 was switched on during the process but then
turned off again. Also I do know that w/dip 7 on AT&F&W will load a generic
template from ROM to NVRAM 0. Then the other string alters that generic
template to do what I need it to do.

and SFW if I used one more &W to modifiy the NVRAM 0 template than
necessary.


The only mistake I made in the process was using &F2 instead of &F(0)


attempted connections that end w/o connecting are failed calls i.e. not
successfull.
when my modem ceases to communicate by "hanging up" the line while the modem
on the other end of the line is still trying to communicate I assume it's my
modem that dropped the call. This is being used on a Tivo DVR not a pc


Thanks anyway.

"Kenny" <spcolor@animalation.com> wrote:
All of these &W commands are a problem that you should avoid.

That is well stated. There is one other point to make regarding
writing to NVRAM, which is that it is worthless because anytime
you _read_ from NVRAM you are *assuming* that it is whatever you
are expecting, which is a bad assumption since you can and do
write to it.

The *only* sensible point to begin initialization of a modem is
from a "factory defaults" setting. Since that is true, there is
basically no point in ever writing, or reading, from NVRAM. And
I can guarantee that if you do it, it will byte you eventually,
where you'll expect it to put your modem into a known state, and
it will be other than you expect.

But you don't need to write it to NVRAM, since it is always
available by doing AT&F plus whatever changes you want.

1) don't wear out the NVRAM, 2) don't set yourself up for a
"known state" that isn't.

Moe Trin has some good advice, worth it to remove the current
pain, *and* to avoid future headaches. I'd take the pill...

--
Floyd L. Davidson <http://web.newsguy.com/floyd_davidson>
Ukpeagvik (Barrow, Alaska) floyd@barrow.com

"Floyd L. Davidson" <floyd@barrow.com> wrote in message
news:87ekepg4ex.fld@barrow.com...
It's all over and done with now.

In this situation, it's necessary not worthless.

I write what I need to it to get it to work with a Tivo DVR and then there's
no more writing to it to be done ever again (in theory anyway).

Yep, and that's where I started isn't it?

Unless you need to use it with a Tivo.

It's only Tivo for christ's sake.

If it ever has a problem of any kind it's only a Tivo's guide data that
won't be downloaded and the modem can be replaced for $5 or less.

Why are you telling me what I don't need to do, when that's exactly what I
need to do?

NOT when the modem is being used away from a pc on a Tivo DVR. The first
thing a Tivo does is send an ATZ command to the modem.


I used &W four friggin times in the entire process - get over it.

2) don't set yourself up for a
Number two is something that can not be helped in this situation and would
be a very insignificant problem at worst.



That may be, but I'm not using it on a pc, it's being used on a Tivo so the
settings need to be saved.
And please note that I have already solved the problem (even before someone
here told me to use &F instead of &F2) and it's been working like a champ
making daily calls to Tivo for guide data for a several days now.

Since I clearly stated that this was for Tivo use and you clearly have no
clue about Tivo, it would have made much more sense to ask me why I need to
do things rather than tell me that I don't need to do them when you don't
know what your talking about.

Usenet is great. All kinds of people who are so over eager to vomit up some
knowledge that they don't bother trying to comprehend what the actual
situation is. before they start puking out advice.

Thank you and F you

K

You could also have explained what is Tivo about. I never heard about it and
we could well assume it is a PC program of some sort.

"Jeroni Paul" <JERONI.PAUL@terra.es> wrote in message
news:39lgvsF5vvdefU1@individual.net...
Well in my initial post I did call it my old Philips Tivo and in a
subsequent post I called it a Tivo dvr. If after that you still don't know
what it is, ask or look for info on the internet (can you say 'google'?)
before attempting to offer advice on something you know nothing about.


You can assume anything you want. But if you don't know what something is,
it's a damn good idea to find out before trying to be an intellectual on the
subject.

"Floyd L. Davidson" <floyd@barrow.com> wrote in message
news:87ekepg4ex.fld@barrow.com...
That statement is more F&%$ed up than you can imagine.

On Tue, 15 Mar 2005 12:54:12 -0600, "Kenny" <spotme@anyisp.com> wrote:

~
~ "Floyd L. Davidson" <floyd@barrow.com> wrote in message
~ news:87ekepg4ex.fld@barrow.com...
~ >
~ > That is well stated. There is one other point to make regarding
~ > writing to NVRAM, which is that it is worthless because anytime
~ > you _read_ from NVRAM you are *assuming* that it is whatever you
~ > are expecting, which is a bad assumption since you can and do
~ > write to it.
~ >
~
~ That statement is more F&%$ed up than you can imagine.

If something that Floyd wrote doesn't seem to make sense
to you, that means that you need to read it again. After
reading the above quoted paragraph twice, I have to say that
I agree 100% with it, and would be happy to explain it to
you if you like ...

Cheers,

Aaron

"Aaron Leonard" <Aaron@Cisco.COM> wrote in message
news:ntre319qjsism525feicj5ohuqut26gimn@4ax.com...
What's not to understand? He said that NVRAM is worthless if you use it,
simply because you use it.
Like I said, that's F&%$ed up.

If Floydy has problems remembering how he's used his NVRAM, that's his own
problem.

K

On Fri, 18 Mar 2005 13:33:38 -0600, "Kenny" <spcolor@animalation.com>
put finger to keyboard and composed:

It seems to me that the needless acrimony in this thread is the result
of a misunderstanding of the subject. I'll bet that few people know
what a tivo is ( or a Tivo for that matter), nor should they be
expected to. In hindsight it would have been better for you to have
prefaced your post with a short description of its function, including
reference URLs. You can't expect people to search the Net for an
explanation of what it is you are talking about. That would be like
expecting the mountain to come to Mohammed.

At first glance it appeared to me, as it did to others, that you were
using two init strings, each of which writes to NVRAM, to configure
your modem each and every time you used it. Clearly this would have
been silly.

My current understanding is that the Tivo is a "dumb" device insofar
as it expects the modem to be preconfigured in a certain way, ie there
is no way to send user defined init strings to the modem from the
Tivo. In this case a one-time write to NVRAM makes perfect sense,
especially if the modem is being dedicated to this one job.

I'm sure if you had explained this scenario at the outset, you would
have received pertinent advice. I, for one, have experience in
connecting modems to dumb devices, and I've no doubt others have too.


- Franc Zabkar
--
Please remove one 's' from my address when replying by email.

"Franc Zabkar" <fzabkar@optussnet.com.au> wrote in message
news:lasm319uhls6d0maho4a9hvgjc0ef1hie5@4ax.com...
I didn't expect anyone to know what a Tivo is. I expected people who do
know what a Tivo is to respond and those that don't to either remain silent
or find out what it is before giving advice on something that they don't
know anything about. Just why are people so eager to display their
knowledge that they'll do so even when they don't actually know what the
F&%$ they're talking about?


In hindsight it would have been better for those that didn't know what the
F&%$ they were giving advice about to simply remain silent even though that
would have been extremely excruciating for them.

No, and I didn't. However, I do expect people to only give advice on
subjects that they actually know about.

Except that these people didn't have a clue as to what the "mountain" was.

K

"Kenny" wrote

Ummm.. because this is a modems group, and not a Tivo group (unlike
alt.video.ptv.tivo, where you also post), and your question was regarding
a USR modem (which many posters here know a lot about) that you just
happen to be trying to get to talk to a Tivo? :-)

I haven't seen a post saying "It's all working again", so........

As "Moe Trin" asked, have you queried the USR modem itself for the cause
of the dropped calls?

ati6 and ati11 would quickly show if there was a ton of noise on the line,
or lots of resent packets, retrains, speedshifts, timeouts, all that kind of stuff.

Some modems deal with noise and errors better than others, slowing down
until there's a clean connection. Others keep trying to go too fast no matter
how many errors they get, then just give up and drop the line.

As it's an external modem, how's the serial cable? I had to replace mine, as
I was getting random disconnects, and noticed if I slightly flexed the cable
just the right way near one connector...*click*, hangup, and one of the front
panel LEDs that should always be on would go out.

"MasterBlaster" <Nobody's.Home@My.Place> wrote in message
news:lgd%d.76181$gJ3.48031@clgrps13...
Knowing about half of the equation isn't knowing what the F&%$ you're
talking about.


I posted way back on 3/8 that I needed to use &F (not &F2) and that was the
only error in my configuration.





and he did so after I had figured it out so there was no point getting into
all that.


and sometimes it's just a configuration problem - as stated on 3/8.


Well the db25m - db9f adapter is fine and the db9m - 'stereo' cable is fine,
but then again as I've stated, the problem was the configuration.

"Kenny" wrote

Okey dokey then.