USR Robotics 56K Sportster Connection "Stagnation"

[gtd2000]

Well I have a USR 56K sportster modem (external) which has been great so far.....until I decided to upgrade it to the V.92 standard from the original V.90 standard.

I have e-mailed USR tech support - but appear to be getting nowhere at all. As usual most replies have nothing to do with the description of the problem (is this a tactic I wonder??).

The problem I have is that the modem will connect without any trouble. However at a given point the modem will remain connected but no information will actually flow. You can see the occasional attempt to send info out - but nothing comes back. There are no error messages or anything to suggest that the connection has failed - only a slow realisation that the connection has "stagnated".

Now the first idea might be that my ISP is at fault - well I have two PC's at home - if I connect using my other PC the connection is perfect - no stagnation of the service at all.

I've encountered this problem for the past 3 or 4 weeks and even re-updated the V.92 process to make sure it was ok - according to the flash all went thru properly.

USR suggested the following items to be input into the advanced settings for the modem:

Dear Sir/Madam,
>
>Thank you for choosing U.S.Robotics.
>
>The V.92 feature of our modems sometimes may slow or not allow modems to
>talk to servers that are not v.92 compatible.
>
>If you are experiencing problems connecting with your V.92 modem you can
>try the following:
>
>Go into the control panel, double click on Modems. Then Highlight the US
>Robotics modem and click properties. Then click on the connection tab and
>hit the advanced button. After the advanced button you should see a box
>that is captioned ?extra settings?. In that line Put the following:
>+PIG=1 +PMH=1 +PQC=3
>Make sure that there is a space between each of the commands.
>Click ok out of all the boxes, and reboot the system.
>If you continue to have problems, or need assistance feel free reply to
>this e-mail, or call us at: 801-401-1141 Monday-Friday 8:00am-4:00pm MST
>
>
>I would like to thank you for the opportunity to assist you. Should you
>require further assistance with your U.S. Robotics product, please feel
>free to contact us again.

Well I've tried this and it is no different at all

Any of you modem experts out there have any ideas?

At this rate I'll buy a $20 software modem

Actually when using yahoo with my webcam - it seems faster on the cheapo software internal modem on my other "slow" system......

 

[MrChad]

I have seen the same problem with an upgraded USR 5610A (internal controller-based) modem. I'm curious as well ...

 

[Baronz]

My advice is to not bother with the USR (I've had countless problems with this modem and upgrading it) and go pick up a decent 10$ modem.

IMO of course.

 

[gtd2000]

Wow that is strange that other have had similar problems - I am assuming only after the upgrade?

I've e-mailed USR to ask about sending or giving me a location of a V.90 flash file to revert back to V.90 to see if the V.92 standard alone is causing the problem.

Any other ideas - keep 'em coming - I'll advise USR of a "pattern" of problems with the V.92 "upgrade" (perhaps a bad choice of word?) should it seem to be common complaint.

Just to re-iterate - I had no problems at all with the modem before the upgrade to V.92 - only after "upgrade"

 

[obiwaynekenobi]

The Problem with the V.92 standard is that it's still new.

If you recall it took about 2 years before all of V.90 bugs was all worked out. V.92 has been out for a year and the first V.92 modems came on the market about 9 months ago.

The diffaculty with this is that with new standards, ISP providers have to upgrade their headends to support it. otherwise it chokes Writhes in pain and dies. And if you know anything about IPS headends they are BLOODY expensive to do. The V.92 Standard Nogeiates in a different pattern. Backwards to Standard V.90
E.G
V.90 starts at 28.8 then 33. then 36. and when it can't go any higher then it drops back on and connects there.
V.92 goes Backwords
53 51. 49 . etc.. This causes problems. In most cases one of the "features" (ill fated I might add) IS called "quick connect"
the problem this causes is that it tries to remeber the last connection you connected at and reconnect at that speed. the problem is that it doens' WORK. It causes a plethora of issues. most unable to connect and unable connections with the "put the internet on hold" section.
so for the most part unless a customer WANTS to use V.92. these are disabled.
The string they gave you DOES work about 95% of the time.
I've seen alternatives such as S32=128 on modemhelp.org which is supposed to work.
When I called USR about it. I was told that it was an undocumented command they did know that people had been using it to disbale V.92 but they didn' t know for certian of what else it did or how well it worked and it's not recommended to use it. a "use at your own risk" command. Because it's not been tested.



~Obi-Wayne~

Edit: Spelling

 

[gtd2000]

Actually you explained something that I did not fully understand before there

I was wondering why I often connected at 53kbps after upgrading - it was always 49333bps previously with the V.90 standard. I guess that may explain the difference.

I still mainly connect at 49333 but no matter what the connection speed is - it always stagnates after 5, 15 or 50mins etc. (no fixed time period)

I'll check out the website that you mentioned to see if I can find any other tips

 

[tk149]

I have the same problem. BUT, I have an old generic 56K V.90 Winmodem that I've used for years, with no firmware or driver upgrades.

I started getting this problem recently. To fix it, all I have to do is Disconnect, then Dial and log in again. This does not occur during a download, but has occurred while websurfing (including AT Forums).

I'm not sure if it's my ISP or WinXP. I never had this problem with Win98SE.

 

[gtd2000]

Originally posted by: tk149
I have the same problem. BUT, I have an old generic 56K V.90 Winmodem that I've used for years, with no firmware or driver upgrades.

I started getting this problem recently. To fix it, all I have to do is Disconnect, then Dial and log in again. This does not occur during a download, but has occurred while websurfing (including AT Forums).

I'm not sure if it's my ISP or WinXP. I never had this problem with Win98SE.

Yeah same here - but that is a pain in the butt

If it did that with the V.90 standard I'd have thrown the modem away.

However mine actually does it during downloads too - this is not something to do with the connection being idle unfortunately. It also happens while using Kazaalite or even if chatting on yahoo etc.

 

[obiwaynekenobi]

Originally posted by: gtd 2000
Actually you explained something that I did not fully understand before there

I was wondering why I often connected at 53kbps after upgrading - it was always 49333bps previously with the V.90 standard. I guess that may explain the difference.

I still mainly connect at 49333 but no matter what the connection speed is - it always stagnates after 5, 15 or 50mins etc. (no fixed time period)

I'll check out the website that you mentioned to see if I can find any other tips

Sheese I edited for spelling, re-read it and realized that I really goobered! heh.

IF your losing your connection stablity it's probably either. Faulty driver install, or TCP/IP is getting hosed. or the dial upadapter is going the same route.. hell it might be all of it.

But outside of that It's hard to say. Good Luck to both of you.

 

[gtd2000]

Ive actually formatted and re-built my PC during the time I started to get the problem - the only common factor I can see is the V.92 upgrade.

Same problem occurs on my old Abit KT7A with Win XP and now on my ECS K7S5A with Win ME.

I'll probably take the modem out of my other system for the time being until I can source a V.90 flash file for the USR modem. I've also requested this file from USR...they supplied me with the V.92 one

 

[Gand1]

I have the same exact problem but...... different modem. I've got a Courier V.everything and was told by my ISP it's my phone lines. I have a command line that turns off V.90 and X2 slows it down to a 33.6. Connects properly all the time now but I'm stuck at 33.6

 

[gtd2000]

This is very much a lessons learned scenario right now

If it ain't broke - don't fix it

Still no further response from USR...regarding the V.90.dmf file.

They were very fast when I wanted to upgrade the bloody thing

 

[Shamrock]

I have the SAME problem, but with a USR 5686D external. It sits there, and my ARQ/FAX light will go out, then on, go out then on, at random times, and random given periods of time (upto 10 minutes) If you just let it stay there, it comes back on after 10 mins (again random periods of time, could be 30 mins).

they didnt send me a modem string at all. They thought I had a faulty modem and sent me a new one. But this one does it too!

So, I went out and bought a Creative (Broadxent) PCI internal modem and it works fine, but it is slower, the external can pull a stronger signal. I get 44k with the Broadxent, and I ALWAYS got 48k with the USR

If you recall it took about 2 years before all of V.90 bugs was all worked out. V.92 has been out for a year and the first V.92 modems came on the market about 9 months ago.

Sorry, but that statement is wrong, my USR 5686D External was manufactured in APRIL of 2000, and I bought it in September of 2000 (I have my Credit card statement of $94 to prove it )


I found something of great interest:

V92 Dropout problems

 

[Shamrock]

I found a flash file site for you gtd 2000, however, USE AT YOUR OWN RISK!!!

USR Modems <----USR Modems only

might have to navigate, but I found my 5686D there and it sent me to a russian site, and you have to download a file flasher (ugh)

 

[Shamrock]

Also have a generic string you can enter (safer)

Generic, V.92 (disable V.92, enable V.90) +MS=v90,0
Generic, V.92 (disable V.92, enable V.34) +MS=v34,0
Generic, V.92 (Disable PCM upstream) +PIG=0
Generic, V.92 (disable Modem on Hold feature) +PMH=1

pick one

 

[gtd2000]

Excellent

Lots of good sources of information - I could only find a Russian site so far to get a 3rd party flasher and flash file - which I was somewhat hesitant to use. It took me hours last night to get the bloody stuff downloaded due to the problem that I have already described.

I still have not heard anything further from USR.

My ISP (Access4Less) responded with this "pearl of wisdom" after advising them that I had contacted USR, re-installed and used different drivers and OS's:

I would try to reload the drivers to modem. sounds like a modem issue. can also contact modem manufactor..

I wonder what they really pay these tech support guys to do?

 

[gtd2000]

Quite funny really - I read all of the information then followed the links to the flasher & flash file location...and ended up at that Russian site

So I assume that it must be a "reliable" source of files then

If it does not work I'll just pick up a cheapo winmoden in a "hot deal" forum - should this be the end of my USR

 

[gtd2000]

Dear Sir/Madam,

Thank you for choosing U.S.Robotics.

I apologize however their is not a flash to go back to the V.90 standard, you
can disable the V.92 standard with the string that was given previously. If the
Internet connection appears to become stagnate here are some things you can try.
Try connecting to another server (phone #|) for your ISP.
You may also what to clear up any programs that may be running in the background
on your system.
It should not be a problem with V.92 if you are using the string +PIG=1 +PMH=1
+PQC=3 Because this string disables all of the features of V.92



I would like to thank you for the opportunity to assist you. Should you require
further assistance with your U.S. Robotics product, please feel free to contact
us again.

Again, thank you for choosing U.S.Robotics.

Well I guess I could try another phone number

 

[Chadder007]

Originally posted by: MrChad
I have seen the same problem with an upgraded USR 5610A (internal controller-based) modem. I'm curious as well ...

!...same here.

 

[dnoyeb]

USR used to be a respectable company. Since the 3com buyout strangely, USR has turned to sh!t.

I always bought USR, and recently I bought a USR for my mother, but it refused to hand up after the dialup session was over. They made me test it while I waas on the telephone with them, so I had to take it to my house. I the mean time I bought another one and installed it in my mothers computer. Same modem, but I guess it was a newer model. Now that modem will not answer. I had another at my house, and my wife can not fax with it.

3 USR modems in 6 months, all sh!t. I bought 2 cheap CompUSA jobs, and all is working perfectly...I will never buy another USR. Whatever they used to do 10 years ago has long since ceased...

 

[Dulanic]

I have the SAME problem. However for me it is kind of reversed. My modem (USR 5610) does NOT have a v.92 upgrade.... but now that ISPs have been implementing v.92 any of thoose lines give me the SAME problem! I have tried a new USR 5610B that does have v.92 and it does not have this issue. This is a MAJOR problem for me... I use earthlink and all their v.90 lines give me a 3KB/sec download speed where as their new v.92 lines give me 5KB/sec download speeds... BIG difference. I have found the only work around is to let it sit for about 5 minutes after connecting, or just doing VERY light surfing.

I use USR Hardware modems because for me they are MUCH faster.... Winmodems never top 3.5KB/sec download speed for me... My USR Hardware modem commonly sits at 5KB/sec downloads.

Basically it seems to me that the problem is v.90 to v.92 connection problem. If anyone can find a v.92 upgrade for the 5610 (NOT 5610A or 5610B) Ill give it a shot and if that fixes my connection problem Id be even more sure its a v.90 to v.92 connection problem. My best guess is that even tho it is connected it is still trying to negotiate the connection speed and/or standard (v.92 or v.90) and if your transfering data when it finally locks on the connection craps out and stops transfering information.

 

[Dulanic]

I sent a email to USR explaining my problem, since it is reverse of you guys... with me having a v.90 that has the same problem connection to a v.92 dialup. I have also sent them this thread and hopefully USR will investigate this issue. Suprisingly the only tech support Ive had real luck with was Creative, where they had me talk directly to the engineers and we found the issue to be with AGP voltage regulation during bootup, they actually went out and bought the MB that was causing me problems, they ended up replacing my GeForce 1 with a GeForce 2

 

[gtd2000]

It would be great if USR can solve this problem - I've just sent an e-mail about warranty for the modem (it has lifetime).

To be honest I can't even remember where I even bought the damn thing though.....
Thats one of the questions on the RMA information sheet...

Has anybody here actually spoken on the phone to USR? I called yesterday but hung up at the mention of possible $19 charges...

 

[Dulanic]

Originally posted by: gtd 2000

Has anybody here actually spoken on the phone to USR? I called yesterday but hung up at the mention of possible $19 charges...

I heard that too and I dont think my modem is under warranty... so *click*. It's pretty bad of them to charge such high prices for damn tech support... crap call 4 times and you coulda got a new modem! But this is deffinetely a problem that needs resolution from USR. I have bought many USR products because they have always been the fastest and most reliable products Ive had.

 

[gtd2000]

Well I thought I would call again - but hung up at the "please have your credit card details"....point

No way I'm paying for a call to ask how to solve a problem with their product.

I admit that I decided to "upgrade" to the V.92 through choice, however, this was due to all the positive "benefits" which were splashed around the USR/3Com site.

You would think you could flash to an earlier standard though?

According to USR this is not possible.

Dulanic - failing I resolution with USR - we could perhaps swap modems...lol... mine has a "successful" flash to V.92 and does not seem to work consistently. When it was V.90 it worked perfectly