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computerwriter.com
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His modem has a hangup - it won't hang up.Toronto Star Fast Forward column originally written for August 21/97. Unfortunately it was considered too technical and never saw print. Back to White Pages main article index © Copyright, Myles White, 1997 It's time for more of your letters, such as the following problem submitted by Najeeb (no last name) via Internet e-mail.
Okay, Najeeb, I won't tell you to get a new modem. I've seen this problem before in my 486-based Windows 3.1x system and it generally occurs if I mistakenly quit Trumpet Winsock (a combination dialler and TCP/IP stack for Windows 3.1x) without disconnecting the modem first (something I seem to do regularly if I'm tired and/or harassed). But, just in case the solution I'm going to offer you is overkill, let's try the simplest things first. None of the Internet programs in Windows 95 will automatically shut down your modem connection when you're finished with them -- unless you're using Internet Explorer 4. Versions of the Win95 dialler prior to the Connection Manager that ships with Internet Explorer 4 can't tell when you've exited an application. You have to click/restore the dialler icon on your Taskbar, then explicitly click on the Disconnect button. If you're doing this and the modem remains connected, we need to move to other potential culprits. According to the Microsoft Knowledge Base, some brands of modem won't respond to the disconnect command if Flow Control is enabled. Open Control Panel (either in My Computer, or under Settings on the Start Menu). Double-click on Modems. Click on the Properties button, then select the Connection tab, then click on the Advanced button. Flow control (and the type to use) is in the upper right corner of the dialogue box. If it is checked, click on the checkbox again to turn it off. Back out of the variious screens, by clicking OK (not cancel). Try your modem again. If this doesn't work, we're going to have to hope that your modem came with a manual and, if it isn't specifically supported by Windows 95, that it also came with a disk containing the proper driver software. When you installed (or when the store installed) your modem, there should have been a modem driver (a small bit of software that translates Windows' instructions into information the modem requires) installed along with it. The driver may already have been in Windows 95 or it may have come from a disk supplied by the manufacturer. Check under Control Panel, Modems, to see if the driver in use is not only for your brand of modem, but also for the correct model. If it is for another brand and/or model of modem, see if yours is listed by clicking on the Add button. Follow the install wizard and ask to see the list of installable models. If yours is not listed, look for the disk or contact the original vendor to see if there is one. Alternately, try to find the manufacturer on the Web to see if there are updated drivers at the company's Web site. If none of these things works, turn to the manual. Most, but not all, modems respond to a roughly standardized set of technical specifications. Most, but again not all, get the message to hang up the line when a signal known as Data Terminal Ready (DTR) is dropped by the computer. In older communications programs, there was often a setting that allowed the user to select whether dropping DTR was the appropriate thing to do, but Windows 95 doesn't offer this option. To find out exactly what is taking place between your modem and Windows during your session, examine a text file stored in the Windows directory called modemlog.txt. You say there's no such file? Okay, let's make one. Back we go to Control Panel, Modems, Properties, Connection, Advanced. At the bottom of the screen is a check box that says Record a Log File. If there is no checkmark, click in the box. If there is, then there is indeed a modemlog.txt file in your Windows directory (look again). Dial something. Disconnect. Open the log file and look down at the bottom. You should see something similar to the following (taken from my log file):
If all else failsThere is one other possible problem -- that your brand of modem isn't 100 percent compatible with the series of modem commands known as the Hayes AT Command Set. Normally, the signal sent to a Hayes compatible modem to tell it to hang up is the text string ATH or ATH0 (that's a zero at the end, not the letter "O"). You need to find out what command your modem takes. However, harkening back to what I said earlier -- that sometimes I foul my system up and the dialler isn't able to get the modem's attention, here is what I've done to fix the problem. The following is a clumsy, kludgy workaround, but it does work. Use Notepad or WordPad (but keep in mind that WordPad won't save its files as pure text unless you tell it to do so -- it defaults to Microsoft Word format and that won't work here). We're going to create three small files and save them all into the Windows directory. The first two are saved without file extensions, while the last is given the .BAT extension. The first file has only one line -- the Hayes command to get a modem's attention: +++ (three plus symbols). If your modem uses a different command, substitute it. Do not place a carriage return at the end of the line. Save it as WAKEUP. The second file also has only one line -- the Hayes (or your specific modem's command) to hang up the line: ATH (or ATH0 if you wish). Again, don't place a carriage return at the end of the line). Save this file as HANGUP. The last file is a batch file I've called HEY.BAT. It has two lines: @echo type %1 > COM2 If your modem is on a different COM port (e.g., COM1 or COM3), substitute the appropriate number. There is a space between the word "type", and %1 (percent sign, number 1). Save the file. I called it HEY.BAT, but you can call it anything you want, so long as BAT is the extension. Done? Okay, if your modem won't hang up, open a DOS window, enter the following at the command prompt: HEY WAKEUP then press Enter. Wait a second or two, then enter HEY HANGUP (and press enter again). No, it doesn't matter if the commands are in upper or lower case and, kludgy or not, it has worked for me. This document is protected by international copyright. That means you can read it, download it, set a link to it and even print it. However, you must not make copies for your friends, make copies for your class, post it at your Website, send it to someone else's Website, or quote all or any part of it in any other medium for any reason whatsoever unless you ask me first. Okay? |
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