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Old November 2nd 05, 01:29 AM
nonewbie
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Default Any Tapi/Dun/Modem Experts Question

Thanks very much Franc for the explaination of how registry
interacts with dun, tapi, etc. This may allow me to better
troubleshoot the problem. I have taken a break from trying new
things to assimilate all the replies and refresh myself. I will
let you all know when/if/how I get it working and what if anything
I have learned from the experience.

on Tue 01 Nov 2005 12:57:48a, Franc Zabkar
wrote in
:

On Sun, 30 Oct 2005 10:08:42 +0000 (UTC), nonewbie
put finger to keyboard and composed:

on Fri 28 Oct 2005 10:50:10p, Franc Zabkar
wrote in
m:


Your modem's properties, commands, and responses are located
at this registry key:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Servic es\Class\Mode
m\ 000n

I have exhaustively removed all references to this modem from
the registry after trying to remove the drivers from the
add/remove-now Win**** was not allowing me to remove the entry
for the enumerator package in add/remove. After getting rid of
all the reg entries that refered to both this specific modem and
to the driver files that were installed by it's driver packages,
then add remove no longer showed the entry. I also renamed all
the driver files in the windows/dir that were installed as a
result of the driver package installs. Rebooted and windows goes
to: building driver base, installing software for mdp modem,
insert install diskette-which i do not have-so maybe thepost
saying that you must have this to properly install the modem is
true-then why does dell give out a driver package for installing
the modem at it's site? Click cancel, but each time I reboot
windows is asking again for the install diskette for the modem.
Windows also added two registry keys for the modem after I had
deleted them all that were somewhat different from what was
there before-one under enum/root/unknown/0000 -unknown I guess
because I cancelled the driver install and
control/asd/rob/root/modem/0000/mdp3880 pci modem enumerator.

So the hardware is reporting it's presence to windows and
windows is modifying the registry even when I have cancelled the
install driver diskette process.

Maybe if I install the earlier versions of the drivers-the
oldest ones-it will work now, but not holding my breath. There
was one report from a fellow who said that windows complained
that it needed the older drivers, but I have not gotten any
similar errors.

One thing I did not report earlier is I was getting errors like
"failed to call enumproppages in modemui.dll" in safe mode. This
indicates from reading I have done that OS is not communicating
with registry for providing a user interface for setting modem
properties, which would explain the empty boxes next to com2
where the modem name is supposed to be, even though the modem
responded normally to more info.


I am at a disadvantage as I don't have a soft or controllerless
modem at hand, nor have I any significant experience in
troubleshooting installation issues for same. Your best advice
will come from those who have a similar modem.

How does yours look?


That entry you mentioned was not there. There were a couple of
CSLID entries for a modem, but they appeared to be generic for
any modem and I left them alone.


That entry should contain most of the information (eg AT
commands, Settings and Responses) that is in the mdmp4034.inf
file.


I am pretty confident I have gotten rid of ALL reg entries for
this modem. I will save the registry as a clean version so if
windows screws up again (or I screw up using windows) that I can
just reinstall that registry instead of spending 20 minutes
hunting through the registry (i have the references now) to remove
them manually again.

If this key has a problem, then check the contents of the
modem's INF file. That's where the setup info comes from.


What should I look for there? Not really sure exactly how the
inf file interacts with the registry which interacts with
allowing DUN to create a dial out entry for the modem. And from
the reading I've done no one else has explained this on the net
either.


When you communicate with the modem via the Control Panel Modems
applet, you do so using a set of standard Hayes Smartmodem AT
commands. These are ATIn and AT+FCLASS=? AFAIK, these commands
are not retrieved from the registry. They appear to be coded
into the modem.cpl applet. As long as the modem's resources have
been assigned and its driver files installed, then "more info"
will return an appropriate response.


great good to know, thanks I found a page that shows all the files
involved in system to modem interaction and generally what they
do, but unless I am a progammer (which I'm not) I cannot really
understand what is going on here, so this will be trial an error.


The missing registry key becomes important when the modem is
accessed via TAPI. This is because a modem's extended AT command
set is not standardised - the commands vary between chipsets and
between manufacturers. In order for an application to configure
the modem for voice answer mode, say, it needs to consult the
registry for the AT commands specific to that modem. In my case
the relevant key is ...

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSet\Servic es\Class\Modem\
0000\VoiceAnswer

... and there are seven AT commands beginning with
"at#cls=8cr" and ending with "atacr".

DUN also consults the registry so that it knows how to reset the
modem (ATZ), how to dial (ATD), how to hangup (ATH), and so on.
DUN also needs to know how to interpret the responses returned
by the modem, eg how to interpret OK, ERROR, CONNECT 46667, +ER:
LAPM, BUSY, NO DIALTONE, etc. If you ever see the message
"connected at 115200bps", then this usually means that DUN has
been unable to determine the actual connect speed (because of a
broken INF file) and is reverting to reporting the port rate.

In your case you cannot start a DUN configuration because DUN
cannot find
HKLM\System\CurrentControlSet\Services\Class\Modem \000n. It
prompts you to insert the disc containing the mdmp4034.inf file
so that it can build the above key (I think).

Can you set up a comms session using HyperTerminal?


This is also something I am going to try; will report back.

Did not try it. Infor from "more info" in my experience is the
same as what is shown for a normally working modem. It is just
that DUN cannot work with the modem. This could be a wrong
driver, but I am inclined to think at this point that there is
some special executable in the original modem install diskette
that is needed to install this piece of junk. But if that is
true why does dell offer the driver package. Maybe they expect
all users to have the original install diskettes or cd.


With HyperTerminal you can access the modem directly, or via a
"direct to com" session. You will avoid using TAPI. You can then
command the modem to dial without going through DUN.

AT E1 - enables command echo
AT L3 M2 - turns on modem's speaker at max volume
AT +MS=? - lists supported protocols
AT I0 I1 I2 I3 I4 I5 I6 I7 - identifies modem
AT +FCLASS=? - identifies data/fax/voice capabilities
AT DT your_house_number - tone dials your own number
AT H - hangs up the line

If the modem dials out and makes the right noises, then you can
be confident that the hardware is OK and that the drivers have
been correctly installed. The problem must then lie with the INF
file.

Here is a FAQ that may have useful info:
http://www.conexant.com/support/md_faqs.html


I've about had it and ready to buy another modem. Even for those
who had this modem running there were a multitude of complaints
about it=from slow speeds to disconnects to whatever and little
or no help from dell-that is why dell sells it's stuff so
cheap-alot of it is junk, imo. And posting at their forum site
brought nothing from their "tech support" people. Glad I only
paid 15 bucks for this box instead of getting ripped off by Dell
and then STILL getting crappy support from them, as so many of
the other complainers on this modem have received.

IIRC, there is a special procedure to uninstall HCF/HSF
drivers.

Here is an excerpt from the FAQ:

================================================== =============
== ==== I would like information on drivers to install for
both modem enumerator and modem.

The installation instructions are packaged with the generic
drivers. Please refer to the readme.txt file for instructions
on how to remove and install the drivers.
================================================== =============
==


Ok, I will check on that, thanks, but I think they are probably
referring to the method of removing old drivers from add/remove.
====


I only mentioned this because I know users of other modems (eg
USR Winmodem) have sometimes needed to use a special utility to
clean out the registry and INF folder before installing a new
modem. I've also encountered instances where certain OEMx.INF
files needed to be deleted for the same reason.

In fact I found the following statement in Microsoft's KB:

"If no files are copied during the installation, delete any
unused Oem*.inf and Oem*.pnf files, and then perform the
installation again."


I don't recall seeing any oem files, but I will double check. I am
hoping that my clearing of all reg entries specific to this modem,
under conexant, mdm3880, etc will help the install.

Here are two other sites that may be useful:
http://www.aztech.com.sg/SAnalog.htm#14


I thought aztec was out of business, all their other links are
no good.


I think this looks like the right driver set:
ftp://ftp.aztech.com/download/modem/...-wu/mdp3880wu_
win9x.zip

The INF files make reference to Dell. There is also an
"infunist.exe" file which looks suspiciously like an
uninstaller.

-- Franc Zabkar

Please remove one 'i' from my address when replying by email.