Rockwell/Conexant Modem woes

[John Bouras]

I have viewed many posts about this problem, but I have yet to see a concrete solution.

My sister has an HP Pavillion 8660C running Windows98SE with one of these RipTide/Conexant SoundCard/Modem combo cards. She doesn't particularly like hearing the modem dailing and handshaking through the desktop speakers. What can be done to cease this?

Some say things like adding "ATM0(Ay-Tee-Em-Zero)" to the Extra Settings Init string space of the Advanced Connection Settings from the Connection tab of the modem properties in the Device Manager.

The only problem with this solution is that, although there is a wealth of info on the web about AT commands and what they mean, there is no info on the web on how to edit an existing string.

Her Pavillion has this in the Extra Settings string space: &F&C1&D2S95=1S6=5S7=60S10=15X4. If I delete it, restart the computer and check to see what's there, I have found the string mentioned above to reappear.

I have no idea where to add ATM0. I have tried at the beginning, no effect. I have tried at the end, still no effect. I have a hunch this this ATM0 command has to do with modems that have a speaker soldered to the modem board and won't work with this Modem/SoundCard combo that has no speaker on the board, but rather has a speaker jack between the DB-15 joystick port and the RJ11 modem ports.

I have read other posts saying to change the driver to a generic driver, or to a driver that is indifferent to the manufacturer's specs, but none of these threads had an outcome reply, so I have no way of knowing if this will work or not.

Has anyone ever solved this issue?

[Les Ligetfalvy]

Well... I have neither that PC, that modem, nor 98SE, but I have not had prolems silencing other brinads of modems.

One prob may be that you are trying to add the AT command but that is already implied as the extra settings get added to what a base string that already has the AT command. Try just adding M0 to the string.

M0&F&C1&D2S95=1S6=5S7=60S10=15X4

If you cannot mute it with M0, try lowering the volume with L0.

At least with XP, I can also adjust the volume using the sound card volume advanced GUI.

[John Bouras]

Thank you for your reply.

I tried adding M0 (Em-Zero) to the front of the string but the comm noises are still present. Replacing M0 with L0 (El-Zero) did not change the volume level of the comm noise.

It may very well be as I feared. These commands may only work for a modem speaker that is soldered to the modem board, and not have any effect on the SoundCard aspect of this PCI card.

Are there any other ideas?

[Les Ligetfalvy]

Sorry, I did not make any effort to analyze what AT commands yor modem is currently being sent. Like I say, I don't have 98SE to compare how it works, but from my experience with W2K and XP, the extra commands are usually blank and the base commands are not visible in the GUI. I am surprised that even if you delete the extra commands that they reappear. If you modify it, does that stick?

If you Google for:
AT modem commands
you can find sites like http://www.modemhelp.org/setdef.html that explain what each of them does.

For example, I see you have &F so that would load some factory presets that could override the M0 and L0 settings. You may have to put them on the end instead.

You could spark up HyperTerm, and just configure it as direct connect to the COM port the modem is on for testing. Then you can experiment with various AT commands and even write your own defaults with AT&W1 to recall later. You can also test dial with ATDT to see if your init string is working for you.

[John Bouras]

Les, you are correct. The base string is not visible, but it can be found in the registry. Here is the base string: ATS7=60M1+ES=3,0,2;+DS=3;+IFC=2,2;X4

I noticed there is an "M" in this string with a "1" next to it. I changed the "1" to a "0(zero)", but I still have the same condition.

To answer your question about modifications to the Extra Settings string, the answer is Yes. Any changes I make remain when I view these settings again, but lemme clarify that. As I said in the start of this thread, if I erase the Extra Settings they reappear after the PC is restarted. If I make any changes to the string, the changes are still there after the PC is restarted.

Thank you for the link to modemhelp.org, but as I said in my first post: "there is a wealth of info on the web about AT commands and what they mean, there is no info on the web on how to edit an existing string". In other words, there is no way for me to know where to put the "M0" to know where it will work.

I can experiment as you suggested, but there must be someone in the world who knows how to edit AT command strings that could tell us what will and what won't work.

I have tried to place M0 at the end of the string, but this condition still exists, and after today it will be some time before I'm able to try any other ideas you or other forum members provide.

[Ron Kinner]

There should be a Phone and Modem Icon in the Control Panel (Start Settings Control Panel). Open it and on the second tab (Modems) highlight your modem and select Properties. Then in the new window select the Advanced Tab. It should have a window for Extra Initialization Commands. Put your M0 there and click OK. That will shut it up.

You can also on the Modem Page set the Speaker Volume slider to Off and click on OK.
That should have the same effect.

Ron

[John Bouras]

Ron, I really wish you had read this entire thread before you responded.

However, you did mention one idea that I, and others, had not. I had already slid that slider from on to off before starting this thread. The same condition exists.

I am still hopefull that this problem can be solved.

[Ron Kinner]

OK. I reread it and I see you already know about the Advanced area and that something is reinstalling the stuff that is already there. Adding M0 at the beginning of the string won't help because the first command after that resets it to factory defaults. You can add the M0 at the end or anywhere in the middle where it doesn't split an existing command (spaces separate individual commands in the following line: &F &C1 &D2 S95=1 S6=5 S7=60 S10=15 X4) but I suspect since you say the complete string reinstalls itself that your ISP has put some software on the computer to set it up the way they want it and that anything you change will disappear. Can you temporarily uninstall the ISP software and see if the extra stuff stays gone? Or perhaps if you look in the options for your ISP dialer you will find some place to make changes.

If you want to test the M0 command to see if it works at all then all you have to do is start Hyperterm and point it at the modem (not a com port and don't let it dial a number). Type:
ate1
then press enter. It should say OK.

tell it to dial a number:

atdt 1800555121
then press Enter

You should hear it dial.

ath0
then press Enter

will hang it up.

Type:
m0
then press Enter. It will say OK if it accepts the command.

now tell it to dial a number:

atdt 18005551212

Did you hear it dial?

Since the thing doubles as an Audio driver you can also just turn off the sound in the Control Panel under Audio and Multimedia.

Ron

[Les Ligetfalvy]

Ron,
Should not Hyperterm be pointed at the COM port the modem has assigned for testing?

Also,
Type:
m0

Should be,
Type:
ATm0

Whenever you issue individual commands they need to be prefaced by AT.

[John Bouras]

Ron and Les,

Thank you for your input. Perhaps I will get a chance to try those out this weekend.

Ron, something you said was a bell-ringer for me. My sister's ISP is AOL, and the software used is 9.0 Optimised (not sure what the exact version number is).

Are you familiar with AOL and what can be done from within AOL to make some sort of resolution?