I tried to "Flash" my ext. US Robotrics Sportster 56K X2 modem to v.90 I broke it!

[TangleWeb]

Greetings Tech-Sperts!

I broke my US Robotics external Sportster modem!

I have a 56K US Robotics Sportster external modem, model 00178600. It was v.34+ & X2. It was NOT v.90. US Robotics used to have a Modem Upgrade Wizard (MUW) that would let you flash modems of this type to v.90 using the appropriate *.DMF file for the modem. US Robotics no longer makes this available so I found the Sportster Modem Flasher page, downloaded the “Flasher” file & the appropriate “*.SMF” file. Then I installed the Modem Flasher program & ran it. It prompted me to point to the location of the “SMF” file which I did. It then said “Transfer failed”, “modem is not respond! Firmware corrupted? Flash again?” (The author of this program is Russian & his English isn’t the best)

According to the FAQ on his site, you can flash it back to the original using the v.34 or X2 firmware. I tried this to no avail. His FAQ also says that his program is better than USR’s because it "doesn’t process the replacement of the Boot-block, which potentially is dangerous."

Windows no longer sees the modem. When I tell Windows to search for a new modem, the lights flash on the front of the modem, indicating activity, but Windows does not detect it. It did before the flash of course.

Does anyone know of a way to re-flash this modem to original factory specs.?

Also, if anyone has the correct DMF file for this modem, that would be helpful. I have the Modem Upgrade Wizard. unfortunately, it doesn't "see" the modem either, so I guess the file might not help much.

Dave

[TangleWeb]

I found a solution! It's fixed!!

Man I love it when I "fix" something that I broke!

I Googled & found this link on Modemsite.com, it led to the US Robotic FTP Archive where I found their Updates Folder that has flash update files as executables. Mine was "00178600ud.exe". I downloaded & launched it. It DOES NOT require the USR Modem Upgrade Wizard. Because of this the modem does not even have to be detected, just connected to a serial port & turned on. It flashed the BIOS to v.90 as well. I'd have been happy if it just brought it back to factory specs as a v.34+\X2 56K modem!

[NooNoo]

Glad to hear you sorted it.

[The Computer Valet]

Thanks for reporting it!

[TangleWeb]

Originally posted by NooNoo
Glad to hear you sorted it.

It only took 4 hours of futzing, cursing & Googling...

Using this recently flashed modem on a PIII 850 laptop with 512mb of RAM I loaded www.cnn.com in 28 seconds, including all graphics with the cache & history cleared beforehand. Not bad for dialup!

Now when I get back the 33.6 external USR Sportster I loaned her I'll try flashing IT to 56K v.90

[confus-ed]

Originally posted by TangleWeb
....Now when I get back the 33.6 external USR Sportster I loaned her I'll try flashing IT to 56K v.90

You might have a bit more of a job with that .... its not as simple changing speeds as it is 'standards', there's circuitry on your modem which is only designed to go so fast, you can't flash that ! You'll need a degree in Electrical circuitry design, a soldering iron, some new chips, and probably a vivid imagination !

[MacGyver]

Confused is right, some of the older Sportster 33.6's are not flashable. Those needed a physical ROM chip to upgrade the firmware to v.90.

[confus-ed]

He-he-he ... UART (say it) right

The 'bit' that does the sending & receiving is a UART - universal asynchronous receiver-transmitter, they need to be 'fast enough' to handle any increase in the data rate dictated by the modems firmware (the bit you flash), odds are a 33.6 modem don't have the right bits ....

[TangleWeb]

Originally posted by confus-ed
You might have a bit more of a job with that .... its not as simple changing speeds as it is 'standards', there's circuitry on your modem which is only designed to go so fast, you can't flash that ! You'll need a degree in Electrical circuitry design, a soldering iron, some new chips, and probably a vivid imagination !

I was really sort of kidding about that last post since I have already looked this particular modem up on USR's site & I don't believe it's flashable to 56K.

Contrary to what a couple of you have said, many 33.6 (v.34) modems can be flashed to v.90 (56K), including many US Robotics modems. It depends on how much of the work is done by a controller that can be flashed with new firmware. The problem is that US Robotics (3COM) no longer supports this procedure for their 33.6 modems. I quote from their site

"Note: Updates in the FTP site above include 33.6 and V.90 code only. This FTP site does not include V.90 upgrades for 33.6 products. If you have previously upgraded your 33.6 to V.90, do not run the update from this site. Running the update will return your modem to 33.6 code."

So I guess the secret is finding a source for the older upgrade file that USR made available in "the good old days"

[confus-ed]

Hang on, V90 or V92 or whatever is a standard ...? How it communicates ..... You said 'uprade a 33.6 to 56k V90'

Well you can maybe upgrade a 33.6 to v90 or even v92, BUT you can't just make the capacity bigger ? Without changing the circuitry.... that's what the 33.6 bit & 56.6 bit refer to.

V90 covers speeds up to 56k, it does not say it is a 56K device it might be 33.6, 14.4 even 9600 bps (if someone wrote the firmware why not?)..... but the two things are different. V90 is a communications standard, how it should transfer information, 56 K in this case means the amount of information, so 56 kilobits per second....

Which was what I said, or I thought I did ....

[kato2274]

USR robotics did used to offer 33.6 to 56K upgrades via firmware. . . . many moons ago. . . . on certain sportster modems.

and a standard can indeed sometimes increase capacity as evidenced by the v.92 standard to raise the upload capacity from 33.6 to 48K . . . .because the capacities are increased via software compression schemes . . . . which is how we got to 56K in the first place.

from http://www.56k.com/reports/winmodem.shtml
U.S. Robotics had a free software-based 56K upgrade for some Sportster 33.6 Winmodems, but not others..

[NooNoo]

The key is winmodems....

External Sportster vi's for instance (like the one in my trusty bag) is hardware and not flashable. I keep that particular modem because every os (bar 3.1) can run it with out the need for other drivers, it also seems to laugh in the face of line noise and always connects when crappy internal winmodems collapse.

[kato2274]

the external couriers had flash rom and were the external ones that could be upgraded with a software patch.

[confus-ed]

Originally posted by kato2274
....and a standard can indeed sometimes increase capacity as evidenced by the v.92 standard to raise the upload capacity from 33.6 to 48K . . . .because the capacities are increased via software compression schemes . . . . which is how we got to 56K in the first place.[/i]

Mmm that's just moving about the amount of up/down split. Its not increasing capacicity .... click this about UART maybe if its an external modem using the pc's - uart then yes, But MacGyver already says he needs a new rom chip .....

[TangleWeb]

Originally posted by NooNoo
The key is winmodems....

External Sportster vi's for instance (like the one in my trusty bag) is hardware and not flashable. I keep that particular modem because every os (bar 3.1) can run it with out the need for other drivers, it also seems to laugh in the face of line noise and always connects when crappy internal winmodems collapse.

Many of the external Sportsters were upgradeable in firmware from v.34 (33.6kbps) to v.90. "Upgradeable" does NOT automatically mean "WinModem". It just means that the chipset supports a firmware upgrade via a flash utility, permitting new features & protocols to be added. I have personally upgraded several. I too keep a trusty 56k External Sportster, as you mention it handles line noise, etc. much better than other modems. Mine was flashable though, but in my case only from X2 to v.90.

Originally posted by confus-ed
Hang on, V90 or V92 or whatever is a standard ...? How it communicates ..... You said 'upgrade a 33.6 to 56k V90'

Well you can maybe upgrade a 33.6 to v90 or even v92, BUT you can't just make the capacity bigger ? Without changing the circuitry.... that's what the 33.6 bit & 56.6 bit refer to.

V90 covers speeds up to 56k, it does not say it is a 56K device it might be 33.6, 14.4 even 9600 bps (if someone wrote the firmware why not?)..... but the two things are different. V90 is a communications standard, how it should transfer information, 56 K in this case means the amount of information, so 56 kilobits per second....

Which was what I said, or I thought I did ....

The “V.*” standard “IS” the speed at which the modem is capable of connecting to a compatible host over ideal line conditions. As Kato2274 said, the standard defines compression schemes, etc. It is a group of “protocols” that must exist on equipment at both ends of the connection. In other words, your ISP must have compatible equipment on their end. Most dial up ISPs conform to the v.90 standard at this time & some fall back to the X2 protocol & others fall back to the “Flex” protocol. These 2 protocols were combined to form the v.90 protocol. Recently the v.92 standard was released & is being supported by a growing number of ISPs. Here is a quote from a site I found describing the enhancements provided by the v.92 spec.

In addition to an overall refinement of V.90 technology, V.92 enables three major new functions: “Modem on Hold,” “Quick Connect,” and “V.PCM upstream.” To receive the full benefit of each of these features, both the user’s modem and the ISP’s server equipment need V.92 upgrades. V.92 is backwards-compatible with V.90 so your V.92 modem will be able to communicate at V.90 speeds if your ISP still uses V.90 modems.

“Modem on Hold” allows a modem user to suspend a data call, answer an inbound voice call, then re-establish the data call without ever losing the connection. This permits less intrusive use of a modem in the home and fuller utilization of a single phone line. (Note: This feature requires Call Waiting service from your local phone company.)

“Quick Connect” enables the modem to shorten the initial connect time on a call. The modem can compare the new call to the previous call, and if the line conditions are similar (as will often be the case when calling the same POP on the same phone line), it can bypass portions of the training sequence. This may reduce connect time by 50% or more in some cases.

“V.PCM Upstream” facilitates faster upstream communication with upload speeds reaching 48,000 bits per second (V.90 upstream speeds were limited to 31,200 bps.) The modem user can choose to favor fast downstream communication, or to favor a more “balanced” communication flow which will increase upstream data rates while slightly reducing downstream rates. This extra flexibility is ideal for sending large e-mails, spreadsheets, presentations or photos, or uploading files.