Zoltrix Win HSP Voice/Speaker Phone Modem Q&A
(Models FM-HSP336i, FM-HSP336p, FM-HSP56p, FMHSP56PCI)
Zoltrix Win HSP Voice/Speaker Phone Modem Q&A
(Models FM-HSP336i, FM-HSP336p, FM-HSP56p, FMHSP56PCI)
Table of contents
HSP Modem Q & A's
HSP stands for Host Signal Processing. This refers to using the host computers processor (Pentium chip) in place of a dedicated chip on the modem (DSP) to perform the Digital Signal Processing. Click here to download PCtel's White paper on HSP technology.
White papers are in PDF format and require Adobe
Acrobat to view, Click
here to download.
Can I use the HSP modem on a motherboard using a Cyrix CPU instead of a Pentium?
This 33,600 product was marketed as a product for use in systems with
a true Intel Pentium-100 or faster CPU running Windows 95 only! Our initial
tests using the driver designed for the Pentium showed that the HSP modem
would not perform on a Cyrix 686 - 150. All of the system's resources would
be used just to establish and maintain the connection, leaving no resources
left over. The chipset maker has released a driver that performs better
when used with CPU's other than Intel's Pentium. Zoltrix still recommends
that you have a Cyrix 686-166 or faster. You can download this driver from
the following page. Our test
results show that the Cyrix CPU still has unacceptable performance on some
motherboards. This may vary from motherboard to motherboard since not all
are created equal. PCtel claims that the floating point processor on the
Cyrix CPU is much slower than Intel's or AMD's. Since the Signal processing
done by the CPU uses the floating point processor, the performance of your
system depends upon the performance of the floating point processor.
Can I use my modem with Operating systems other than Windows 95?
Yes! The HSP modems currently work in Win95 and Win98. Windows NT drivers are also provided on the drivers page. The FMHSP336i model also works in Win 3.1x for users of true INTEL PENTIUM CPU's. Click here to access the drivers page to download the Win 3.1x driver for the FMHSP336i. The chipset maker (PCtel) claims that they may support other Operating Systems in the future and may provide Zoltrix with driver supporting Linux in the future. Keep checking the drivers page for the possible release of the Linux drivers.
PCtel currently has no plans to run on the DOS operating system. They claim to need a more powerful OS for our drivers to multitask with other programs.
Please keep checking this page or PCtel's
Q&A web page for more information as it becomes available.
Why does my system slow down when I'm online?
The description of what HSP stands for will give you the best clue.
The Digital Signal processing that is done by a chip (DSP) on most modems
is being done with the computers CPU. This will of course leave less CPU
cycles for other running programs. If you are running a Pentium-166 or
faster, the performance loss will not be noticeable to most users. But
if you are a power user that is multi-tasking on a regular basis while
online, I strongly recommend that you purchase a modem with a DSP.
Can I control the amount of CPU cycles that the modem uses to speed up my system?
Yes. The PCtel chipset has a AT command that will control this. Following are the settings:
Why do I need a full duplex sound card for the Speaker phone to work?
The modem does not have the required hardware to perform this function
without a Full duplex sound card. No special connections are required between
the sound card and the modem. When the sound card and HSP modem are installed
properly with all the correct drivers, the sound cards microphone and speakers
will be used for the Speaker Phone feature.
Why does the BitWare BitPhone software say "Can not open wave device"?
BitWare V3.30.07 originally shipped with this modem would automatically install this driver. The most recent versions depend upon the driver being installed when the Win95 drivers are installed. This Wave device for Voice Modem is installed automatically most of the time, but some users have reported that this driver is not installed after installing the HSP Modem port and the HSP modem driver. If this is the case, you can install the driver manually.
Installing the Wave Device for Voice Modem
Select the drive and directory where the file is located, by clicking on Browse Click on the OK button
This will bring up the following screen:
How do I reduce the echo when using the Speaker phone?
Reduction of the local and far echo's are accomplished by adjusting
the volume with the Voice Mail program. You need to adjust both the microphones
and the speakers. You may also need to adjust these levels with the sound
cards mixer. This may take a little trial and error and the quality depends
a lot upon the sound card.
How can I determine if my sound card can be used with the modem for the Speaker phone feature?
The only requirement for the Speaker Phone feature is that a FULL DUPLEX
sound card is installed and operating correctly. To test if your sound
card operates in FULL DUPLEX you need to record a Wave file while playing
a Wave file. You can use the Media Player to play a wave file and use the
Sound Recorder to try to record the wave file that is being played. If
you get an error message stating that the device is busy, YOU DO NOT HAVE
A FULL DUPLEX SOUND CARD or the FULL DUPLEX driver is NOT installed properly.
I added a Port to Win95, but the PCTel modem will not use it, what's the problem?
The HSP modem uses a virtual Port enabled by installing the PCTel Port
driver. Do not install a normal Com port. You must install the PCtel Port
driver. The FMHSP336p and FMHSP56p and FMHSP56PCI models are all PnP and
the port driver will be installed with the modem driver. If you have the
FMHSP336i, refer to page 5 of the manual to install the Virtual HSP port
driver. To change the port or the IRQ that the port uses, follow the directions
in the manual on pages 13-17.
Why does Win95 report "Can't Open Port" when you attempt to use the modem?
Cheyenne Bitware is supposed to install a COMM.DRV replacement when installed on Win 3.1x systems. But when installed on Win95, the Win95 COMM.DRV should NOT BE REPLACED! Some older versions of BitWare will replace the COMM.DRV in Win95.
If you find the following line in the SYSTEM.INI replace it with the correct line listed below:
Why won't Windows 95/98 auto-detect my modem?
The FMHSP336i modem cannot respond to ATi commands until the Windows
95/98 driver is loaded. Since Windows 95 uses the ATi responses to auto-detect
modems, auto-detection is not possible. The FMHSP336p and FMHSP56p and
FMHSP56PCI are all PnP models, so Windows 95/98 will recognize the new
device and ask for the driver.
Yes! This is one of the best features of the software modem. It can
be upgraded with software when new features are added, all you need to
do is download the drivers from web and install the new drivers.
Can my HSP modem be upgraded to 56K?
It is not possible for the chipset used in the FMHSP336i to reach this new speed.
Oh course, that does not mean that other improvements and features will not be added. One new standard that will be supported in a soon to be released driver is the V.80 protocol that allows better video streaming for use with video conferencing connections.
The FMHSP336p is software upgradable to the ITU V.90 standard. The chip set manufacture PCtel has opened the site to purchase the V.90 update drivers as of 12-23-1998. You can access the page here at http://1ymzhle.com/pctelupgrade.
The FMHSP56p and FMHSP56PCI are already 56K modems. The latest drivers
on the drivers page for both models support both K56Flex and V.90 and are
know as Dual Mode modems.
My HSP modem connects slower than I expect or I see gibberish or the connection drops, what's the problem?
UPDATE on dropped connections:
It has been found that when your video card driver is set above 256 colors (16 bit or 24 bit), the 33,600 modem model FMHSP336i would drop the connection for no apparent reason. This 256 color limitation does not apply to the newer HSP models, but you may need to reduce the color settings to 16bit color.
Either set your video driver to 640 by 480 at 256 colors when using the modem or try the solutions below:
I. If your video card uses any S3 chipset, make sure the following lines are in the SYSTEM.INI:
II. In Control Panel -> System -> Performance -> Graphics, set the hardware acceleration to None.
You may not have to reduce the acceleration all the way to None. You can try reducing the acceleration one step at a time for most cards. Deeper color and higher resolution and slower computers require that the acceleration be curtailed further. PCtel's testing shows that if you are using a Matrox MGA you need to set the hardware acceleration to None.
PCtel has discussed the BusThrottle issue with S3 Engineers who wrote the drivers. They have described a problem where by using an S3 Driver provided by Windows 95 will cause a failure and in Hardware modems shows up as lower throughput or degradation. They have recommended the use of the latest S3 Drivers. You can download them from S3's WEB site.
If you are unsure what S3 chip you have or if you have a S3 chip in your video card, download the S3 Chip Identify Utility Version 5 and run the program to determine exactly what S3 chipset is used.
If this solves your problem, please report the graphic card that you have so we can develop a list of models that this solution works for.
If this does NOT solve your problem, please also report the graphic card that you have so this information can be passed to the PCtel engineers.
III. Reduce or raise the modems connect rate.
You may want to limit the modems connection rate to a little slower than the speed you normally connect at when the disconnect occurs using the S34 and S37 registers. If you think you are connecting too slow, you may also want to try increasing the connection speed or just specify that the modem connect using V.90 or K56 Flex without specifying a connect rate to let the modem determine the best connect rate for the line conditions.
You can add the command to the Extra settings field on the advanced modem properties window if using Win95/98 dial-up networking.
Use the following command to force a V.90 connection with a speed of 45333:
AT N0 S37=14 S34=13
Use the following command to force a V.90 connection with a speed of 41333:
AT N0 S37=14 S34=10
Use the following command to force a K56Flex connection with a speed of 40000:
AT N0 S37=13 S34=4
If these commands don't work, you can try many variations.
Use the following command to force a V.90 connection and let the modem determine the connect rate:
AT N0 S37=14
Use the following command to force a K56Flex connection and let the modem determine the connect rate:
AT N0 S37=13
Use the following command to force a V.34 connection and let the modem determine the connect rate:
AT N0 S37=12
If having trouble getting any V.90 connection, try starting at the lowest V.90 connection rate of 28,000bps. If the modem connects at the specified rate then work your way up in steps of 1,333 as shown below until the modem fails to connect, then back the speed down one step. If you still get disconnected, try backing it back another step or two.
Use one of the following commands to force a V.90 connection ranging in speed from 28000 to 28000:
AT N0 S37=14 S34=0
Use one of the following commands to force a V.90 connection ranging in speed from 29333 to 29333:
AT N0 S37=14 S34=1
Use one of the following commands to force a V.90 connection ranging in speed from 30667 to 30667:
AT N0 S37=14 S34=2
Use one of the following commands to force a V.90 connection ranging in speed from 32000 to 32000:
AT N0 S37=14 S34=3
Use one of the following commands to force a V.90 connection ranging in speed from 33333 to 33333:
AT N0 S37=14 S34=4
I think you should see the pattern in the commands used. Just keep raising the value of S34 until the modem fails to connect and then back the speed down one step by lowering the value of S34 by one.
For information on controlling the connection speed (carrier rate) with your PCtel based modem refer to the S34 register in the AT Command manual for your modem found on the Modem drivers page:
Following is the section on S34:
What Com Ports and IRQ's can the HSP modem use?
The Zoltrix Win HSP Voice/Speaker Phone/Modem can use Com Ports 1 to
8 and use IRQ's 3,4,5,10,11,12 & 15. Of course if another device is
using the IRQ, it may be unusable. You can share an IRQ with a unused Com
Port in most systems. For example if you have a Serial Port set to Com2/IRQ3,
the HSP modem can use Com4/IRQ3.
Why did the ATi3 response change on my modem?
If you downloaded and installed a new driver the ATi3 response will
change. Since this is a software modem, whenever you install an updated
driver, the ATi3 response of the modem will change. This allows you to
know what driver you have installed.
I noticed that the ATi3 response of my modem indicated it was for a Pentium when I have a Cyrix computer. Do I need another modem?
No. The modem is the same. The Item number FMHSP336i is the same. The only difference is the software driver that the modem is using. If you have a Pentium CPU, use the Pentium driver and if you have the Cyrix CPU, use the Cyrix driver. If you have any CPU with MMX technology, use the MMX driver.
The FMHSP336p driver has a auto-detect program that will determine your
CPU type and install the correct driver.
The FMHSP56P and FMHSP56PCI only have one Windows 95/98 driver version
for all CPU's and will auto detect the CPU type.
What is the default INITialization string for my Zoltrix HSP modem?
The default INITialization string for the Zoltrix HSP modem is as follows:
For more information on INITialization Strings read:
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AT&F&C1&D2W2
Note: Add ^M to the end of the string in AOL.
What is the PTSNOOP.EXE program for?
PTSNOOP is a token program that waits for some program to request the
COM port to be opened. Then it makes sure that the drivers get loaded.
The total memory impact is less than one meg of RAM, for everything that
the HSP software does.
Can the modem speaker volume be changed with the ATL1 & ATL2 & ATL3 commands?
As of the latest version of the drivers for all HSP modems, the HSP
modem does not support the use of the L command to vary the volume
level of the dialing and handshaking, etc... The Hardware currently limits
volume adjustment to on/off. It is recommended that you use the sound card
as the source of the sound instead of the internal speaker found on some
models. Refer to how
to ensure the sounds are routed to the sound card.
How can I monitor my incoming calls when using the Cheyenne BitWare Receive Manager?
The HSP modem does not support monitoring of the incoming calls. The
Cheyenne BitWare Voice Manager has an option for monitoring incoming calls
on the Voice System Setup window. You access this window from the Voice
Manager, Setup, Voice System. If the option is grayed out,
you know the option is not available.
How can I ensure that the modem sounds come out of the sound card speakers?
To ensure that the sound card speakers are selected to hear the modem sounds, use the following procedure:
Why does Windows report that the UART in my modem is an 8250 instead of a 16550?
Software WinModems do not have a true hardware UART. The
functions of the 16550 UART including the buffering are performed with
the Windows drivers and host CPU. Windows and most diagnostic programs
will report that the UART used is a 8250, but this will not hinder the
performance of the modem.
