Do modems overheat? If not then what the $(#* is wrong with mine?!

[Tekk]

My modem has been on the fritz for the past couple of weeks. It periodically says (when I try to connect) that it is "unable to establish a connection. make sure modem is..." and I think you know the rest. The modem doesn't even sound (for a dialtone). The text box just shows up. Whats the deal?! Its the dawn of summer so is it the heat? I have a 433 celeron o/c to 488 (75mhz FSB) which really isn't that much. I have a Viking LT Winmodem that I like very much but I don't understand why it would be doing this since it has been running for several months without problems (when the cpu was still o/c to 488).

So any ideas would be helpful. The other day I took it out and put it in another PCI slot which helped for a couple of days but today it did it again and I restarted it once and then it worked just fine. So thats where I am now ;(

Thanks again. And its great to be back! (although most of you don't care I haven't been here in a while and its a good feeling to finally be posting stuff again even tho this post is a problem http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/wink.gif Anyway, YAY!

Tekk

[Mark]

Since it works again after a reboot I'm guessing that it's just sensitive to the bus speed. At 75 mhz fsb you're running your pci bus at 37.5 mhz which is more than 10% above spec. It's like o/c'ing, sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. That's my guess.

Mark

[Hellmund]

Same sort of thing happened with my harddrives when I o/c the FSB.Either set it back to 66 or put it up more so the ratio changes.As for the other question I doubt it would be overheating unless it is faulty.Althogh I don't know everything so if you change the FSB and that dosn't work try testing another modem in the slot or try cooling the modem with a fan or something.
Hope some of this helped
Hellmund

[SDT]

I think that it is unlikely that the modem is overheating a most of the processing is done by the cpu (winmodem). I concurr with Mark that it might be a FSB speed problem. It could also be an IRQ related problem... have you checked those?

[Tekk]

I haven't tried setting the FSB down (because if its not anything else then it would seem that to be the only problem right?) If it is an IRQ problem how would I be able to check? Seems strange that if the FSB is giving it trouble now, why did it work for about 2 months with no problems at all when my cpu was still o/c at the same FSB? It just doesn't seem right! DOH!

Well if it keeps doing this, it will probably eventually break. So for those who have an overclocked cpu, what modems (for those who still use em http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/wink.gif do you use that are relatively inexpensive (like non USR or 3com) and work with no troubles?

Thanks for the help ppl. I appreciate it http://sysopt.earthweb.com/forum/wink.gif

[qball]

Let's see.....

You've been overclocking the FSB for a couple of months and you wonder why problems are starting now.....

You may have already done the damage. I doubt the FSB would cause modem probs, as I have never seen any modem that was rated 66,100,133Mhz. If there was an issue, it would be known.

Things to try;

Set the FSB back to 66, try modem in another slot (see $5winmodem in last PCI slot), or leave and see if your problem is cured.

Iffin you wanna OC the Pentium486 (oops, Celeron) bump up the multiplier.

Lastly, maybe the modem just plain went bad. See iffin you can install and test on another system. Of course this means it will work perfectly until you bring it back home, where it become the fractous child you are dealing with now.

Worse comes to worse, buy another modem.

Good Luck.

[Dash]

The FSB / PCI divider is the thing causing problems, PCI is stock 33mhz at any of those 3 speeds, change it and you change PCI speed, in this case 37.5mhz, thats why you dont ever see Modems rated 66, 100, 133, cuz they all have same PCI speeds..., also, you cant overclock Intels with multipliers, locked.

[bdunn]

If you want to OC buy an external modem.

Some older Hayes external 9600s overheated something awful. I was having a problem with the modem dropping carrier after about 1/2 hour. I burnt my hand on the top of the modem and immediately realized the problem.

Never had any other modem overheat problems.

[qball]

Bash is right, I'm wrong. I'm not really big into OCing (it's like putting racing slicks on VW microbus). That and the fact most of my modem are ISA, these things never really come up.


Hopefully, putting the FSB back to 66 gets the modem working consistently.

[TWENTY]

also get the latest drivers from www.lucent.com (http://www.lucent.com) they always help when i'm trouble shooting, the older drivers are almost always to blame with a winmodem.

[neo_otyugh]

follow twentys advice as your drivers are out of date, it should be recognized as a Lucent Winmodem not an LT winmodem...

[Tekk]

Thanks! Things have been working great now! Drivers must have did it. Thanks for all your help.