About make and model of modem

satimis · 09-05-2010, 10:14 AM

Hi folks,

I have an old external serial modem without indication of make and model. Please advise what command and/or procedure to find them.

TIA

B.R.
satimis

xeleema · 09-05-2010, 11:11 AM

Greetingz!
If you don't even have an FCC ID sticker on the modem, then (if it's PCI, and not ISA) I would advise throwing it into a system and booting a Live Linux CD (like Knoppix). Once booted, just run something like "lspci" or "lshw" to find out the details.

If anything, one of those commands should give you enough information that a quick google search should pull up the rest!
However, don't be discouraged if it doesn't, just head over to LinModems.

Have a good one!

satimis · 09-05-2010, 11:19 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by xeleema

Greetingz!
If you don't even have an FCC ID sticker on the modem, then (if it's PCI, and not ISA) I would advise throwing it into a system and booting a Live Linux CD (like Knoppix). Once booted, just run something like "lspci" or "lshw" to find out the details.

If anything, one of those commands should give you enough information that a quick google search should pull up the rest!
However, don't be discouraged if it doesn't, just head over to LinModems.

Have a good one!

Hi,

Thanks for your advice.

It is a serial modem connected to COM port.

dmesg printout a large file. What shall I "grep"? TIA

B.R.
satimis

xeleema · 09-05-2010, 11:29 AM

It's a serial modem hooked into a COM port? With no stickers or labels?
Honestly, I'd do one of three things at this point;

A: Safe Idea
Take a few photos of it, stuff them in your blog, then do a TinEye.com search on the images and see what comes up.
(Be sure to crop-down the photos to just the modem on a white background!)

B: Kinda Lame Idea
Post the picture in this thread as an attachment, then over on craiglist.com and find out if anyone knows what it is.

C: Fun Idea
Take a screwdriver to it and see if there's (a) model/serial/part number(s) on the inside. Then google those up!

TB0ne · 09-05-2010, 01:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by satimis

Hi,
Thanks for your advice.

It is a serial modem connected to COM port.
dmesg printout a large file. What shall I "grep"? TIA

Dmesg and other commands won't be of much use here. Since you said in your first post that it's external, connected to a serial port, the lspci and lshw commands won't do anything to identify it.

If you don't have stickers/numbers/etc., of ANY type on that modem (which I doubt...SOMETHING of an identifier will be there), you can try to run minicom, and query the modem directly.

If you have the modem plugged into the first serial port, that should be /dev/ttyS0, so set up minicom accordingly, and issue "atixx", where the "xx" is a number, between 1 and 9. You MIGHT be able to go higher, but those are the interrogation codes in the Hayes command set, the I being there specifically for Plug-n-Play identification. If you go higher than 9, and that register isn't there, the worst that will happen is you'll get ERROR returned, so give it a try.

Check the entire Hayes command set here:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hayes_command_set

satimis · 09-05-2010, 08:59 PM

HI TB0ne,

Thanks for your advice.

The only indication on the case is "56K Top Modam" made in Taiwan.

This is a virtual machine running Oracle VBox (VirtualBox) as virtualizer. The host is running Ubuntu 10.04 64-bit. The VM (guest) is running WinXP.

The old serial modem can run on the host without problem. But it can't be installed on VM needing the driver. A big ? is on the modem in Device Manager.

1) On host without forwarding the modem to the VM running;
# wvdialconf /etc/wvdial.conf

Code:

Editing `/etc/wvdial.conf'.

Scanning your serial ports for a modem.

ttyS0<*1>: ATQ0 V1 E1 -- OK
ttyS0<*1>: ATQ0 V1 E1 Z -- OK
ttyS0<*1>: ATQ0 V1 E1 S0=0 -- OK
ttyS0<*1>: ATQ0 V1 E1 S0=0 &C1 -- OK
ttyS0<*1>: ATQ0 V1 E1 S0=0 &C1 &D2 -- OK
ttyS0<*1>: ATQ0 V1 E1 S0=0 &C1 &D2 +FCLASS=0 -- OK
ttyS0<*1>: Modem Identifier: ATI -- 56000
ttyS0<*1>: Speed 4800: AT -- OK
ttyS0<*1>: Speed 9600: AT -- OK
ttyS0<*1>: Speed 19200: AT -- OK
ttyS0<*1>: Speed 38400: AT -- OK
ttyS0<*1>: Speed 57600: AT -- OK
ttyS0<*1>: Speed 115200: AT -- OK
ttyS0<*1>: Max speed is 115200; that should be safe.
ttyS0<*1>: ATQ0 V1 E1 S0=0 &C1 &D2 +FCLASS=0 -- OK
Modem Port Scan<*1>: S2   S3

Found a modem on /dev/ttyS0.
Modem configuration written to /etc/wvdial.conf.
ttyS0<Info>: Speed 115200; init "ATQ0 V1 E1 S0=0 &C1 &D2 +FCLASS=0"

2) Forwarding the port to the VM

# wvdialconf /etc/wvdial.conf

Code:

Editing `/etc/wvdial.conf'.

Scanning your serial ports for a modem.

ttyS0<*1>: ATQ0 V1 E1 -- failed with 2400 baud, next try: 9600 baud
ttyS0<*1>: ATQ0 V1 E1 -- failed with 9600 baud, next try: 115200 baud
ttyS0<*1>: ATQ0 V1 E1 -- and failed too at 115200, giving up.
Modem Port Scan<*1>: S1   S2   S3   


Sorry, no modem was detected!  Is it in use by another program?
Did you configure it properly with setserial?

Please read the FAQ at http://open.nit.ca/wiki/?WvDial

http://open.nit.ca/wiki/?WvDial
http://open.nit.can

Server NOT found.

B.R.
satimis

TB0ne · 09-05-2010, 09:21 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by satimis

HI TB0ne,
Thanks for your advice.
The only indication on the case is "56K Top Modam" made in Taiwan.

This is a virtual machine running Oracle VBox (VirtualBox) as virtualizer. The host is running Ubuntu 10.04 64-bit. The VM (guest) is running WinXP.

The old serial modem can run on the host without problem. But it can't be installed on VM needing the driver. A big ? is on the modem in Device Manager.

A virtual machine is quite different than a 'real' machine. You'll have to deal with getting the serial port shared/allocated to the Linux instance separately. After that, things should work fine. Hayes command-set modems are, pretty much, identical. It is RARE to find one that won't behave properly.

Quote:

Found a modem on /dev/ttyS0.
Modem configuration written to /etc/wvdial.conf.
ttyS0<Info>: Speed 115200; init "ATQ0 V1 E1 S0=0 &C1 &D2 +FCLASS=0"

Sorry, no modem was detected! Is it in use by another program?
Did you configure it properly with setserial?

Again, without setting up the virtual machine to do this, the OS isn't going to be able to access the serial port, and you're dead. Since wvdialconf DOES work when you don't do it, that tells you where the problem is.

salasi · 09-06-2010, 06:20 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by TB0ne

Hayes command-set modems are, pretty much, identical. It is RARE to find one that won't behave properly.

The one thing that TB0ne could have added is that 99% or more of consumer RS-232 serial modems use the Hayes Command set. That's it. You don't need to know the make or the model, you don't need to use the model information to get a 'driver', because they all behave the same, because they all follow the Hayes command set.

(The 56k ones can be set to 56k phone line data rate, where slower ones can't be set to go that fast, but apart from that kind of fine detail, they are identical, identical identical. If wvdial (or kinternet, or whatever) can deal with one, it can deal with all the normal consumer modems. Oh, and don't confuse the speed on the phone line with speed on the serial interface between the PC and the modem - in this case, 115k; there is probably a slight speed advantage in setting the RS-232 link up to the slightly faster speed, such as this 115k (with 56k phone line speed), but the speed overall is always going to be rather slow by modern standards.)

You plug them in and they do what they do (which isn't much). You can still have problems, as has been described, at the VM level or at the level of setting the modem up for correct dialling or authentication with the ISP, but its not a driver problem, or anything else that can be cured with a make or model number. Which is perhaps as well because

Quote:

"56K Top Modam"

a manufacturer who can't even spell the name of their own product doesn't really fill you with confidence, does it?