TeleShare Quick Start and Quick Fixes Page 1 UPDATED: November, 1994 This Product is Shareware, if you continue to use it Please Legalise your usage through Registration. _______ ____|__ | (R) --| | |------------------- | ____|__ | Association of | | |_| Shareware |__| o | Professionals -----| | |--------------------- |___|___| Member Quick Start Getting the System Up and Running: You may have already used TSSETUP to configure the host or remote, and may prefer to bypass this paragraph. The first thing is to ensure that the modem works with the software that came with the modem. They are basically guaranteed to be compatible. If/Once you know that they work together, steal the settings from the original software (write them down or print screen them) and transfer the values to TeleShare. There is a useful tool called PORTEST that you should run to verify what ports you are using. In this (November, 1994) release of TeleShare, simply put the initialization string in a file called INIT, then run SCOMMUPD to update SCOMM's values. Start up tssetup.exe and set it to match your other recorded values. Then start up SCOMM, select Directory and enter a test number. Then call the number to ensure that the port setup is correct. If it fails consider changing from port 1 to 2 or vice versa. If it still fails after that check out the quick fixes below. Quick Fixes The most basic and common problems that you are likely to bump TeleShare Quick Start and Quick Fixes Page 2 into are related to the modem. The following advice should be considered like a sandwich, with general advice like this above and below and various likely materials in between. First, some simple tests: Run PORTEST and record what it yields. If it locks up your PC, turn the the machine off for 15 minutes (YES). Some of the internal settings are zonked and need time and 'cooling' to self reset. Second, run some batch files, or run these commands directly from DOS. Lets assume portest reports your modem is using port 1 (COM1). REM Reset the modem. Watch its lights. ECHO ATZ > COM1 REM Tell it to answer. Listen and watch its lights. ECHO ATA > COM1 REM Tell it to hang up. You might set this up after a REM pause in the same batch file as the ATA command. ECHO ATH0 >com1 If you are getting responses, the COM port is correct and the modem is responding. If you aren't getting responses, try changing COM ports. If you're getting responses and you know the port is correct turn the machine off for awhile (a longer while if necessary). Dvorak's Guide to PC Telecommunications has a list of the most common problems, which has been interpreted and amplified below: 1) Call waiting has not been cancelled. You can often dial 70# or *70 or try setting both modems to ATS10=255 for a long wait to bypass call waiting. 2) An external modem cable is bad or loose. 3) The phone line is disconnected at the wall or the modem. Test push the connections together. 4) The communications software is incorrectly setup. Try N81. It has to be trying to work with the correct port, preferably COM1 or COM2. Try changing ports. A fair number of P.C.s cannot use COM3 or COM4 for communications (or anything else that matters). TeleShare Quick Start and Quick Fixes Page 3 5) Modem switches or jumpers are incorrectly setup. Is the modem switched on? (Our most common problem is leaving the external modem turned off for the first call of the day). 6) The modem is competing with another device for a COM port. No you cannot physically attach a mouse and a modem to the same port, but you can do so with software. Test by deactivating the mouse, or scanner, or whatever SOFTware it might be. 7) Its the wrong type of cable. Sorry you cannot tell visually. Direct connection and modem cables look alike, but are wired differently. 8) Switches inside the computer are set incorrectly. Conflicting computer interrupts can cause significant hair loss in people trying to solve the problem. We supply the RS232OFF.EXE to reset interrupts that have gone nuts (You just type in "RS232OFF"). Yes, the original settings can all be fine, but some other software zonks the interrupts. Apparently, a common example is Procomm which apparently resets more ports than just the one it is using. 9) There is a BIOS problem. AMI bios's have problems with 16550 chips. P. C. Softsmith has found common problems with 16550 chips user inserted into cards. Many cards are really designed to work with older chips and do not let a 16550 chip activate properly. Normal diagnostics (and technicians) will pass everything, but a separate test will find the 16550 acting like an older chip. If you buy the card with a factory inserted 16550, they should match and work fine. We can supply, or you can download, software from a BBS that 'fixes' the AMI bios to 16550 problem. A common name is 550RESET.exe. 10) The software is incompatible with the modem. Their two features sets fail to overlap in some crucial area. Try some other sofware, even a simple dialer, to make sure you have correctly isolated the problem. 11) The modem is broken or defective. We have found some modems that overheat then gradually fail are very good tools for detecting problems with telephone lines. Voice checking a phone line does not indicate its condition for a modem, but your 'phone company can likely check it remotely from their office. Try to get anything working, then steal its settings/information for the other things that you want to get running. If you have the system basically working, then keep TeleShare Quick Start and Quick Fixes Page 4 changing small portions out from the working core until they work. As an example, we often just erase the TSCONFIG.CFG setup file and restart when a problem continues, because it is the most basic setup file. Many problems disappear once everything is reset to original defaults.