connection for ISDN

laoisfan

Hi

Just wanted to run the following by people, just so I know I am doing it correctly.

My current setup for Internet access over ISDN at home is as follows:
Laptop connected to Cisco Series 800 router via ethernet port.
Cisco Series 800 connected to Eircom NT1 (ISDN) box (connect to one of the isdn ports on the nt1 box).
I used Cisco VPN software to access my company's network.

Anyway, I am leaving my company in 2 weeks and will have to returned the laptop and cisco router.

I want to do keep the ISDN connection so myself and my wife can surf (that much quicker than ppn or normal telephone line). We cannot get broadband where we are and I am not willing to get satelite at the current prices!!

What I want to do is the following:

I received a 'Eicon DIVA Pro 2.0 PCI' card from a mate of mine in London with s/w. Product code is 800-161-02.

1. Install the card into a space PCI slot on my PC (runs WinXP) plus install the drivers.

2. Connect my PC via the newly installed card to one of the isdn port of eircom's nt1 box.

3. Not sure about this, but may have to run the eicon software to program the card to be able to use 2 channels (I would have thought it would do this automatically) but I am not sure.

Does this sound ok ? I would prefer not to have to get an external modem plus I got this card free. I am not worried about making voice calls, this will be purely for surfing.

btw - technical stuff for the card can be reached at the following link:
http://www.iercomputer.com/ei30dipropci.html

would appreciate any help on this!!

--laoisfan

laoisfan

anyone ??

Our man in Havana

Provided the card is connected to the NT box and the drivers installed it should work by setting up a DUN connection via network places in xp. Put in your details phone number 1893 etc and user and pass and it should connect away at 64kb/s.

fatherdougalmag

The card should work fine. Post back if you have any problems. The Connection Wizard will let you specify single- or multilink PPP. You shouldn't need to download any further drivers. When you stick the card in, the native (out-of-the-box OS) drivers will be installed and they're fine for dial-up networking.

laoisfan

Bond-007 wrote:

Provided the card is connected to the NT box and the drivers installed it should work by setting up a DUN connection via network places in xp. Put in your details phone number 1893 etc and user and pass and it should connect away at 64kb/s.

Hi

My PC (running WinXP) recognised the card straight away and even installed the appropriate driver for it, I guess it was on Microsoft's Hardware Compatibility list. I selected European ISDN (DSS1) when the driver was being installed.

Anyway, I ran a ethernet cable from the card to the eircom NT1 box. I then create a dial-up connection specifying the dial-up number, my username and password.

However, it keeps saying 'no response from remote computer' when dialing. The dial-up number, username and password are correct as they are what my soon-to-be-returned Cisco router currently use.

Do I need to do some more configuration with the ISDN card ?
Do I need to tell it the 2 numbers (provided by Eircom when installing ISDN) ?

Anyone got any ideas ?

Thanks for the replies!!

--laoisfan

Our man in Havana

Are you using a crossover cable or a straight thru? I think it may need to be a xover cable from the card to the Eircom nt box.

laoisfan

Bond-007 wrote:

Are you using a crossover cable or a straight thru? I think it may need to be a xover cable from the card to the Eircom nt box.

Hi Bond-007,

Apoligies, I am not too sure what you mean by xover cable ?

The order of connection is a follows after I have installed the isdn card into my PC's PCI slot:

Ethernet Cable from card to one of the ISDN ports on the Eircom NT1 box. Would this be considered 'straight thru' ?

I am just after thinking that the driver could be the problem. WinXP recognised the card and installed its own driver. I suspect that possibly it installed a generic driver. I check eircon website and they provide a free updated driver for this card for Win200/XP. One of the guys in the IT departments reckons that I should de-install the driver that WinXP installled and try the actual Eicon driver from the web. I have downloaded it and might give it a go tonight.

What do you think ?

--laoisfan

laoisfan

Ok - figured out what you mean by xover (cross over), apoligies I am still asleep this morning!!

No I am using straight thru cable i.e. an ethernet cable which should be sufficient.

I will try the actual driver from the eicon website as opposed to the generic driver windows installed and see how I get on with that.

I will get back to ye if I am still hitting a brick wall.

Meanwhile, if ye have any other suggestions by all means send them on!!!

thanks -- laoisfan

fatherdougalmag

laoisfan, the Windows XP driver should be fine. The web downloaded driver from Eicon contains a lot of additional applications which you probably won't ever use (call logging, status/monitoring).

You need to determine where the problem is (ISDN level or PPP level). It sounds like the call is connecting OK otherwise you'd get something like 'no dialtone'.

If you want to get your hands dirty you can open a command prompt (Start/Run... and then type cmd). At the command prompt, give the command 'ditrace -p > log.txt'. Try to establish your DUN connection and when it fails, go back to the command prompt and hit CTRL-C. Post the file log.txt here (as an attachment - not the contents).

laoisfan

fatherdougalmag wrote:

laoisfan, the Windows XP driver should be fine. The web downloaded driver from Eicon contains a lot of additional applications which you probably won't ever use (call logging, status/monitoring).

You need to determine where the problem is (ISDN level or PPP level). It sounds like the call is connecting OK otherwise you'd get something like 'no dialtone'.

If you want to get your hands dirty you can open a command prompt (Start/Run... and then type cmd). At the command prompt, give the command 'ditrace -p > log.txt'. Try to establish your DUN connection and when it fails, go back to the command prompt and hit CTRL-C. Post the file log.txt here (as an attachment - not the contents).

will give that ago and get back to you!! thanks!!

laoisfan

btw i am assuming ditrace is Eicon's ditrace? i have not installed any Eicon software. i simply plugged the card into a spare pci slot, booted my PC, WinXP detected and recognised the card and installed the driver for it.

i have downloaded the driver etc from eicon, will that contain ditrace or should i have ditrace by virtue of the fact that WinXP has recognised the card and has installed the driver?


probably losing people now so i am......................................

fatherdougalmag

You're right. Ditrace is from Eicon but it comes with XP so you don't need to install the Eicon tools.

laoisfan

hi

ran ditrace -p > log.txt, it should be attached.

i then also configured some settings (i.e. put in the 2 isdn phone numbers, probably not required though), see log2.txt

--laoisfan

fatherdougalmag

Nearly there

I don't see any call activity there. Can you run ditrace -p > log.txt and then try to connect to your ISP. When the connect attempt fails go back to the command prompt and hit CTRL-C. Sorry about that.

laoisfan

hi

hmmm....that is what i tried to do....

1. Start -> Run -> cmd
2. At the prompt I typed 'ditrace -p > log.txt'
3. I then attempted to connect to my ISP (thru the ISDN card) using the 1893150150 (this is the number I currently use with my Cisco router) and my username/password.
4. When it failed I went back to the cmd prompt and control-C.

Is that not correct ??

thanks - laoisfan

ps. isdn line works as i can connect with cisco router, ethernet cable is fine (as it is the one i use with the cisco router and eircom nt1 box). so i guess 'tis the eicon isdn card

jbkenn

laoisfan wrote:

hi

3. I then attempted to connect to my ISP (thru the ISDN card) using the 1893150150 (this is the number I currently use with my Cisco router) and my username/password.

I trust thats a typo? should the number not be 1892150150?

jbkenn

laoisfan

Hi

No - not a typo. The number is correct, it was the number given to me when I signed up to eircom.NET 150 anytime option. I currently use that number when working from home with the Cisco Router provided by work. As I am returning the router (as I am leaving the job) I have decided to keep the isdn line/internet option for personal use. Hence this thread!! Am attempting to install the eicon diva pro 2.0 pci card.

--laoisfan

laoisfan

as an aside eircom also have 1892 150 150 as well as 1893 150 150.

now.......anyone else got any ideas on how i can get my isdn card working?

fatherdougalmag

The card is showing up fine and the ISDN line looks OK too. I think we're looking more at the PPP level here (i.e. Windows PPP) or maybe the ISDN call isn't connecting for some reason. Maybe the ISP service you're on has a database of caller ID's and will only accept calls from those numbers. The ISDN adapter is just a means of making the call. The real work is done by PPP which, in this case, is Windows PPP.

Anyway, here's another thing for you to do. Before doing the ditrace -p, give the command "ditrace -d 1 -m 0xffffffff". This will bump up the driver debug level so we can get a better idea of what's going on.

Do you have any other modems in your machine? Since there's no call activity in the ISDN trace it might be that the call is going out on another device.

laoisfan

fatherdougalmag wrote:

Do you have any other modems in your machine? Since there's no call activity in the ISDN trace it might be that the call is going out on another device.

Well it is my wife PC, fairly new one from Dell so yes it has the standard 56k modem (which works fine) installed in it. Now I have not disabled it or anything.


Question: If say it is the 56k modem can I just disable it without 1)physical removing the modem card and 2)uninstalling the driver ? I would prefer just to disable it and if in the future re-enable if and when it is required.

--laoisfan

fatherdougalmag

You just need to create a new Dial-up Networking connection. When prompted for the devices to use just select Eicon ISDN Channel (one or both) and proceed to configure the number, username and password.

laoisfan

fatherdougalmag wrote:

You just need to create a new Dial-up Networking connection. When prompted for the devices to use just select Eicon ISDN Channel (one or both) and proceed to configure the number, username and password.

that is exactly what i have done!!!
I will try your suggestion with ditrace tonight when i get home and check my dial-up connection for isdn.

will get back to you tomorrow probably.

thanks - laoisfan

laoisfan

SUCCESS!!! Got it working!!

I sat down and said this could not be that hard!!! I am an engineer this should be a piece of cake!!

I de-installed the card, re-installed using the drivers provided by Microsoft and then I re-booted the PC (even I was not prompted to)....ahhhhh the auld reboot trick!!!

And it is using channels when I dial my connection!! kewl, missus is happy now, she can surf whenever she wants now with eircom 150 anytime (really 75 as I am using both channels)

Thanks for all your help/suggestions!! Much appreciated.

--laoisfan

fatherdougalmag

Well the thing is that when you uninstalled and re-installed, it would have installed the Eicon drivers (because of how the Windows driver digital signatures work). In a nutshell, Windows will look for the 'best' available drivers. You will have had the native driver and the Eicon (Software Suite 3.1) drivers. Both are 'signed' but the Eicon ones are newer so they will have been installed.

Any road up, glad things have panned out nicely. Let us know if you run into any probs.

laoisfan

fatherdougalmag wrote:

Any road up, glad things have panned out nicely. Let us know if you run into any probs.

will do - thanks for all your help/suggestions, much appreciated.

--laoisfan

laoisfan

fatherdougalmag wrote:

Any road up, glad things have panned out nicely. Let us know if you run into any probs.

Hi fathdougalmag

The eicon card is working fine. I can bring up one or both channels whenever I want which is kewl.

New Problem: I have got my hands on some fax software (Fax4Outlook). When I attempt to send a fax it dials the number but does not get an answer.

1. I am assuming (hopefully correctly) that this is due to both channels being up. Am I correct in this assumption?

2. If yes to 1 above, I know I can bring up or bring down one of the channels manaully. However, I would like the eicon card to do this automatically if a fax is being sent and/or received. How can I do this?

I have looked at the settings for the eicon card and cannot figure it out.
Would prefer to use the fax software option instead of forking out for an actual fax machine.

Hope you can help.

--laoisfan

fatherdougalmag

Hi Laoisfan,
If you have both channels in use then it is not possible to make or receive a third call on the ISDN line as there are only 2 channels available.

In order to send the fax you will need to suspend one of the channels for the duration of the call. This can be done using the existing Dial-up Networking system tray icon.

It's not something I've done in a while so I'll try and get some screen grabs together for you.

laoisfan

cheers, much appreciated.

--laoisfan

fatherdougalmag

Here we are:

You can see how you are given a drop-down box listing the individual connections. You can select one and then suspend it manually. When your fax/phone call is finished, you can go back and resume the previously suspended connection.

Hope that helps!

laoisfan

thanks for that, much appreciated!!
will give that a try when i get home this evening.

final question: do you know if it is possible for the eicon pci card itself to automatically suspend/bring up 1 of the channels when sending/receiving a fax?

the method you suggested above seems fine for sending a fax but what about receiving? unless i suspend 1 of the channels and wait around!! you see what i am getting at?

thanks a lot for your help in this matter.

--laoisfan

fatherdougalmag

There is some kind of support of call bumping for receiving incoming calls but it will only work if you are subscribed to the Call Deflection service on your ISDN line. But for outgoing calls, no - there is no call bumping.

laoisfan

will give the manual method you suggested a go.

i might investigate and see if there is software available which allows one to send/receive faxes as ordinary email using an existing internet connection rather than a dedicated fax line.

thanks.

--laoisfan

fatherdougalmag

I would imagine that the fax software you have should queue the fax up until it is successfully sent (i.e. until you're finished your MLPPP connection). Might be another option.