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    W2C / Hi-phone failures

    Hi guys,

    I'm still having problems with my Hi-phone USB as described here:
    http://board.homeseer.com/showthread.php?t=105794

    Since these problems appear to have nothing to do with HS2 (yet), I'm starting a new thread in this forum. I have been working with W2C tech support to try to identify and resolve the issue. We have tried new drivers and I updated the firmware in the device, but neither has made a difference. The watchdog errors contained in the logs in the post above seem to occur less often (though not eliminated entirely) when I unplug the PSTN line and phone connections to the modem. Of course, the Hi-phone isn't much good with these disconnected.

    Next I'm going to buy a PCI USB card to try in lieu of the motherboard's USB, and in particular I will look for one that uses a NEC chipset, which I understand to have "generally" better compatibility than some others. I'll probably try this Belkin: http://catalog.belkin.com/IWCatProdu...duct_Id=107412


    I have also asked W2C if they would send a replacment Hi-Phone to compare with my current one. I will post an update as soon as I know more.

    If anyone has a chance to try W2C's shellbug utility (referenced in above post) I would really appreciate knowing if you ever see "watchdog failures" in the captured log either when using HS, or just by starting shellbug and then the Hi-Phone "test wizard," leaving the wizard open at the first screen and capturing periodic "watchdog active" messages to the shellbug log.

    Thanks,
    Don
    Last edited by dschoppe; August 19, 2005, 10:11 AM.

    #2
    Whoo Hooo, progress!!!

    Well, after getting absolutely nowhere with this Hi-phone USB for two weeks now, I think I may FINALLY have made some progress. Apparently this Hi-Phone is very sensitive to USB timing. Though it seemed to work just fine when connected to two different laptops here (Intel USB chipsets) using W2C's provided 6' USB cable, it refused to communicate for very long (sans watchdog failures) with my new, faster desktop (AMD 3500+, MSI KN8 Neo2 Platinum MB). Well, today I started to wonder if perhaps RFI/EMI was coupling into the USB cable. So, while at Office Max, I picked up the shortest USB cable I could find, a 3' Belkin. Well, when I tried this cable, my PC and Hi-Phone would barely communicate -- lots of failures!

    Hmmm, I thought. If a very short cable performs worse, then what about a longer cable? So I ran to my computer junk drawer, rooted around and pulled out a 3' USB extension. I attached this to the original 6' USB cable, and wouldn't you know it, that darn Hi-Phone has been running for the past few hours now without any communication / watchdog failures! Go figure.

    Since I already have a Belkin PCI USB card on the way, and since W2C is sending me a new Hi-Phone unit for comparison, I will test further to see if this USB timing sensitivity is specific to my current Hi-phone, my MB's USB, or both. In any case, I'm just relieved at this point to see something work!!!!

    Don

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      #3
      Interesting

      Very interesting. When I plug the USB phone into one of my PC's, it reboots the PC and keeps rebooting (just after login) until I remove the USB cable. I can get it to stay up some times when I plug it in at just the right moment. But the modem's use is limited and unreliable. Things like; I hear no voice commands or instructions over the phone or it want let me leave a message. I plugged it into a different PC and all works well. I tried the first PC with both HS 1.7 and 2.0. I'm back to 1.7 on the 2nd PC.

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