I have the strangest pieces of hardware in my system

  • Thread starter Thread starter George Hester
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George Hester

In Windows XP in device manager it is called Modem BCM V.90 56K Modem and
then a Broadcom 4211 iLine10(tm) Network Adapter. But in the back of the
machine there are only two boards in the PCI slot and nothing in the LSA
slots. One of the cards is my Network Card it takes the normal cable for
Internet connection. But this other card takes something I have not been
able figure out what it is. Its not the normal Internet Connection cables
and its not a modem either it only has one female socket. And next to it
what looks like a green piece of tape in the shape of a Female normal
Internet Connection Network adapter And there is nothing on the back
signifying an onboard device that may either be modem or Network Adapter.
Anyone know what I got living in here?
 
George said:
In Windows XP in device manager it is called Modem BCM V.90 56K Modem and
then a Broadcom 4211 iLine10(tm) Network Adapter. But in the back of the
machine there are only two boards in the PCI slot and nothing in the LSA
slots. One of the cards is my Network Card it takes the normal cable for
Internet connection. But this other card takes something I have not been
able figure out what it is. Its not the normal Internet Connection cables
and its not a modem either it only has one female socket. And next to it
what looks like a green piece of tape in the shape of a Female normal
Internet Connection Network adapter And there is nothing on the back
signifying an onboard device that may either be modem or Network Adapter.
Anyone know what I got living in here?
Click to expand...
The Broadcom 4211 chipset supports both dialup modem AND some sort of
half-assed (IMHO) networking standard which communicates over a home's
standard phone wiring. I have no idea what sort of drivers, etc that
might be needed to make it work or what sort of software it would work
with. It appears to have been popular with cost-driven manufacturers
like Dell and Gateway and, based on the number of complaints and
questions posted about it, many people seem to have been unhappy with
that decision.
 
OK how can it be for a phone? There is only one female connector there. If
you don't know that's fine. All the drivers have been installed. It wants
me to do something but what that is I haven't been able to figure out yet.
Thanks though.
 
Some modems only have a female connector for the line & no "pass through"
for a phone.
Plug your line in there & try it? But then again if the network card accepts
you Internet connection then I assume you have ADSL so just take the modem
out & throw it at the rubbish bin.

George Hester said:
OK how can it be for a phone? There is only one female connector there.
If
you don't know that's fine. All the drivers have been installed. It
wants
me to do something but what that is I haven't been able to figure out yet.
Thanks though.
Click to expand...
 
OK how can it be for a phone? There is only one female connector there.
If
you don't know that's fine. All the drivers have been installed. It
wants
me to do something but what that is I haven't been able to figure out yet.
Thanks though.
Click to expand...

You can either run it as a modem OR as an HPNA (home phone network adapter),
not both.
An HPNA network uses your standard telephone RJ11 (4 wire) connector as
opposed to an RJ45 (8 wire). They actually work like any other network
adapter but with a max speed of 10Mbit (which won't be a problem for almost
any high speed connection since they're usually in the 1.5 to 5Mbit range).
The only problem you will run into is that 98 out of 100 routers out there
DON'T have an HPNA jack in them so you will have to purchase an HPNA to RJ45
adapter -OR- take out the cable strippers/crimpers and make an RJ11 to RJ45
cable (make sure it's a good insulated phone cable and keep the length
around 6 feet or less) -OR- buy something like the Motorola SBG 1000 (I had
one, nice piece of equipment).
Or, (my personal favorite) give up on the HPNA network get yourself a $15
Cat5e NIC and have a nice day.
FWIW, that modem/nic is a very good piece of hardware. It was standard issue
in most Gateway machines when I worked for them. The modem is fast, the HPNA
works fine (with the right equipment), and the card did a good job of
protecting the motherboard from surges, though usually offering itself up to
the lighrning gods in the process.
--


"I don't cheat to survive. I cheat to LIVE!!"
- Alceryes





George Hester said:
OK how can it be for a phone? There is only one female connector there.
If
you don't know that's fine. All the drivers have been installed. It
wants
me to do something but what that is I haven't been able to figure out yet.
Thanks though.
Click to expand...
 
BruceM said:
Some modems only have a female connector for the line & no "pass through"
for a phone.
Plug your line in there & try it? But then again if the network card accepts
you Internet connection then I assume you have ADSL so just take the modem
out & throw it at the rubbish bin.

George Hester said:
OK how can it be for a phone? There is only one female connector there.
If
you don't know that's fine. All the drivers have been installed. It
wants
me to do something but what that is I haven't been able to figure out yet.
Thanks though.

--
George Hester
_________________________________
to
it
Click to expand...

Maybe that's what it is waiting for me to do eh? Seems kind of weird to
have a phone in and no phone out . I don't think I have any use for it at
all. Thanks
Click to expand...
 
George Hester said:
Maybe that's what it is waiting for me to do eh? Seems kind of weird to
have a phone in and no phone out . I don't think I have any use for it at
all. Thanks
Click to expand...
Why not leave it in for faxing purposes? Although you can fax over the
internet using ADSL, that's dependant on the ISP and faxing company services
(and any associated costs).

Paul
 
In message <[email protected]> "Paul
Murphy said:
Why not leave it in for faxing purposes? Although you can fax over the
internet using ADSL, that's dependant on the ISP and faxing company services
(and any associated costs).
Click to expand...

There is a potential risk involved, if you get a trojan/porn dialer
installed you'll end up with a large phone bill.

While many of us know how to properly configure a computer, why take the
risk if there is no benefit to leaving the modem connected?
 
In message <[email protected]> "Paul


There is a potential risk involved, if you get a trojan/porn dialer
installed you'll end up with a large phone bill.

While many of us know how to properly configure a computer, why take the
risk if there is no benefit to leaving the modem connected?
Click to expand...
Leave it in but not plugged into them phone system. Best of both worlds
then.
 
It is for LINE in. (Line from your Telco & more than likely a socket on the
wall somewhere depending on what country you're in.)
NOT phone in. (thing with handpiece)
In other words it is for connecting your computer to the internet via
dialup. Remember dialup?
 
Livewire said:
Leave it in but not plugged into them phone system. Best of both worlds
then.
Click to expand...
You took the words right out of my mouth. Additionally its also possible to
install antivirus software on a computer and be carefull about which other
software is installed and run. These are good practices anyway to keep bad
things from happening to the PC.

Paul
 
OK I have Cable. It doesn't matter about the Faxing that just uses the
phone line. Trouble is I have no more phone jacks out. I have a line that
goes into this machine and then goes from there to a phone. I can use the
modem in this machine for faxing if I chose. The other machine where this
card is has no phone out which makes it sort of worthless to me in that
regard. Phone in no phone out. Dumb. Unless that sticker next to it (the
one connection hole I can see) is more than decoration. Maybe it is hiding
the phone out.
 
BruceM said:
It is for LINE in. (Line from your Telco & more than likely a socket on the
wall somewhere depending on what country you're in.)
NOT phone in. (thing with handpiece)
In other words it is for connecting your computer to the internet via
dialup. Remember dialup?



George Hester said:
next
to

Maybe that's what it is waiting for me to do eh? Seems kind of weird to
have a phone in and no phone out . I don't think I have any use for it at
all. Thanks
Click to expand...

Well yes I rember it. Had it once. The phone line went to the modem. From
there another line went to the phone. But this phunky card has just in. No
out.
Click to expand...
 
George Hester said:
OK I have Cable. It doesn't matter about the Faxing that just uses the
phone line. Trouble is I have no more phone jacks out. I have a line
that
goes into this machine and then goes from there to a phone. I can use the
modem in this machine for faxing if I chose. The other machine where this
card is has no phone out which makes it sort of worthless to me in that
regard. Phone in no phone out. Dumb. Unless that sticker next to it
(the
one connection hole I can see) is more than decoration. Maybe it is
hiding
the phone out.
Click to expand...

What's wrong with using a splitter to connect both the phone and modem to
the same line? Many cheaper modems only come with the one jack but you can
still have a phone on the line with a two into one splitter.

Paul
 
Paul Murphy said:
What's wrong with using a splitter to connect both the phone and modem to
the same line? Many cheaper modems only come with the one jack but you can
still have a phone on the line with a two into one splitter.

Paul
Click to expand...

It seems like I am splitting all over the place. Yes I'll look into that.
 
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