[Dixonary] Thunderstorm fried my modem

[Marijke van Gans (PG2002)]

British players will remember the fierce thunderstorms a couple days
after midsummer. It turns out they fried my modem. Tried every other
explanation (phone line, leads etc.) but it's definitely the modem.

This is built in to the chipset (it's a laptop), so it's not a matter of
plugging in a new modem card (internal modem). I do have a serial port
so i'll try and get hold of a prehistoric external modem. Do they still
sell those? Does anybody have one lying about they don't use?

Ironically i gave one of those away a few years ago to somebody else
whose modem was fried by lightning <g>. Right now i only have a couple
internal ones lying around.

Of course, if the @!#% machine only fed enough current to the USB port i
would've been able to use my broadband connexion that's sitting there
doing nothing... <grumble>.

Paul, and the other elves who keep this place running: no need to change
my settings. Mail will accumulate at gmail.com but i've got 2 gigabyte
of space left, so that's fine. I can read messages at my leisure from
time to time...

Right now i can only email from school. Unfortunately i'm not here every
day (and it's an hour by train or bus) so playing the game is out of the
question for the moment :(

--Regards, marijke

[Tony Abell]

On 2005-06-28 at 12:55 Marijke van Gans (PG2002) wrote:

MvGP> Of course, if the @!#% machine only fed enough current to the USB port i
MvGP> would've been able to use my broadband connexion that's sitting there
MvGP> doing nothing... <grumble>.

If the port doesn't provide enough current, have you tried using a
powered USB hub between the laptop and the broadband bridge? That
would be a far better solution than an old external modem.

[Hugo Kornelis]

Hi Marijke,

> I do have a serial port
> so i'll try and get hold of a prehistoric external modem. Do they still
> sell those? Does anybody have one lying about they don't use?

I don''t know if they're still sold, but I do know that I have two of them.
At least. Unused since I switched first to ISDN and then to ADSL, but still
lying around as spare - "just in case" - as if.

Best, Hugo

[Chris Carson]

Marijke,

I would agree with the powered USB hub suggestion. That way at least you
could have broadband. You didn't say much about the details of your setup
but if you don't like the powered USB hub solution, then do you have an open
PCMCIA slot? That would be a better solution than an external. Another
idea might be to slip in a Wifi card and get a wireless router for your
broadband modem. That's how I'm set up at home with my cable modem. For
that matter, in most cases you can plug the broadband modem into the LAN
port, assuming your laptop has one. After my experience with dialup this
past weekend, I'd do just about anything to avoid having to deal with that
again for any length of time.

Chris


----- Original Message -----
From: "Marijke van Gans (PG2002)" <vangansm (AT) for (DOT) mat.bham.ac.uk>
To: <coryphaeus (AT) yahoogroups (DOT) com>
Sent: Tuesday, June 28, 2005 12:55 PM
Subject: [Dixonary] Thunderstorm fried my modem


> British players will remember the fierce thunderstorms a couple days
> after midsummer. It turns out they fried my modem. Tried every other
> explanation (phone line, leads etc.) but it's definitely the modem.
>
> This is built in to the chipset (it's a laptop), so it's not a matter of
> plugging in a new modem card (internal modem). I do have a serial port
> so i'll try and get hold of a prehistoric external modem. Do they still
> sell those? Does anybody have one lying about they don't use?
>
> Ironically i gave one of those away a few years ago to somebody else
> whose modem was fried by lightning <g>. Right now i only have a couple
> internal ones lying around.
>
> Of course, if the @!#% machine only fed enough current to the USB port i
> would've been able to use my broadband connexion that's sitting there
> doing nothing... <grumble>.
>
> Paul, and the other elves who keep this place running: no need to change
> my settings. Mail will accumulate at gmail.com but i've got 2 gigabyte
> of space left, so that's fine. I can read messages at my leisure from
> time to time...
>
> Right now i can only email from school. Unfortunately i'm not here every
> day (and it's an hour by train or bus) so playing the game is out of the
> question for the moment :(
>
> --Regards, marijke
>
>
>
>
>
>
>

[Marijke van Gans]

On 6/29/05, Chris Carson <ccarson (AT) ix (DOT) netcom.com> wrote:
>
> I would agree with the powered USB hub suggestion. That way at least you
> could have broadband. You didn't say much about the details of your setup
> but if you don't like the powered USB hub solution, then do you have an open
> PCMCIA slot? That would be a better solution than an external. Another
> idea might be to slip in a Wifi card and get a wireless router for your
> broadband modem. That's how I'm set up at home with my cable modem. For
> that matter, in most cases you can plug the broadband modem into the LAN
> port, assuming your laptop has one.

Have PCMCIA slot, have ethernet port. Even have infrared so a kind of
wireless might be possible. And i've even got a router (Linksys).
Unfortunately the broadband "modem" doesn't fit the router because the
former is USB and the latter expects ethernet type connectors all
round. And the USB "modem" doesn't work with my laptop *presumably*
because it doesn't deliver enough current. I've just been stupid when
i bought the router (thinking i wouldn't need the "modem" then), and
then stupid when i bought the "modem" with the wrong plug. Or maybe
stupid when i bought the laptop <g>.

Yes i know i could try and buy new kit, a new broadband "modem" for
instance, or a powered USB hub, but it feels very much like a gamble.
What if that doesn't work either for yet another baffling reason?
These "modems" are GBP 80 a throw here (about USD 150) and i haven't
got the funds to try out all sorts of hardware on the off chance it
might work. There's also the small matter that i lost the bumph of my
ISP long ago, so if i ever get broadband to work i wouldn't know where
to start activating my account. I'd like to keep them (demon.co.uk),
they used to be my pre-broadband ISP and i still have a website there
i want to continue.

Basically i've been too busy the past couple years and let things
slip. Was glad i could get in by dialup and postponed worrying about
the broadband. Another contributing factor is that i *used* to be at
school most days, free internet here.

> After my experience with dialup this
> past weekend, I'd do just about anything to avoid having to deal with that
> again for any length of time.

Reason i thought of an external modem is that i understand what they
do and i might get it up and running, and it would tide me over to a
day in the mythical future where i'm filthy rich and can just go and
buy a new laptop with everything on it and it works right <g>.

--regards, marijke

[Marijke van Gans]

On 6/29/05, Hugo Kornelis <hugo (AT) perfact (DOT) info> wrote:

> I don''t know if they're still sold, but I do know that I have two of them.
> At least. Unused since I switched first to ISDN and then to ADSL, but still
> lying around as spare - "just in case" - as if.

Would you be willing to part with one? What are they, 14, 28, 56K? I
have a standard serial port. And an adapter between Dutch/Brit plugs
if it takes external power.

I don't know when i'm in across the water again, but a friend of mine
lives in The Hague and plans to come and visit me in a month or so.
Alternatively, do you think it would survive a journey in a jiffy bag
at the hands of PTT and Royal Mail?

Tell me what you want for it, or at the very least let me reimburse
you for the postage. Thanks!

Best place to send might be here at school. At home the postie has
been known to leave packets outside when i'm not in and they don't fit
through the letterbox. Sometimes they are still there in the evening
-- sometimes not.

Regards,

Marijke van Gans
School of Mathematics
University of Birmingham
Edgbaston B15 2TT
England