Speedtouch Modem disconnection in Vista and uncompatible software replacements

[Marcus]

Spent the last 2 weeks up until the early hours installing Vista and getting
everything to work OK. Starting to really like this operating system apart
from having to wait 5 minutes for the PC to fully boot up and load the
prefetch in to memory.

Got one small problem with my Speedtouch 330 broadband modem (this modem is
quite popular in the UK so hopefully there's a few of you out there), every
now and then the modem will disconnect from the net and the USB light on the
front of the modem will flash red to indicate a problem with USB, if I
unplug the modem and reconnect it the modem will then sync's OK and will be
fine for up to a day sometimes.

The modem was fine in XP, I have all the power saving/suspend options off,
there is not a Vista driver for it yet but on the Speedtouch web site it
says that the XP one will work fine and there will be proper Vista drivers
released soon. Is anyone out there running Vista Premium Home with my modem,
could you please let me know if you are getting the same or not.

While I'm here I've been using a program called Compupic Pro for years to
view and edit my photo's as it's so quick, everything can be adjusted via
function keys with loads of other features, unfortunately it's not
compatible with Vista and Photodex are not going to make it compatible or
release a similar product, can anyone suggest a replacement.

Compupic would thumb nail each pic like Vista does now, when you double
click on the pic it would go full screen and by scrolling the mouse wheel
the pictures would change one by one in the folder at a very fast speed.
Also I could change brightness, colour, sharpness etc by pressing the
function keys and the changes would appear on the full screen picture, when
I was happy with it I could just save it, there were loads of other features
as well, hopefully someone out there can give me the name of a program to
replace it.

One last question about software compatibility, in XP you could run an older
version of Windows media player ( I think it was version 6), this was handy
if you just wanted a very basic player to play a short movie clip, you could
open as many of these as you want, I'm in to racing and I like to have
several video's open at the same time on the same screen, anyone suggest a
replacement for this to.

Thanks

Marcus

 

[John Barnett MVP]

Hi Marcus,

I too use the speedtouch 330 modem. In actual fact i still use the same
original driver that came with my ISP (Virgin) CD and it works fine. I
certainly haven't had to update the driver.

Your problem with disconnection is similar to mine but, strangely, i haven't
put the incident down to Vista. Check your telephone connection socket as
this may be causing the problem, particularly the broadband filter. Let me
explain: My main BT connector is screwed to the wall near the floor and the
broadband filter is plugged into that. Also, on the floor i usually dump my
headphones (after rolling up the headphone lead, of course). I noticed that
occasionally when i picked up the headphones i would loose the internet
connection. This went on for a few weeks, then i started to watch what was
happening when i picked up the headphone. It appeared that the headphone
cable caught the broadband filter and moved it slightly. At this point 'off'
went the connection. I've checked the BT socket and everything is connected
as it should be, my guess now, in my case, is that there may be a minor
break in the wire of the broadband filter which, when moved disconnects the
internet connection. It's a slight inconvenience, but i haven't has chance
to change the filter to see if there has been any improvement.

Of course the problems i have outlined may not even remotely match yours,
but it may not be Vista that is the cause of the problem, it may simply be a
wiring problem.

--
John Barnett MVP
Associate Expert
Windows - Shell/User

Web: http://xphelpandsupport.mvps.org
Web: http://vistasupport.mvps.org

The information in this mail/post is supplied "as is". No warranty of any
kind, either expressed or implied, is made in relation to the accuracy,
reliability or content of this mail/post. The Author shall not be liable for
any direct, indirect, incidental or consequential damages arising out of the
use of, or inability to use, information or opinions expressed in this
mail/post..

 

[MattersNot]

Spent the last 2 weeks up until the early hours installing Vista and
getting everything to work OK. Starting to really like this operating
system apart from having to wait 5 minutes for the PC to fully boot up
and load the prefetch in to memory.

Got one small problem with my Speedtouch 330 broadband modem (this modem
is quite popular in the UK so hopefully there's a few of you out there),
every now and then the modem will disconnect from the net and the USB
light on the front of the modem will flash red to indicate a problem
with USB, if I unplug the modem and reconnect it the modem will then
sync's OK and will be fine for up to a day sometimes.

The modem was fine in XP, I have all the power saving/suspend options
off, there is not a Vista driver for it yet but on the Speedtouch web
site it says that the XP one will work fine and there will be proper
Vista drivers released soon. Is anyone out there running Vista Premium
Home with my modem, could you please let me know if you are getting the
same or not.

While I'm here I've been using a program called Compupic Pro for years
to view and edit my photo's as it's so quick, everything can be adjusted
via function keys with loads of other features, unfortunately it's not
compatible with Vista and Photodex are not going to make it compatible
or release a similar product, can anyone suggest a replacement.

Compupic would thumb nail each pic like Vista does now, when you double
click on the pic it would go full screen and by scrolling the mouse
wheel the pictures would change one by one in the folder at a very fast
speed. Also I could change brightness, colour, sharpness etc by pressing
the function keys and the changes would appear on the full screen
picture, when I was happy with it I could just save it, there were loads
of other features as well, hopefully someone out there can give me the
name of a program to replace it.

One last question about software compatibility, in XP you could run an
older version of Windows media player ( I think it was version 6), this
was handy if you just wanted a very basic player to play a short movie
clip, you could open as many of these as you want, I'm in to racing and
I like to have several video's open at the same time on the same screen,
anyone suggest a replacement for this to.

Thanks

Marcus

In regards to Compupic, I presently run the old Compupic32
version on Vista with no problem. I have been using it since
Win 95 and never saw any advantage in upgrading to the Pro
version since I do my serious photo work with other
programs. If you can't find the '32' version anywhere, I can
email the program file to you since it's not all that large.
If you want to do this, please confirm that your email
address is real, or provide the real one, and I'll send it
as an attachment.

 

[Marcus]

It seems strange that it's only started to happen since installing Vista,
it's happened once today, but has been fine for the last 7 hours. I've moved
the modem to the back of the PC from the powered hub so I'll let you know if
this helps.

Thanks

 

[Marcus]

ah that's interesting, on mine the Aero interface switches off (does yours?)
and when I enlarge a picture the picture won't move around using the arrow
keys, the picture starts to redraw but gets stuck.

I would be grateful if you would mail it to me, my address is correct.

Thanks

 

[MattersNot]

ah that's interesting, on mine the Aero interface switches off (does
yours?)

Nope. Aero stays running.

and when I enlarge a picture the picture won't move around
using

the arrow keys, the picture starts to redraw but gets stuck.

I would be grateful if you would mail it to me, my address is correct.

It'll be in the mail shortly.