ARCHIVED: Telix troubleshooting for the PC
Note: The software discussed here is no longer in common use at IU, and UITS may no longer be able to verify this text's accuracy; additionally, the UITS Support Center may no longer have the materials needed to adequately support this software.
The following information may help you to troubleshoot problems with Telix for the PC:
- "I never get connected."
First, make sure that your modem's speaker is turned on so that you can hear the connection in progress. To turn on your modem's speaker, start Telix and, at the blank
Communications
screen, enter:ATM1 13 AT@W
You should hear a dial tone after entering:
ATD
If you do not, check to see that your phone line is plugged into the correct jack on the back of the modem, and again enter
ATD
. Once you hear the dial tone, press theEnter
key to hang up.Second, Telix may be set for the wrong COM port. Use
Alt-p
to select a different COM port. Then test your setting by enteringATE1
on the blankCommunications
screen. When the correct COM port is selected, your modem should respond with "OK". - "I've tried all four COM ports and Telix still doesn't
work" or "When using Telix, one of my peripherals
suddenly doesn't work."
You might have two devices sharing an IRQ, so one of them can't get the attention of the CPU. The first step is to find out what COM ports already exist.
One way to find out what's in your computer is to pay close attention to the computer screen as you start it up. Many computers display a hardware information screen soon after booting. You may be able to press
Ctrl-s
to freeze the screen while you read it, andCtrl-q
to resume. Otherwise, you can use Microsoft System Diagnostics, a program provided with DOS 6.0 and higher and Windows 3.1 through 3.11.Exit to the DOS prompt and enter:
MSD
Once the MSD menu comes up on the screen, press
c
for COM ports. You will see a list of currently used COM ports (also called serial ports). This is important, because a modem is a serial port, and must be configured not to be the same as any existing COM port.The screen will look something like this:
COM1: COM2: COM3: COM4: ----- ----- ----- ----- Port Address 03F8H 02F8H N/A N/A Baud Rate 1200 2400 Parity None None Data Bits 7 8 Stop Bits 1 1 Carrier Detect (CD) No No Ring Indicator (RI) No No Data Set Ready (DSR) No No Clear To Send (CTS) No No UART Chip Used 8250 8250
In this example, there are two COM ports, COM1 and COM2. Windows has a bug that makes skipping a COM port problematic, so it is best to use COM3 in this case.
Press the
Esc
key to get back to the main MSD screen.There is another choice you can make as well: what "interrupt" or "IRQ" the modem is set for. Computer cards such as modems need to get the CPU chip's attention from time to time, and they use what's called an "interrupt" line to do this. Different devices cannot share the same interrupt, so you have to find one that's not in use or that is not actually used by the device assigned to it.
In MSD, press
q
to list the IRQs. The screen looks something like this:IRQ Address Description Detected Handled By --- --------- ---------------- ------------------ ---------------- 0 2040:0000 Timer Click Yes ??? 1 CFCF:0028 Keyboard Yes Default Handlers 2 CFCF:003A Second 8259A Yes Default Handlers 3 CFCF:0052 COM2: COM4: COM2: Default Handlers 4 CFCF:006A COM1: COM3: COM1: Not Detected Default Handlers 5 CFCF:0082 LPT2: No Default Handlers 6 CFCF:009A Floppy Disk Yes Default Handlers 7 0070:0465 LPT1: Yes System Area 8 CFCF:0035 Real-Time Clock Yes Default Handlers 9 F000:EEB0 Redirected IRQ2 Yes BIOS 10 CFCF:00B2 (Reserved) Default Handlers 11 CFCF:00CA (Reserved) Default Handlers
By default, COM ports COM1 and COM3 are assumed to share IRQ 4, while COM ports COM2 and COM4 share IRQ 3. This will not work in a multitasking environment such as Windows.
Parallel ports LPT1 and LPT2 use interrupts 7 and 5 respectively, but this computer does not have a second parallel port. So in this case, it would be good to use IRQ5 for the new modem. In many cases, you can use LPT7 even when you do have a parallel port LPT1, because the parallel port doesn't actually use the IRQ.
If you discover that the IRQ for the COM port on which your modem is installed is incorrect, you can reconfigure it through Telix. Press
Alt-o
, then select . Choose your COM port by pressing the appropriate letter. Then, when you pressEnter
, the cursor should move from the "Start Address" column to the "IRQ" column. Enter the number for the IRQ.A configuration that works well in conjunction with a serial mouse is:
- Mouse connected to COM1 on the back of the computer
- Internal modem set for COM4
- "My connection seems frozen."
Try pressing
Ctrl-q
to restart transmission. You may have inadvertently pressedCtrl-s
(this sequence tells the host to stop sending you data). - "I see lots of garbage on screen, especially when I try to
use a full-screen application like Notes or an editor like
EVE/EDT."
Check your status bar. The second box should say "VT102" or "VT100" (either terminal setting should be compatible). If this is not the case, you can change your terminal setting by following the steps below:
- Press
Alt-o
to enter the Telix Configuration menu. - Press
t
(for Terminal Options), thenc
(for Default terminal type). - Use your arrow keys to select
Enter
. (or ,
if available), and press - Press
Enter
again to return to the Telix Configuration menu. - Press
w
to save your setup, then presse
to return to the communications screen.
- Press
- "If I press the
Backspace
key, my cursor jumps all the way to the left of the screen."To fix this problem, follow the steps below:
- Press
Alt-o
to enter the Telix Configuration menu. - Press
i
(for Backspace key sends). - Select
Enter
. and press - Press
h
(for Received Backspace destructive) and select . - Press
Enter
to return to Telix Configuration. - Press
w
to save your setup, ande
to return to the communications screen.
- Press
- "I can't remember what keys to press for particular Telix
commands."
Press
Alt-z
for a list of Telix command keystrokes. - "When I download a file, the transfer aborts quickly and I don't
get the file."
There are many possible causes for this problem; it may be that the download directory is set incorrectly. You can fix this by following the steps below:
- Press
Alt-o
(for Telix Configuration). - Press
f
(for Filenames and paths), followed bya
(for Download directory). - Type an appropriate directory, such as
C:\TEMP
, and pressEnter
to return to Telix Configuration. - To save your setup, press
w
. Then presse
to return to the communications screen.
- Press
- "I would like to restore Telix's default settings. How can
I do this?"
Warning: The following command will erase the configuration file, and you should not do this unless you are prepared to restore all the settings you have previously changed (such as COM ports and directories). Make notes of any settings you need to remember to reconfigure Telix.
From the
Telix
directory on your hard drive, at the DOS prompt, enter:del c:\telix\telix.cnf
Note: If your
Telix
directory is located on a drive other thanC:
, substitute the correct drive letter forc
in the line shown above.
This is document achx in the Knowledge Base.
Last modified on 2018-01-18 09:26:51.