ARCHIVED: Telix troubleshooting for the PC

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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 the Enter 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 entering ATE1 on the blank Communications 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, and Ctrl-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 comm port setup. Choose your COM port by pressing the appropriate letter. Then, when you press Enter, 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 pressed Ctrl-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:

    1. Press Alt-o to enter the Telix Configuration menu.
    2. Press t (for Terminal Options), then c (for Default terminal type).
    3. Use your arrow keys to select VT102 (or VT100, if available), and press Enter.
    4. Press Enter again to return to the Telix Configuration menu.
    5. Press w to save your setup, then press e to return to the communications screen.

  • "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:

    1. Press Alt-o to enter the Telix Configuration menu.
    2. Press i (for Backspace key sends).
    3. Select DEL and press Enter.
    4. Press h (for Received Backspace destructive) and select Off.
    5. Press Enter to return to Telix Configuration.
    6. Press w to save your setup, and e to return to the communications screen.

  • "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:

    1. Press Alt-o (for Telix Configuration).
    2. Press f (for Filenames and paths), followed by a (for Download directory).
    3. Type an appropriate directory, such as C:\TEMP , and press Enter to return to Telix Configuration.
    4. To save your setup, press w. Then press e to return to the communications screen.

  • "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 than C:, substitute the correct drive letter for c in the line shown above.

This is document achx in the Knowledge Base.
Last modified on 2018-01-18 09:26:51.