3.51a keeps dying; even HDB is a mess; any ideas out there?

[Robert J. Granvin]

>>By the way, the OBM dialing _out_ will _not_ handshake MNP, so
>>it looks like someone originally designed it to be an MNP modem, then
>>that capability was removed.  Unfortunately, it wasn't removed enough.
>>ATT was surprised.
>
>no, I don't buy that story.  The Unix PC was on the market before
>MNP ever was.  MNP is *not* very old!

The actual story isn't the issue, but the observable facts are.

By the way:  MNP modems have been on the market for several years
(probably longer than many realize), and the 3b1/7300 hasn't
necessarily been on the market as long as some would think (for a
discontinued machine).  There is no reason to believe that the 3b1/7300
could NOT have MNP if they wanted it, unless the timing was just too
close between the two.

I have tested dialing inbound to a number of different aged and
configuration 3b1's and 7300s with several modems.  Most were capable
of MNP class 3, others capable of MNP class 5.

They all reported MNP handshake upon connection, whether you were in
reliable or autoreliable mode.  MNP modems have been on the market for
several years, and the design existed long before they were made
available (of course). 

Comparably, when these modems were set in autoreliable mode, a 3b1
OBM dialing _into_ them would not handshake MNP.  If those modems
were set to reliable mode, no connection could be made, of course.

Checking status registers during a "live" connection verifies that
the modem has indeed successfully and correctly handshaked an MNP
connection.  The only thing I haven't attempted to discover yet is
what level of MNP it will actually handshake at.

The condition was reported to ATT, which they found surprising.  They
tried it out, and like magic, an MNP modem handshook just like that.
Don't ever expect to see a fix, though, it's firmware (unless they for
some reason decide to fix something else in the OBM firmware (highly
unlikely) in which case they'll probably forget to address this as
well... :-)

Now, there is one suggestion for the skeptics:  Try it yourself.  I'm
relatively sure it's not a condition limited only to Minnesota and New
York.  :-)  Your Trailblazer is capable of MNP, so there's a
diagnostic tool.

And for those, there are probably two possibilities of why it'll
handshake: 

1) ATT (and/or Convergent) were possibly working on the protocol
   together, or they had some sort of agreement with MicroCom for
   it's use.  There is a long list of possibilities of why the modem
   might handshake MNP and yet never utilize it.  The only people who
   would know for sure would most likely be anyone directly associated
   with the original "Safari 4" design team.
2) Pure dumb luck that this chip just happens to understand an MNP
   handshake request and respond to it accordingly.  Not entirely 
   likely.  Heck of a coincidence, though!  :-)

By the way:  I do like to verify my facts before I post them.  It
makes me feel confident that what I post is as close to fact as
possible.  When it comes to possibilities, it's nice to use phrases
like "could be" or "possibly" or "a possible scenario", etc.  When the
true story and reasons are important, then someone will do their best
to find that out.  In this case, _why_ it does it is not important,
but the fact that it does, is.  

This whole thing comes back to the very same suggestion as was in the
previous note:  If you are running as an autoreliable dialout MNP
modem, make sure you turn _off_ all MNP before you try to connect to a
3b1/7300, or you'll get a connect, but that's it.  

'Nuf said (more than :-), I hope.
 
-- 
"I've been trying for some time to                           Robert J. Granvin
 develop a life-style that doesn't          National Information Systems, Inc.
 require my presence."                                       rjg at sialis.mn.org
    -Garry Trudeau                ...{{amdahl,hpda}!bungia,rosevax}!sialis!rjg