Clayga... I obviously agree with you. But per Rick it's buyer beware. If you
don't like Vista the way it is either get used to it or abandon it because
MS is "not going to change".

"clayga" wrote in message
...
Since I started this thread, I'll add my two cents about the points Danr
and
Rick Rogers have raised.

1. Voice/Data/Fax modems are multi function devices like all-in-one
printer-scanner devices. Would it make sense for anybody to argue that
all-in-one devices have only one core capability - printing for example,
and
then write drivers that ignored scanning because it's not a core
capability?
I just don't buy the argument that Voice is an "added" feature, and hence
doesn't merit Microsoft's attention.

2. Voice capabilities in Voice/Data/Fax modems support a variety of
telephony applications that are not supported by any other type of
hardware
to my knowledge. As Danr pointed out, it's been a year since Vista
shipped
and it's still hard (impossible?) to find a Voice/Data/Fax modem that
fully
supports voice features on Vista. I've certainly have had no luck. The
information one needs to make an informed decision about whether voice
features of Voice/Data/Fax modems will work with Vista is either
unavailable
or buried so deep that most people will never find it. I've searched
manufacture web sites, forums, and Microsoft's own Vista hardware
compatibility web pages and none tell users what they need to know to make
informed purchasing decisions. The appearance of all this is that Vista
is
abandoning voice modems and the telephony applications they support. How
can
Microsoft be comfortable with this state of affairs? Thousands of
customers
(tens of thousands?) must be confused, annoyed, possibly even angry.

3. I hope one or more Windows Program Managers at Microsoft is or becomes
aware of this situation and takes action. Reasonable alternatives I think
would include 1) getting a developer at Microsoft to fix the "generic"
voice
drivers that will get voice features working for most of the
Voice/Fax/Data
modems out there - e.g. fixing the Unimodem Transform Module that
apparently
is the problem for Conexant based modems might be a good place to start,
2)
provide an incentive to get modem manufactures to update their drivers, or
3)
provide an incentive to get at least one modem manufacturer to develop and
market a new Voice/Data/Fax modem (including drivers) that will work with
Vista.


"Rick Rogers" wrote:

No offense taken. I am only trying to explain why you are running into
the
issue, not taking a position or defending anyone.

Microsoft writes the operating system, mainly to take advantage of the
capabilities of the current hardware standards. It's up to the device
manufacturers to write software, including drivers, that adhere to the
standards of the operating system. Microsoft, where possible, includes
drivers in the operating system that will at least provide basic
functionality like a standard VGA driver for video, but it ends there for
them.

Device manufacturers, on the other hand, tend to lag behind in providing
updated software for their devices and a new operating system. Why is
this?
Well, for starters, there is no profit in spending time rewriting
software
for older devices. They've already made money on them, there is nothing
more
to be gained. For them, there's more incentive to concentrating resources
developing new hardware with new supporting software for the consumer to
upgrade to if they want full functionality. Secondly, the firmware on a
device may not conform to the standards for a new OS. When this happens,
either the firmware instructions need to be rewritten or a workaround
must
be developed. On the latter, they are getting more difficult as shortcuts
and backdoors are being rapidly closed for security reasons.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/
Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
My thoughts http://rick-mvp.blogspot.com

"DanR" wrote in message
...
Well, no offence, but I've been observing this attitude at this NG
since
around February. That MS is not responsible for 3rd party hardware
working
with Vista. Of course MS can do what it likes and indeed does. But you
can't deny that there are many unhappy people out there with broken
hardware. And now that non-geek, normal folks have purchased new
computers
like they might buy a new washing machine... because their old one wore
out... they are having problems. A small percentage of them show up
here
for help. I'm reading that enterprise might skip Vista completely. If
that
turns out to be true it's because of bad word of mouth. And if my new
MS
washing machine started chewing up my clothes I'd have a problem with
MS
not Levi Strauss.



"Rick Rogers" wrote in message
...
Hi DanR,

The basic function of a modem is to perform the analog/digital
(modulation/demodulation) exchange of data, not to support voice
modulation. That is an added feature of some categories of modems. The
drivers supplied by Vista or any other version of Windows simply
allows
for this, not for the added capability. The only way it's going to
work
is when the modem manufacturers write and release the necessary
supporting drivers and software.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/
Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
My thoughts http://rick-mvp.blogspot.com

"DanR" wrote in message
...
Rick... two items in your post.
"for the most part they do not write any of their own other than for
their own hardware, or to provide basic functionality for an industry
standard device"
and...
"and the consumer is left with the option of going without a
particular
function, or with purchasing new hardware"
Seems to me an industry standard device is now broken and new
hardware
that works with this class of software can not be found. I've been
looking for nearly a year for a voice modem that will work with
Vista.


"Rick Rogers" wrote in message
...
Hi,

You're looking in the wrong place for a driver fix. Microsoft
provides
drivers that are supplied to them by the device manufacturers, for
the
most part they do not write any of their own other than for their
own
hardware, or to provide basic functionality for an industry standard
device. They do not and have not written full driver and software
sets
to support added device functionality. It's up to the device
manufacturer to fix, add to, or rewrite drivers, then supply it to
Microsoft for distribution on Windows Update. Many do not do this,
some
do and just distribute them on their own. Others do not update
drivers
for older devices at all, and the consumer is left with the option
of
going without a particular function, or with purchasing new
hardware.

--
Best of Luck,

Rick Rogers, aka "Nutcase" - Microsoft MVP
http://mvp.support.microsoft.com/
Windows help - www.rickrogers.org
My thoughts http://rick-mvp.blogspot.com

"clayga" wrote in message
...
Problem: My Rosewill RC-403 PCI Voice/Data/Fax modem isn't working
fully with
a number of TAPI based answering machine programs (e.g. IVM
Answering
Attendant, Impulse Technology's CallStation). These programs can
pick
up and
record calls but they cannot play a greeting message over the phone
line.
All a caller hears is silence while the greeting is playing. Craig
Duncan at
Impulse Technology has indicated to me in a personal communication
(as
well
as on his web site http://www.imptec.com/modems.htm - see Windows
Vista
section) that the problem is caused by a "bug" in Vista's Unimodem
Transform
Module that affects all Conexant based voice modems. Since most
modems on
the market today are based on the Conexant chip set, and since most
answering
machine software on the market is TAPI based, the implication is
that
many
people are affected by this. In other words, it's very likely that
if
someone wants to use their Vista machine to work as an answering
machine,
they'll run into this.

Questions: Is Craig Duncan right about the Unimodem driver and if
so,
does
Microsoft intend to fix this soon? If not, can someone recommend a
Voice/Data/Fax modem that will support full TAPI answering machine
functionality running on Vista?

Note: Here's a link to another reference to this problem in the
Windows
Community Forums:
http://windowshelp.microsoft.com/com...7-5f02dd66a0fd

For about 18 months now - ever sence the 1st public beta release of
Vista, I too have been trying to find a modem that supports voice (more
speficially playing and recording .wav files) on Vista (64 bit). I now
have a collection of modems that various manufactures have said would
work but did not.

What would be helpful is if we knew exactly what has changed in Vista
from XP to prevent this from working. I'm sure I've spent countless
hours barking up on the wrong tree on this. Any and all insights would
be very much appreciated.

Rob


--
RobL
------------------------------------------------------------------------
RobL's Profile: http://forums.techarena.in/member.php?userid=37308
View this thread: http://forums.techarena.in/showthread.php?t=853218

http://forums.techarena.in

Hello, is somebody find a solution for this issue ? I got the same
problem with connexant chipset / Vista32 and Tapiex dll...

Thanks in advance for your help...
JP


--
Aligator
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Aligator's Profile: http://forums.techarena.in/members/aligator.htm
View this thread: http://forums.techarena.in/vista-har...ces/853218.htm

http://forums.techarena.in

"Aligator" wrote in message
...

Hello, is somebody find a solution for this issue ? I got the same
problem with connexant chipset / Vista32 and Tapiex dll...

Thanks in advance for your help...
JP


--
Aligator
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Aligator's Profile: http://forums.techarena.in/members/aligator.htm
View this thread:
http://forums.techarena.in/vista-har...ces/853218.htm

http://forums.techarena.in



Buy an Intel 536. They work ok..


--
Mike Hall - MVP
How to construct a good post..
http://dts-l.com/goodpost.htm
How to use the Microsoft Product Support Newsgroups..
http://support.microsoft.com/default...help&style=toc
Mike's Window - My Blog..
http://msmvps.com/blogs/mikehall/default.aspx

This is not a Microsoft problem, the problem is that your modem manufacturer
has not updated their drivers or updated them properly. The modem
manufacturer will need to provide updated Vista drivers or your modem will
never work properly.

--
Richard G. Harper [MVP Shell/User]
* NEW! Catch my blog ... http://msmvps.com/blogs/rgharper/
* PLEASE post all messages and replies in the newsgroups
* The Website - http://rgharper.mvps.org/


"Aligator" wrote in message
...

Hello, is somebody find a solution for this issue ? I got the same
problem with connexant chipset / Vista32 and Tapiex dll...

Thanks in advance for your help...
JP

Hi,
Ok, do you know a manufacturer who use the Intel 536 chipset with PCI
board?
regards
JP


--
Aligator
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Aligator's Profile: http://forums.techarena.in/members/aligator.htm
View this thread: http://forums.techarena.in/vista-har...ces/853218.htm

http://forums.techarena.in

See
http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Prod...D=977&lang=eng

Intel provide no Vista reference drivers for the 536 chipset. If Vista does
not include any drivers there will be none from any modem manufacturer.



"Aligator" wrote in message
...

Hi,
Ok, do you know a manufacturer who use the Intel 536 chipset with PCI
board?
regards
JP


--
Aligator
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Aligator's Profile: http://forums.techarena.in/members/aligator.htm
View this thread:
http://forums.techarena.in/vista-har...ces/853218.htm

http://forums.techarena.in

"Dominic Payer" wrote in message
...
See
http://downloadcenter.intel.com/Prod...D=977&lang=eng

Intel provide no Vista reference drivers for the 536 chipset. If Vista
does not include any drivers there will be none from any modem
manufacturer.



"Aligator" wrote in message
...

Hi,
Ok, do you know a manufacturer who use the Intel 536 chipset with PCI
board?
regards
JP


--
Aligator
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Aligator's Profile: http://forums.techarena.in/members/aligator.htm
View this thread:
http://forums.techarena.in/vista-har...ces/853218.htm

http://forums.techarena.in




The Intel 536EP is picked up by Vista and has caused me no problems at all.

Intel do not manufacture modems, only the chipsets. The OP will have to
physically look at a few maybe to determine if they are Intel chipsets..

--
Mike Hall - MVP
How to construct a good post..
http://dts-l.com/goodpost.htm
How to use the Microsoft Product Support Newsgroups..
http://support.microsoft.com/default...help&style=toc
Mike's Window - My Blog..
http://msmvps.com/blogs/mikehall/default.aspx

I just recently came across this post. As the author of CallStation,
maybe I can shed some light on the "voice playback" problem. First,
let's do away with some misconceptions.

Some people want to defend Microsoft for some reason, and blame the
modem manufacturers for this problem. They think that the drivers are at
fault. I can tell you now that this is NOT a driver problem.

Rick Rogers states that Microsoft drivers only provide basic
functionality (data/fax), and it is the responsibility of the modem
manufacturer to supply drivers which have proper voice support. This is
true, and you should always use drivers from the modem manufacturer
whenever possible, however, this is NOT the reason for the voice
playback problem.

Also, this problem is NOT due to some intentional change in Vista that
the modem manufacturers have not yet reacted to. This is a major bug in
Vista, plain and simple.

So what is the problem, and why does it mainly affect Conexant based
voice modems? To answer that, we need to look at how voice playback
works in Windows.

There are two ways that a program can play sound through a voice modem.
A program can open the COM port and write data directly to the modem, or
it can use the modem wave driver. The problem occurs when trying to use
the modem wave driver. The modem wave driver is actually a Windows
component.

A voice application like CallStation first has to get a wave-out ID for
the modem. It then uses this ID to play sound through the modem using
the low-level waveout API. The WAV files must always be in 8000 Hz
16-Bit format or the waveout API will return an error. Voice modems,
however, can use various PCM data formats for audio playback and
recording. It is the job of the Unimodem Transform Module to transform
the original audio data to whatever format the modem requires. The
transform module is another Windows component.

You can tell what format a modem requires by looking in the driver's
INF file for the XformID. If the driver is TAPI compliant, you should
find a line similar to this:

HKR, WaveDriver, XformID ,1, 08, 00

This example is from a Conexant based modem, and the 08 indicates that
this modem uses 8-bit unsigned linear PCM at 8000 Hz. For some reason,
Vista has a problem with this particular format. Either it is
translating the data incorrectly, or it just isn't passing the data
through at all.

If you use a modem which requires almost any other sound format, the
voice playback will work just fine. For example, most Intel based modems
and many Agere based modems have an XformID of 04. These modems use the
4-bit IMA ADPCM 8000 Hz format. Unfortunately, Intel based modems are no
longer sold.

In addition to the playback problem, if you are using Vista x64, voice
applications can sometimes have a problem getting a modem wave-out ID.
This problem can usually be solved by installing the following Microsoft
hot-fix:

http://support.microsoft.com/kb/954912

I hope this clears some things up. Perhaps someone from Microsoft will
read this and do something about it. For now, your best bet is currently
an Agere based modem such as the Rosewill RNX-56AG. The Rosewill drivers
are not TAPI compliant, however, so you will need to download some
modified drivers from my website. This is common with Agere based
modems, and the modem manufacturers need to do better when it comes to
making the drivers TAPI compliant.

Craig Duncan
Impulse Technology
http://www.imptec.com


--
Craig Duncan
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Craig Duncan's Profile: http://forums.techarena.in/members/craig-duncan.htm
View this thread: http://forums.techarena.in/vista-har...ces/853218.htm

http://forums.techarena.in