Challenges for Lucent WinModems on Windows ME

Tip: This is some very technical stuff. If the regular setup instructions on the other pages don't work then you need to either follow the instructions on this page or call your Internet tech support number to let them know that you have a Lucent WinModem on a Windows ME computer. The most common indication of this problem is an Error 650 message on your computer.

There is a problem with the modem "drivers" (the modem software) for the Lucent Win Modem on Windows ME. If the regular drivers are installed, you will not be able to connect with Software Flow control. You will get error 650. Disabling error compression will let you connect but you will get a slow connection and will be bumped off quite frequently. The connection will be very unstable without error compression. Lucent has released a new driver and you can also use the old Win98 driver. There is some information about this here:

This only happens if the computer manufacturer installed the driver that comes with ME. Please note that this is only a problem on the Lucent Win Modem and not the LT Win Modem. To find out if you have the wrong modem driver, configure the modem correctly and try to connect. If you cannot connect with software flow control, you need to get the newer driver. Disabling software flow control and/or error compression is a temporary fix that will let you connect but this leads to unstable connections and poor performance.

There is a link to the generic 6.0 Lucent driver from their site. It is really better to see if the manufacturer has a modem specific version as most manufacturers design their own modem software. The first hyperlink (above) gives good instructions on how to install the 5.75 driver but the following driver works much better.

There are instructions for installing it on that page. It is self-extracting & self-installing zip file. You can email it to someone, send them this link or direct them to www. windrivers.com -> modem help center -> Lucent all WinModems Generic Driver. 

Doing this is obviously easier said than done if you can not connect at all. We have had luck getting the default driver to work by setting: error control ON, flow control on HARDWARE, an init string of "AT&F" and 3 commas after the phone number. That should allow you to connect to get an email or download a modem driver. If not, you could try an init string of ATS37=19 or AT+MS=V34 to force a 34k connection.