HCF & Windows XP, 2000, ME, Linux & BeOS

Operating an HCF modem with Windows 2000 or XP requires a 'WDM' driver. Microsoft has a web-based Hardware Compatibility List (HCL) that can be used to determine whether a modem is [supposed to be] compatible with Windows2000, NT4, 95 and/or 98. A search for HCF in the list indicates some OEMs have passed "basic" Windows-2000 compatibility, and tells you to contact the manufacturer for a driver. Windows2K comes with a Microsoft-supplied (and signed) driver for HCF modems with version # reported as 2.1.2.160.006. Several sites - listed on the upgrades page - have Win2K drivers available for download. Win2K availability includes AOpen, Askey, E-Tech, and Zoltrix. Windows XP comes with generic HCF driver support out-of-the-box; Windows 2000 drivers should also be compatible with Windows XP. If you upgrade a system to XP, and have a vendor-supplied driver in the old OS, the modem may not be successfully upgraded - see Windows XP & Modems.

John from Australia reports using a Puretek/Auslinx HCF speakerphone modem in Win2000. He found current default win2000 drivers don't allow country selection, so he copied the standard NT CSACPL.CPL file into Win2000 & got the ability to select county in the control panel and found that Australia was not listed as choice. He found that if the "CIS 5614 international series" modem is chosen nearly everything works for modem use, winfax9 and talkworks pro 2 and 3 (No CID and no volume control though).

HP Riptide - See this page. It may be possible to use GVC modem driver. The HP site has "unsupported" Win2k drivers: North America, European, Asia/Pacific.

If you are having trouble installing to Windows2k, try booting into SAFE Mode.

Linux Support

There is a Linux HOWTO for Conexant software modems by Imran Ghory. The Conexant website indicated that a Linux driver for HCF modems is being developed. HCF and Riptide Linux drivers are now available - see Marc Boucher's Linux Drivers for Conexant modem chipsets homepage.

A good place to get information and support for Linux and Software Modems is the Discussion Archive at Linmodems.org. If you have questions about the modem and Linux, I suggest you subscribe to their discussion and post your question.

BeOS Support

The HCF is reported to be supported in BeOS5.

Windows Millennium Edition 

WindowsMe ships with compatible driver. Note that WindowsMe (as well as Windows 98) support 2 types of drivers - vxd and WDM. HCF drivers supplied for WindowsMe are the WDM type. [If anyone attempts to use old vxd drivers with WinMe, or new WDM/Me driver with Win98, please let me know your results.]

Installation problem with WinMe / Country selection - If the modem installation prompts you to select a country and gives a list that is empty, you may be able to use the following procedure to complete installation:

When the country prompt comes up, press CTRL+ALT+DEL and End Task on the Select Country task. The install should proceed normally.

If the install stalls again at the end of the installation, press CTRL+ALT+DEL and End task on the Modem Installation task. The installation should be complete at this point.