Soft V.90/K56flex PCI Twin-chip Chipset

Usage: To find other modems in the same chipset Family.

All drivers, downloads & info on this site are found via the modem.

Each Modem Manufacturers’ page also has external web-links, where available.

Manufacturer:	Chipset Manufacturer page" target="_top">Conexant Systems, Inc. †Rockwell Semiconductor Systems, Inc. Chipset Manufacturer page" target="_top">†Rockwell Semiconductor Systems, Inc.
Chipset Family Type:	HSF SoftK56
Chipset Family:	RS56-PCI SoftK56
Chipsets:	†RS56-PCI 56k SoftK56 DF
	†RS56-PCI 56k SoftK56 DFT
	†RS56-SP-PCI 56k SoftK56 DFTS
	†RS56-SP-PCI 56k SoftK56 DFVS

General Information

Originated by Rockwell on 14 Oct 1998 & developed by Conexant, this has been one of the company’s most successful chipsets. It is essentially a PCI-bus & telephone line interface - neither DSP nor controller are in silicon, both are handled by software on the host computer. Whilst this originally limited the modem to Windows, Conexant have also sponsored driver support for the Linux platform..



Rockwell metamorphosed into Conexant in 1999. The new company aquired a new PCI Vendor-ID (from 127A to 14F1, officially with 2.07 driver, enforced with 2.08, April 1999), and this esoteric, technical detail has resulted in much driver grief, as many drivers that should load will not, due to mis-matched PCI IDs. The new company also changed the driver modem-name, which also caused problems. If an old Windows driver is updated the modem name may change, and will need to be altered on the General page of Dial-Up Networking Properties; go:

• Control Panel
• Dial-Up Networking, or Network Connections
• Properties (via File menu)
• Change the ‘Rockwell’ modem to ‘Conexant’
• Press OK.

The RS56-PCI were a co-development of the HSF MonoPak single-chip chipsets. Just to make life more interesting, the low-power version (RS56L-PCI) also uses a single-chip. All 3 have identical PCI IDs (although see below) & should, therefore, have inter-changeable drivers. This is how the PCI-Interface family looks:

• RS56-PCI - 11229-14, 11235-14 (this chipset)
• HSF MonoPak - R6793
• RS56L-PCI - R6794

There has also been more than one PCI-Interface chip used within this chipset; the Rockwell version is the same chip used within various HCF chipsets, which nicely muddies the waters:

• 11229-14 : Rockwell DF : ID 2003
• 11229-14 : Rockwell DFT : ID 2004
• 11229-14 : Rockwell DFVS : ID 2005
• 11229-14 : Rockwell DFTS : ID 2006
• 11235-14 : Conexant DF : ID 2013
• 11235-14 : Conexant DFT : ID 2014
• 11235-14 : Conexant DFVS : ID 2015
• 11235-14 : Conexant DFTS : ID 2016

Early Rockwell versions of the chipset were given a PCI Device ID of 2003, 4, 5 or 6. This is the same as other Conexant chipsets & later versions had a device ID of 2013, 4, 5 or 6. Driver support is still maintained for the earlier IDs, but this is yet another fruitful source for driver grief.



The Reference Designs for these chipsets were pin-compatible with their equivalent HCF (controller-less) RCV56HCF-PCI chipsets, allowing one set of work to produce 2 modems. The HCF was the better chipset & sold at a premium, although the difference in cost between the chips was negligible. Drivers are not inter-changeable between designs.

Extra Info

Country (how to find)

AT+GCI command to select (depends on options placed at install time in Registry)

Driver Version (how to find)

ATI3 in More Info...

Known Problems

This chipset can suffer horrendous connection problems, ranging from drop-outs, freezes & low-speed to summarily shutting the computer down on connection. Causes are many, including drivers (faulty programming), unsuitable hardware & other computer-system conflicts. Anything that throttles the PCI-bus affects the modem. In summary:

• Double the modem & computer Mfcs’ minimum recommendations for Memory & CPU speed.
• Do not use a Cyrix 6x86 CPU (inadequate floating-point performance).
• To check for video-related problems use a minimum-resolution screen and/or no Hardware acceleration.
• To check for Sound conflicts do not play CDs whilst connecting.
• Get the best (not the same as latest) driver for your ISP & stick with it.
• If all else fails, reinstall Windows with just basic hardware attached & try again.

(Windows XP, 2000, Millennium): the phone line may be disconnected if a DVD/CD-ROM drive is configured to PIO mode (the default on some systems) and is in use. Configure to DMA mode (Device Manager, usually IDE ATA/ATAPI Channels, Primary and/or Secondary channel). Extra info: PIO is an old transfer-mode which ties up the CPU whilst moving data bit-by-bit across the computer bus; DMA uses a DMA-controller to rapidly shift blocks of data in parallel with the CPU, and was explicitly designed to solve the congestion problems caused by PIO transfers.

Uninstaller

Supplied with driver