Alcatel SpeedTouch USB Review

Overall Rating

I've got a curved groove in the top of my PC case, it sits in there nicely....sort of an ergonomic look to it all.

Constant blue screens dropping connections AND crashed while hosting my hard worked on module for NeverWinterNights

Crash screen always says a driver is not installed properly. didn't really understand all the jargon till i did a little PC spring cleaning and recognised the file name (alcan5wn.sys) this is the driver for my modem. Tried to upgrade it -like looking for needle in haystack- to no avail. This modem worked fine on my win2k pII. now i got XP home p4 keeps crashing. SOMEBODY PLEASE SORT THIS OUT.

p.s my value for money is high as i got mine for nothing. Ten a penny these things.

Members' Comments onWarriorgrey.'s Review

• Mike. on 31st Aug 2002

  I am having the same problem. The computer keeps having a blue screen, saying something about problems with the alcan5.sys which is a modem driver. Tried to download the newer one, but nothing is out that supports Win XP. Please help ASAP, I might just change modems, but that is my last option.
  
  ~Thanks
  Mike

• Wavey. on 22nd Nov 2002

  Right lads.. try this: Download the 1.6beta driver from the link below: http://213.244.19.244/touslesdrivers/alcatel_speedtouch_1.6_beta.zip Unplug modem from usb & uninstall software Restart & install new driver use the original CD for the phonebook.ini file Plug in the modem and restart. Done!

• PILOT^HAMIE. on 5th Dec 2002

  I have the same problem also, it's the alcatel usb touch problem driver, I tried to install the new version but it's worse, which reduced the speed of the modem and continuase disconnecting. I think I have to change the modem :( since I emaild the company and without any replay....... the problem is with alcan5wm.sys I faced also problems when downloading big files and when it hangs I have to restart downloading from the first....

• Soupdragon. on 5th Dec 2002

  Watch out!, Tried the beta drivers, but could not integrate with the Freeserve Broadband CD. Just Coying phonebook. inf did not work. Probably me being thick but ended up throwing the ADSL connection out of synch. If you are on freeserve there are upgraded drivers for modem on their site - yet to see if they cure prob yet.

• Soupdragon. on 7th Dec 2002

  The latest drivers on the Alcan site seem to have cured the Alcan5.sys - blue screen prob on my system with no speed decrease. Goto http://www.speedtouchdsl.com/support.htm and select "SpeedTouch™ USB / USB for ISDN" modem (this is assuming you have the green stingray/cowpat shaped one). You can install over the top of the old software - there is no mention of unplugging the modem but it would be safer.

• Warriorgrey. on 7th Dec 2002

  Success I'd eventually found a driver to support XP 'STUSB_upgrade14.exe' Only prob was so happy, forgot to share this with anyone as so invovled with my own selfishness. Couldn't even remember where I got it from and totally forgot until i got an email telling me someone curtiously replied. Anyway did a quick search on google and found this very helpful site. http://www.windowsxp-drivers.com/drivers/53/53454.htm Driver is 3.27MB in size and it's been installed now for roughly 2/3 months AND NO MORE BLUE SCREENS. lol hope this helps Happy Xmas to all Warriorgrey

• Team434. on 11th Feb 2003

  This has to be one of the worst modems i have ever brought ! £80 it was.... Why did BTopenworld choose Alcatel to supply their ADSL modems for their broadband !! Nothing but blue error screens ! I even phoned BTopenworld SUPPORT was their a mention of up-dating drivers.. NO !! They didn't even suggest i should ! But im hoping that this Up-date will work, i have had to find all the information and other stuff by my self !.....Apparently the problem of the driver : IRQL_not_less_or_equal - alcan5wn.sys is cause by high up-load volume !! :-( BTopenworld SORT IT OUT !!!! lots of unhappy customers !

• Warriorgrey. on 15th Feb 2003

  Hello again peeps hope xmas and n/year was ok. Still same driver and very very happy. No need to uninstall old one as just updates. good luck all.

• CaptainBe. on 25th Feb 2003

  I installed the latest version, which fixed the blue screen and the constant disconnecting for me too, but it has left one burning issue, which must be resolved... The disconnection and blue screen were caused by very high upload rates, which I am still getting and they are involuntary. I just checked my Alcatel Diagnostics after having my computer on for 6 hours and have found that it has sent 500Mb into nowhere. This sort of thing happens at any time, and once happening the download rate has been crushed to something worse that a 12kbps modem and the only way to stop it is to restart my computer - simply logging on and off or disconnecting and reconnecting has no effect. Given this, I thought that it was an NT service misbehaving, so I looked at my system processes, the only one clocking up any time was the system idle process, as expected. I ran a test after restarting the computer to see what an uploading or downloading process would look like on the system monitor - indeed the process (in this case Explorer) showed it was using 95% of the processor and was clocking up time healthily. This means that whatever is casing this high upload rate is either the Modem (Stingray) itself or a driver running in kernal space. To add confusion to this, I was using the old drivers happily until about a month ago, with no blue screens at all. The blue screens started shortly after I installed MS SQL Server and I have only ever experienced these problems while the server is running. Once the high upload rate has started I find that I cannot shut down SQL Server, it sticks in "Stopping" state and never reaches "Stopped" state, although the service still runs queries okay until I make the shutdown request. Unfortunately I can't get enough server down time to establish if there is a significant link, but if anyone else has had similar problems I would be more than interested. Personally I think that SQL Server misbehaving is a result not a cause.

• Jimbo. on 6th Mar 2003

  What do you do if a friend gave you the modem, with no User Guide and no drivers and no phone book.ini?
  
  I've got the update drivers from Alcatel, but I don't have a CD. So how do I install an update without the CD released driver?
  
  I suppose I deserve it for doing on the cheap!

• SEvEN. on 14th Mar 2003

  There are a few ways you can get the drivers and all relevant files without having the CD. One option is to get it from me but I'm not giving out FTP details here. Another option is to get it from the following place:-
  
  http://www.adsldriver.clara.co.uk/usbv1.2.2.exe
  
  please make sure you read
  
  http://www.adsldriver.clara.co.uk/
  
  
  Once installed, you should then download the 1.6 beta and install over the top of the 1.2.2 and overwrite all files when prompted.
  
  any problems, post a reply and I'll do my best to help.
  
  

• Buster. on 16th Apr 2003

  There are new drivers (V2) at this site:
  http://www.speedtouchdsl.com/support.
  I installed and have since not had any issues.
  

• PA!. on 18th Jun 2003

  yup i had the same problems, im running XP home and i got blue screen saying that alcan5wn.sys basically knackered. SO i downloaded the new drivers from the speedtouch site and so far so good. Think driver versions was 2.01. By the way guys forget kazaa or anyother prog shareaza kicks all the file sharing progs ass's