Frequently Asked Questions about Rhetorex Cards

If I buy a Rhetorex card will it work in my existing system?

If you are replacing a card in an existing system and as long as you are purchasing the same model of Rhetorex card, then yes it should work…UNLESS the software was written to only work with “signature” cards. By using “signature” cards the software provider was able to force you to come back to them to get additional or replacement cards. There isn’t any way for us to tell what is a “signature” card and what isn’t. If you don’t know whether signature cards are required or not, the only way to find out is to try a replacement and see if it will work.

Where can I get drivers for a Rhetorex card?

If you are purchasing a card from us we can provide the Rhetorex software that is supported in Windows 2000. We aren’t aware of any other places to download the software.

Are Rhetorex cards still supported?

The original Rhetorex (Brooktrout) company was purchased by Dialogic in 2007 and while they still sell and support some of the newer Brooktrout cards, the older ISA cards that we sell are no longer supported by the manufacturer.

My Rhetorex card only has 2 ports, but it's supposed to be a 4 line card (or it only has 1 ports and it's supposed to be a 2 line card), why is this?

This applies to the Rhetorex 232, 432, Duet and Quartets, these cards have RJ-14 ports which support 2 telephone lines each. They look like the standard single-line RJ-11 jack, but have an additional pair of wires to support the extra line. You can use our Combiner/Splitter product to split the RJ-14 into 2 RJ-11 lines.

What is the difference between an ISA and PCI slot type?

ISA slots are the oldest of these 3 slots types. If you purchased a computer from one of the major PC manufacturers after 1999, it probably doesn’t have ISA slots. Custom built computers are still available today with ISA slots, we sell one with 3 ISA slots, for more information, click here.

PCI is newer than ISA slots, and are still available on computers from the major PC makers, though they are becoming less numerous. PCI cards will only work in PCI slots and ISA cards only work in ISA slots. Click here for a picture showing the difference between ISA and PCI slots. The Rhetorex cards listed on our website Duet, Quartet, 232 and 432 are all ISA slot cards.

PCIe or PCI Express (not to be confused with PCI-X) is the latest PC bus architecture. PCIe is the replacement for both PCI and AGP slots. PCIe is not backwards compatible, PCI cards will not work in the PCIe slots and PCIe cards will not work in PCI slots. Click here for a picture showing the different PCI-e slot types.

Do you repair Rhetorex cards?

No, we do not repair Rhetorex cards and we don’t know of anyone that does.