Modem problems

[music_beans]

Im typing this from another computer.

The PC Im talking about is having modem problems. Its a plug-in PCI type modem. I installed the drivers and stuff, and it won't dial out. I checked the connections and all that, but when I try to connect, I hear no dial tone. It does go off the hook though (I can tell by the jerky mouse pointer movement after hitting "Connect"). Any suggestions or solutions?

[mini1]

did you tell it what number to dial?

[music_beans]

Well yes of course.

[mini1]

Are you sure its dailing the correct number, or a number that even works. sometime ISP's will change their numbers and you must change your dial-out number to get online. I have seen people have this problem and in most cases it is the wrong number or someone forgot to tell the modem which number to dial. did you try calling your ISP and trouble shooting with them?

[cdru]

Occam's Razor. Did you plug the phone line into the correct port, usually labled line or have a picture of a telephone jack. Be sure not to use the port with a phone or labled phone.

Assuming that it's plugged into the correct port, plug a phone in the other port. Do you have a dialtone? If yes, you know the line is good. If not, your problem is likely in the phone line or jack in the wall.

Assuming you have a dial tone, the problem is either with the modem card or the PC. Click Start->Settings->Control Panel (or the equivalent depending on what version of Windows you are running). Then choose the icon for Modems. Windows 2000 and newer machines click on the modem, then choose your modem, then properties. Then choose the Diagnostics tab then click on Query Modem. If you get a response back from the modem, then it's likely your modem driver is configured correctly. In this case, it's likely that your modem is fried due to a power surge. If you get no response, then you have a driver problem.
The

[music_beans]

Well, its not fried because it worked before. This started happening after doing a reinstall of Windows 98 SE. I did plug a phone into the line it uses, and I get a dialtone. I also made sure to plug it in to the right slot on modem.

The technical skinny is I got the modem installed, but when it tries to dial out, I hear no dial tone at all. The number is correct, so it can't be the number either.

[Bogy]

When you reinstalled Windows, are you sure it reinstalled dial-up? And did you reinstall all the patches? Which if your modem isn't working could be a problem, couldn't it?

I did have a similar problem some time back because the ISP we were using at work upgraded the software for local access, but since I used IE and dial-up instead of their proprietary software I didn't get the automatic upgrade. The weird thing was that I could still dial in to numbers all over the country, just not the local access number.

[MarkA]

That actually sounds like a fried modem, if it weren't for the reinstall at the same time. Make sure you have the correct drivers and try listening on a telephone handset to see what you hear when you click connect. Also see if the modem when just plugged in holds the line off the hook - lots of fried modems I've seen have done that.

[music_beans]

Good thing here is that it doesn't hold the line off hook. It will sit there trying to dial the number for about 60 seconds and brings up a "Could not detect modem" message. Windows does detect the modem though despite what the message says.