modems/phone lines

[Guest]

Has anyone ever heard of a modem killing the dial tone of a phone line? I just moved to another apartment and finally unpacked my computer. I hooked everything up but once I plugged in the modem I lost dialtone. disconnect it from the wall and everything is fine. It worked fine at my old apartment. Any ideas?

Its not paranoia if they <b><i>really</b></i> are after you!!!

 

[FatBurger]

Did you unplug your phone to plug the modem in?

Ok, sorry. No, I've never heard of this (at least not due to hardware). Could be that your modem is constantly sending a 'clear line' command, cutting off everything else trying to use the line.

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[Guest]

Try a different phone cord. Both for the modem and the phone plugged into the line. This usually happens with cordless phones (I'm assuming it's because of the wiring in the wall being non-standard)...

 

[Guest]

Actually, I have four active phone jacks in the apartment. I had two phones plugged in and plugged the modem into a jack that I didn't have a phone connected to. I knew it was good though because I tested it with a phone first. When I plugged the modem in all active jacks died, no dial tone, seemed to have no power (the buttons on the corded phone did not light up), nothing. I unplugged the modem and the jacks came back up and lit up the buttons on the corded phone. I haven't had a chance to do much trouble shooting yet; where would I look to see if the modem is sending a clear line command? Would it be a setting of the drivers? I tried two separate dial-up ISPs and both returned that they could not get a dial tone.

Its not paranoia if they <b><i>really</b></i> are after you!!!

 

[Guest]

The modem is about 10ft from the jack and I only have one cord long enough to use. It is the same phone cord I had been using with my modem. The phones are hooked up on two different phone jacks. I connected the corded phone to the phone line I had hooked up to the modem and the phone worked. It kind of makes sense that it is the modem but I have never heard of something like this happening.

Its not paranoia if they <b><i>really</b></i> are after you!!!

 

[Dantin1]

Remove your dialup adapter in Add/Remove Programs. Reboot then reinstall dialup adapter. If that didn't work. Try uninstalling and re-installing your modem Driver in Device Properties. If that don't work, then restart your computer in safe mode right click on my computer. Click on Properties, Device Manager. Go through the list and look for duplicate drivers. Delete all Drivers that are duplicated. IE.. So if there are two of one driver delete both of them. Reboot your system and repeat the above two steps. If that doesn't work consider getting a new modem. When all your phone jacks in your house are dead it means the Modem is picking up on the line and keeping it off the hook while the computer is on. That was my impression at least. It shouldn't be able to do that if the computer is off. Oh well hope that helps you.

Dantin

 

[Guest]

I appreciate the help. Unfortunately the modem was killing the jacks even when the computer was off. I checked out driver conflicts but there weren't any, which makes sense considering nothing in the software changed between the time I disconnected a working modem last week and put my computer back together this week after the move. I ended up fixing the problem by buying a new modem. Worked the right way straight out of the box and didn't kill the phones. My old modem was old enough that it had some mechanical switches to it, I think one of them must have gotten stuck open by a vibration while moving it. I might mess around with it and see if I can get it working, but right now I don't really care. I should be building a new computer in a couple of months and I was going to upgrade from the 33.6k to a 56k any way. I appreciate everyone's help though.

Its not paranoia if they <b><i>really</b></i> are after you!!!