Modem cannot get dialtone

Are you sure that the phone cord is plugged into the correct plug on the modem?

I've plugged modem cords in wrong more than once myself.

Also, if you are using a VoIP service or network based phones, you don't have traditional phone lines that a modem can detect and connect to.

Chas

I know that this sounds obvious but have you gone into Control Panel and checked that the modem is actually working by running a test?

If so does it pass the test?

If it doesn't it sounds as if the correct Modem Drivers are not installed or you could even have another item sharing the same resources that is preventing the modem from working correctly. This is one of the more common problems with internal modems and can be correctly by going into the Device Manager and resetting the available resources manually.

The [b]No Dial Tone[/b] is a fairly Generic Message which can cover quite a lot of problems so unless you have done a Diagnostic on the Modem I wouldn't give up quite yet.

Col

I have tried 2 different modems. disabled usb in bios because they both shared IRQ 18. When I plug the phone line into the modem and have not tried to go online the dialtone from my pjone is gone. I unplug phone cord from pc and the dial tone is back. I think it is a short in the MB

Wow, its been a while since I worked on a Modem. Ok, have you tried the COM ports? They may be configured incorrectly. Check out what port it is trying to use, then uninstall it and reboot. Will it use it afterewards?
What is the baud rate? Is it set too high for the modem?
Is something else using COM ports or virtual COM ports? If so, try manually switching to another port. Then run the 'query modem' test and see if it appears to work. If so, retest for the dial tone

I seriously doubt a short in the motherboard could cause the problem and have no other symptoms.

Since your dial tone goes away when you plug the phone cord into the modem you either have multiple bad modems, or bad phone wiring.

Try plugging the phone line into a modem that is NOT plugged into the PC. Unless the modem relay is shorted out, you should still have a good dial tone.

I would pick up the simple phone line tester that Radio Shack sells and verify that the phone wiring is correct.

Modems with solid state hook switches can and do go "off-hook" when the phone line polarity is backward. Most phones work fine with the phone lines reversed.

Chas

What did you do to alter the settings on the Dial Up Connection?

I recently had a case where I had 2 dial up connections from one box and while the one straight to the bank worked perfectly the one to the Health Insurance Commission refused to dial out. The problem was finally found to be in the setup of the modem dial up connection to the HIC and I only picked this up by removing the connection and setting it up from scratch till it stopped working. If the Dial Tone is disappearing the moment that you plug in the phone line to the modem it sounds as if the computer is grabbing the line and not releasing it so instead of looking at a faulty modem I would delete the dial up connection and start again.

If the modem is faulty on an ATX Power supply with the computer turned off the Dial Tone should still be missing is this the case? If not then I would be looking at the setup of the modem. There are many changes that you can make to the way that a modem works and one wrong one can cripple the connection. In the case mentioned above the Tech Support person insisted that it was a faulty modem but when I sat on another phone line and dialled into the bank it made her sit back and think that just maybe there was something in their setup that was at fault.

It was a wild idea to her as that was the way that they always setup the modems but in this particular case it broke the connection and the Dial Tone disappeared on this one to but in this case only when that Dial up connection was activated and before it dialled out.

Start with a Basic Setting for the modem and make one change at a time until it stops working. This will have to be an entire Manual Setup so ignore any Setup Programs and do it all Manually.

Col

Have you tried editing the modem's dialing string commands in AOL? Try resetting the wait/hang-up timings.

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