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Modem problems

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by lncrwley

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I put together this computer about a year ago and never had any problems. About a month ago, I bought a new modem (dial up). It's a Best Data 56K v.92. It worked fine for the first week. Then, every morning I had a heck of a time trying to get it to connect to the internet. I reinstalled the driver and card. After about 7 AM, it would connect without any problems! I exchanged the modem for another one (same model) thinking something was faulty. I installed it and had the same problems. I talked with 3 different techs at my ISP and they really didn't have a clue. I e-mailed the modem maker and am waiting to hear but so far, nothing. This morning when trying to connect (5 AM), I got the same thing. I get error messages ranging from "the line is busy" to "there is no answer". Those are the same messages I've been getting all along. When it was dialing out today, I picked up the extension phone to listen to the handshake. It was dialing correctly with tone, not pulse. Then it started making a clicking sound while the handshake was going. I believe that it is the clicking sound that is messing up the connection and the cause of the error messages. I've replaced the phone cord so I know it isn't a faulty cord. At about 7 this morning, it dialed through! I listened in on the handshake and there was NO clicking. I had not touched any of the settings. I've noticed that the problems start every night at about 10 PM and continue till about 7 AM. There is nothing on here that should cause that problem. Sometimes, in the evening, I'll be online chatting and when it gets near to 10 PM, I'll notice that the 2 computer icons in the system tray (representing the connection) stop flashing and no data is transmitted. Once that happens, I'm usually disconnected shortly there after. Does anyone have a clue as to what is going on? I don't want to go back to my old modem which was a 56K v.90.

13 replies

by kinetechs

I'd have the phone company check the copper lines.

I had a similar problem whenever it rained. Some of the insulation on the old lines gets worn and causes problems when it gets wet. The telephone company would come out (when it stopped raining) and everything was OK. Took many times to get it fixed. Be careful though, sometimes they try to "fix" it the quick way by sending a lot of juice through the line to burn out the water but this only fixes it until the next rain. Tell them you'll file a complaint with your state's utilities commision if it doesn't get fixed. They get hell if someone files a complaint.

I know you didn't mention rain but ask yourself what happens at night. It gets colder and water in the air condenses. In the morning, when it gets warmer, it dries up.

I hope this helps.
Cheers!
~Sean

by lncrwley

I had the phone company change something in the lines yesterday and it made no difference. I really thought that this would be the answer. It made so much sense.

by thechas

I've got 2 ideas for you.

Start by disconnecting ALL other devices connected to your phone line.
Every phone and answering machine.

If it is not one of these devices, it may be an issue with either the phone line, or the local switch that serves you.

Another thought is spy-ware.
Download and run either AdAware
www.lavasoft.de

or SpyBot Search and Destroy
www.download.com

Chas

by thechas

When un-plugging other devices, make sure to check for connections to the phone line from cable boxes and satellite TV systems.

Chas

by curacao_dejavu

Hi,

Have the telephone company check the line (all the way to the ISP).
Secondly have them check if there modems are v90 or v92, also if there modem pool may have some bad modems in it that don't do the handshaking properly.

Of course when the telephone company is trouble shooting they have to do that (or logg) at 10:00 because thats when it starts to happen.

i have a feeling that they oversubscribing the modem pool, basicly you can surf fine during office hours, and in the evening when everybody is online you are noticing problems.

Leopold

by lump_16

Check to see if your ISP is V.92 compatible. If not use a modem string to disable V.92 and force V.90.
I previously worked ISP support a few years jsut as V.92 emerged and all our equip. was V.90. Didn't make business sense to upgrade tens of thousnands of dollars of equipment for a handful of users at the time.
Simply put the V.92 was hit or miss with the V.90 equip.
Can also be an instance of 'you get what you pay for' The new v.92 modems I saw in Dells and Gateways just wouldn't work, and I couldn't find any documentation on what chipset they used. On the other hand I've seen US Robotics modems work just fine.

Check into this website: http://www.modemhelp.com this was an invaluable resource to me as an ISP Tech.

Good luck,
Brian W.
wrightweb@wright-onthe-web.com

by lncrwley

I finally found the answer!! My ISP isn't v.92 compatible and finding the string to disable v.92 did the trick! At least it's working at the moment. If for some reason it poops out tomorrow morning, I'll be back!! Thanks!

by csmith

If the old 56K MODEM worked fine, and it still works fine if you reinstall it, it is not the ISP.
(The first suspect is some of the old Lucent equipment still in use by some ISPs.)
The next thing to check is the voltage out of the wall, and the integrity of the ground and neutral.
(A wiring problem in the building.)
But the data slowdown speaks for checking the ISP first by trying another MODEM.
Regards. Chris

by lncrwley

I can't use the old 56K. I rebuilt a system last week and put it in it. One of the reasons I'm asking these questions is because I don't want to have to go buy another modem.

The wiring in this house sucks and nothing was done to code. I wouldn't know where to start...

BTW: I'm the one that wired the phones in here. It was a learning experience.
.

by csmith

After your "learning experience" with putting in phone wiring, I hate to even mention this, but with the regular time slot of the problem, it speaks of a load coming on line at night and generating electrical noise, thus messing up the power.
With a cheap power supply, some of this noise gets into the PC components.
Since the wiring sucks, I would look for lack of ground, first.
(We run independent (Isolated) grounds where ever possible.)
(Those orange wall plugs.)
The source may be as simple as a bad ballast in an outside light.
But, it does sound like you need assistance from a friend who knows something about house wiring.
The learning curve on house wiring is steeper (harder) than phone installation.
Can you borrow a laptop to check the ISP?
Regards, Chris

by lncrwley

I borrowed my daughter's computer and her's connected just fine so it HAS to be my modem.

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