No dial tone problem

[CHAROD06]

I recently installed a new modem to my XP operating system computer. After installation, I am having problems getting a "dial tone" when trying to reach my ISP. I did the diagnostic test on the modem and found the modem was installed correctly. I re-installed the modem software and the ISP software, but I'm still getting the no dial tone message. I also checked the phone/line connection for proper connection. My new modem says its on "Comm Port - 3 " and still have the old modem on "comm port 1". Do I need to remove the old modem completely in order to get the new one to work? Before I installed the new modem and the old modem went bad, all systems worked fine. Do I need to do the Hyperterminal test on the modem if the diagnostic test came back saying the modem is working?

 

[FlyingPenguin]

No dial tone is strickly a mechanical issue. Either the line is not connected to the modem, or the modem took a surge/lightning hit and blew the isolation coil (the modem is still fully functional internally, but it can't hear the phone line). Happens all the time. That's what's supposed to happen when a modern modem takes a hit.

Make sure the phoen line is connected to the proper jack on the modem. Plug that line directly into a phone to test the line and make sure it's actually working.

Run Hyper Terminal from programs -> Accessories -> Communications and dial some local number and see if it works. If you still get no dial tone, the modem's bad.

 

[CHAROD06]

The phone line works fine. Will Hyper Terminal determine whether or not the modem is functioning ok? I used the modem diagnostic that came with XP and it showed that the modem is works. The modem is new - I took it off another computer that I upgraded to DSL. Could there be another problem?

 

[Slikkster]

He was not saying there's a problem with the phone line itself. He's saying that you may have the phone line connected to the wrong input jack on the back of the modem.

There's two phone-jack connectors on the back of your modem. Once should be labeled "Phone", which is for a phone pass-through, in case you want to have a phone hooked up as well as using the modem. The other should be labeled "Line". You want to make sure your phone line is connected to the "line" jack.

Just because they are oriented one way on one modem, doesn't mean they will be in the same order/orientation on your new modem. They may be reversed. There's no standard, as far as I'm aware.

It's a simple test to see if you have it hooked up correctly. Connect your phone line to the jack you think is correct on the back of the modem. Then, connect a real telephone to the other jack. If the phone gets a dial tone, you have it setup correctly, and your problem is elsewhere. If the phone does not get a dial tone, either you don't have it hooked up correctly (aka time to reverse the connections for phone and phone line to modem) or there's some physical problem with your modem.

 

[FlyingPenguin]

The modem diagnostic only tells you that Windows can talk to the modem, it doesn't tell you that the modem can communicate over the phone line. I like to use hyperterminal for testing because it avoids issues with proprietary dialer software (for instance I have seen AOL say that it's not getting a dial tone and it be due to a software issue with AOL not a hardware issue).

If the modem is working correctly HyperTerminal should be able to dial a number without getting a no dial tone error. You can pickup a phone extension while it's dialing to confirm that the modem is actually dialing if you can't hear it over the modem speaker.