Modem/Phone Line Problem - I'm A Little Confused!?!

[Dan Brooks]

I just put a system together for a friend using one of the all-in-one motherboards (video/sound/modem built in). It's not something I'd use for my own system, but I've put several together with no probs. Anyway, the modem checks out fine and works on the phone line at my home with no problem. When my friend takes it to his house (which happens to be out in the middle of nowhere), they try to connect to AOL and the modem initializes, but then comes up with "error: cannot detect dialtone". The system is hooked up properly & the phone line can be unhooked & hooked back up to his old computer and that modem will work fine! What is the deal? Is it something with the new modem & the way the phone line might be wired? I haven't a clue at this point & I'm grasping at straws! Any help would be greatly appreciated!!! Thanks!

[Red Rage]

Go into is dial properties and check the following. although they'll usually say Line is busy instead

Tone or Pulse dialing. Does he have Call waiting? Make sure the area code is correct.

Try unchecking "Wait For Dial Tone Before Dialing" I can't remember where its at sorry.

If you or he has to dial a number to get an outside line, then have him remove/add it in there.

if this line has anything else on it. you can try remove it all. (like splitters, phones, faxes, etc) These types of modems tend to be very particular and maybe (doubtful) they could be throwing noise out there that it dosen't like. So try it all by its self on the line.

you can try putting another modem on and trying it just to see if it is the modem being a pain or the computer itself. if its the computer then its a setting somewheres.

~Red

[Dan Brooks]

Thanks for the info, Red Rage! My friend did not mention that they had a feature on their phone called "talk dial". So he tried to delay the time before it starts to dial & then that worked. But I told him to reverse what he did and to just uncheck the "wait for dialtone before dialing" box, like you mentioned. I think that should do the trick, because it doesn't pick up a dialtone. Thanks again!! Another problem solved! http://www.sysopt.com/forum/wink.gif