Wayfarers of Veeshan

Howdy gang. I've been trying to get an internet connection this week and am having a little trouble. I had DSL before but it's not available where I live now. There is cable high speed but its $45 a month and that's too much for as little as I'll use it. So, I'm stuck with dial up for now. The problem I'm having is my computer doesn't seem to know if it has a modem or not and neither do I. It has a standard phone jack in the back connected to a card that I assume is a modem but I never get a dial tone and none of the other standard troubleshooting stuff gets me anywhere. If I do a modem query nothing is detected. Is it possible it's just dead? Is there a way to test on my own machine or is it something I could pull out and take to a shop or do I need to take my whole cpu?
Any input is greatly appreciated

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Visionary Durezil Coppahtahp -- kidnapped by a Gold Wing
Reaver Veloquin Ashheart
Baby Tunash Heartsong

"I may not know the way but if you follow me, together we will find it." ~me

First thing I'd double-check is that it IS a phone jack and not an Ethernet jack. I know they are slightly different sizes, but years ago I made the mistake of confusing one with the other.

Presuming it IS a standard phone jack attached to a card, it's either a Fax, Modem or Fax-Modem. It seems HIGHLY doubtful that it's JUST a fax card, as those generally aren't even sold anymore.

Soooo....I'm assuming you've plugged a standard phone into the wall jack to make sure that you get a dial tone with THAT before plugging the computer in.

If, at this point, there's still no dial tone, I can only guess that it's either dead or mis-configured. I believe the old "manual dip switches" are now part of a digital configuration for the board, but just in case, I'd make sure there's not some weird set of tiny dip switches on the card anywhere.

I know this isn't too helpful, but it covers all of the stupid mistakes *I've* made over the years

Drex

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Drexxell , 71st GNecrOMancEr -- Wielder of ()
Druul , 60th Troll Shaman () + Wielder of and
Driss, 51st Dwarf Priestess of Brell Serilis
Dralia, 36th Erudite Enchantress

Well, first thing ... check in Device Manager that there is a Modem being seen in Windows. If there's no modem being seen there, you'll need to open the system and physically check to see if it's a modem.

If the jack you're seeing is connected to the motherboard/mainboard, then it's more than likely an ethernet jack. Most boards dont include a modem, as it's much easier and more widely accepted to include Ethernet.

And ... you could always *gasp* check the User's guide and see what it says about the system, heh. Good place to start anyway.

Thanks for the responses. I'm certain it's a phone jack. I'm certain the wall line is working, in fact I'm using the same cable that went to the phone I have there. The jack on the computer is in one of the 6 or so slots for add-in cards attach to the main board, so the jack itself is on an added card, not the main board. The device manager says it's working properly but when I hit the button that says query, it comes back 'not detected'. As for a user manual... hrmm.. This is a hand me down computer that is 6-7 years old and suffered through at least 3 moves. That may sound really old and you might wonder why bother but it is a very capable high end machine.
My instinct tells me I should stop at Circuit City for a new modem and be done with it though. Looking at the way my system at work reacts I tend to think it's dead.

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Visionary Durezil Coppahtahp -- kidnapped by a Gold Wing
Reaver Veloquin Ashheart
Baby Tunash Heartsong

"I may not know the way but if you follow me, together we will find it." ~me

With that information, it could just need to have the drivers reloaded. If you can get the information on the modem, we can find a driver for it and see if that fixes it. Certainly cheaper than a new modem, although a new modem is only $25 or less.

Note that there are "software" modems or "WinModems". You want to avoid those when you want to use CPU-intesive programs while connected (ie Everquest).

They are called "software" modems, since there is pretty much no hardware on the board to do logic, only the minimum required to get a phone line to it and to get the sounds into the drivers to be interpreted on the CPU.

So if EQ is using up all the CPU processes, the modem driver process may not have enough CPU power to keep up with the incoming packets and the result is lost packets and Link Death.

You'd be better off getting a "Hardware" modem. Or one that advertises itself to be able to run on any operating system (not requiring only windows). This way, the logic of interpretting the sounds into bits of data is done on the modem board, not the CPU.

They are usually more expensive ($50+), but worth it.

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-- Mindbender Llaffer Outloud
L70 ENC
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