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No Dial Tone

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  • 04-11-2003 12:43pm
    #1
    feylya
    Moderators, Music Moderators Posts: 23,361 Mod ✭✭✭✭


    Hopefully someone can help me out with this. I was looking at a mates computer cos he was having a few problems getting on the internet. He was having phone problems so the Eircom bloke unplugged the phone from the modem and the problem was gone. I went over, swapped out the modem (it appeared to be toasted and wouldn't work in my machine either) and the internet worked again. For about a week.

    The internet just stop working. The modem seems to be fine. Drivers were reinstalled, all the usual stuff, but I can't get a dial tone through the modem. A phone works perfectly on the same line but the modem refuses to work. Anyone have any ideas?


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    #2
    shurl
    Registered Users Posts: 458 ✭✭shurl


    Hey Feylya.

    Friend of mine had that problem before.

    Don't know if it will work for you, as your line was working before, anyway:

    Try switching the two middle wires in the phone cable/wall box.
    The phone cable has a small see-though plug on each end. If you look at the plug you see 4 gold pins, its the two middle ones you need to swap with each other.

    Either open the wall box and doing the switch there,
    or if you don't fancy going near that, and you have a spare phone cable:
    Cut the phone cable and joing the two middle wires (check the plug it should/normaly be the red and green wires.)
    I.e join one end of the green to the red/red to green.


    AFAIK, some modems need it a certain way while the bogstandard phones can use either.


    Cheers
    S.


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    #3
    MadKevo
    Closed Accounts Posts: 191 ✭✭MadKevo


    Even easier: chop outside 2 wires of 4 wire cable going into modem-end cable connector - you just need the centre 2 wires. do it carefully though...
    Dunno the reason, just know it's worked for me for years....
    /MK


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    #4
    feylya
    Moderators, Music Moderators Posts: 23,361 Mod ✭✭✭✭feylya


    I'll try that Shurl.

    MadKevo, did that already. Worked for about a week then nothing....


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    #5
    spongebob
    Closed Accounts Posts: 6,143 ✭✭✭spongebob


    no dial tone (or really rapid busy detection) can also be caused by

    1, Call Forwarding in place on the line , sounds liek a siren cadence) #21# turns off.
    2. Voicemail notification tone, dial 171 and pin and you can switch that off .

    M


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    #6
    feylya
    Moderators, Music Moderators Posts: 23,361 Mod ✭✭✭✭feylya


    Originally posted by Muck
    no dial tone (or really rapid busy detection) can also be caused by

    1, Call Forwarding in place on the line , sounds liek a siren cadence) #21# turns off.
    2. Voicemail notification tone, dial 171 and pin and you can switch that off .

    M

    Unfortunately, they have neither.


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    #7
    The Insider
    Registered Users Posts: 495 ✭✭The Insider


    Could be lots of things, firstly is it a internal or external modem, if external try on a different line and see if you are getting a dial tone. If internal run a hyperterminal test on it, when it comes to selecting the modem, select the COM port the modem is on, this will test the hardware and bypass the actual drivers if there is. After you select the COM port and click ok you should see a white screen just use the following command "ATD 087*******" if there is nothing wrong with the modem then you should hear it dialing the number you used.
    Other simple things to do are to check the cable between the socket and the pc, if it is really long this could cause problems especially if it is over 25ft or so and especially if the insulation on the cable is poor this would cause weak signal going through it hence no dial tone, also make sure you remove any splitters etc for the line
    He was having phone problems
    Just because he gets a dial tone on his phone line does not guarentee a dial tone on your modem, if he was having problems with his phone before then his line could be crap and this might be why he is having a few problems


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    #8
    feylya
    Moderators, Music Moderators Posts: 23,361 Mod ✭✭✭✭feylya


    The Insider - the modem seems to be fine from the tests I've run on it. The internet was working perfectly with the same line for about a year then it just suddenly stopped. Swapping the inside two wires didn't work. It's an internal modem and I'm starting to get seriously p1ssed off with it!


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    #9
    The Insider
    Registered Users Posts: 495 ✭✭The Insider


    The best thing you could do to see if it is the modem itself is to use a different modem that you know works fine on the same line, if you are able to connect then you know it is the modem where the problem is. What type of modem is in the machine?


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    #10
    feylya
    Moderators, Music Moderators Posts: 23,361 Mod ✭✭✭✭feylya


    It's just a standard Dell internal modem. That said, the first one they had in it blew up somehow. I swapped it with the one from my Dell and it worked for a week then decided to stop. This is incredibly annoying for my friend because his sister needs the internet for her course work.


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    #11
    Diabolus
    Registered Users Posts: 820 ✭✭✭Diabolus


    Did ya test the line? :p


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    #12
    feylya
    Moderators, Music Moderators Posts: 23,361 Mod ✭✭✭✭feylya


    I went over yesterday with an external modem and it worked first time so I'm gonna buy them one. Anyone know anywhere on line that does cheap external modems?


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    #13
    Snaga
    Registered Users Posts: 1,562 ✭✭✭Snaga


    I had an old modem that would 'pick up' the line as soon as the phone cable was plugged in or the modem received power(computer switched on etc..). Of course when i turn the pc on and it eventually got to the stage where i could dial up after bootup, the dial tone had timed out on me.

    Quick solution for me was - unplug + replug telephone cable into modem and dial again straight away before the dial tone timed out.

    There were other problems with the modem, (latency was terrible!) so I got my hands on a new modem fairly sharpish, so I never got to the bottom of the problem, but I have heard of others having similar trouble.

    I seem to recall it was a usrobotics 56k internal winmodem, its long gone now so have no other info on it unfortunately.

    <edit>
    I saw a few months ago maplins had a few whitebox(no brand visible) external serial modems in their dublin shop. Didnt take a close look, but afair they were relatively cheap, might be worth giving them a ring.
    </edit>


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