Modem busy signal

When dialing my ISP. the OEM modem installed on Dell with Win 98 results in
busy signal each time I call. ISP support could not resolve the problem. All
indications are that the
modem is detected and operating. Any suggestions? Thanks

On 03/03/2010 08:26 PM, Thomas Callaghan wrote:
When dialing my ISP. the OEM modem installed on Dell with Win 98 results in
busy signal each time I call. ISP support could not resolve the problem. All
indications are that the
modem is detected and operating. Any suggestions? Thanks



Some info might help.

Dell, what model? So we can figure out the actual modem or chipset
installed if necessary.

What did you and the ISP try?

Did you try modifying the init string, and how?

Can you hear ANY negotiation [sounds like clicks, squeals and squeaks
and the normal] between your modem and your ISP?

Did you check the Network for proper protocols [TCP/IP] and other
network settings?

Is Microsoft Networking client installed?

Do you need to dial an extra number like 9 to access an
outside/external line?

Do you know the LINK type your ISP uses?

--
MEB
http://peoplescounsel.org/ref/windows-main.htm
Windows Info, Diagnostics, Security, Networking
http://peoplescounsel.org
The "real world" of Law, Justice, and Government
___---

On 03/03/2010 08:26 PM, Thomas Callaghan wrote:
When dialing my ISP. the OEM modem installed on Dell with Win 98 results in
busy signal each time I call. ISP support could not resolve the problem. All
indications are that the
modem is detected and operating. Any suggestions? Thanks



Some info might help.

Dell, what model? So we can figure out the actual modem or chipset
installed if necessary.

What did you and the ISP try?

Did you try modifying the init string, and how?

Can you hear ANY negotiation [sounds like clicks, squeals and squeaks
and the normal] between your modem and your ISP?

Did you check the Network for proper protocols [TCP/IP] and other
network settings?

Is Microsoft Networking client installed?

Do you need to dial an extra number like 9 to access an
outside/external line?

Do you know the LINK type your ISP uses?

--
MEB
http://peoplescounsel.org/ref/windows-main.htm
Windows Info, Diagnostics, Security, Networking
http://peoplescounsel.org
The "real world" of Law, Justice, and Government
___---

"Thomas Callaghan" wrote in message om...
When dialing my ISP. the OEM modem installed on Dell with Win 98 results in
busy signal each time I call. ISP support could not resolve the problem. All
indications are that the
modem is detected and operating. Any suggestions? Thanks

Double-check the number being dialed, including the area code. If it seems
correct, try another one.

Ben

"Thomas Callaghan" wrote in message om...
When dialing my ISP. the OEM modem installed on Dell with Win 98 results in
busy signal each time I call. ISP support could not resolve the problem. All
indications are that the
modem is detected and operating. Any suggestions? Thanks

Double-check the number being dialed, including the area code. If it seems
correct, try another one.

Ben

In message , Thomas
Callaghan writes:
When dialing my ISP. the OEM modem installed on Dell with Win 98 results in
busy signal each time I call. ISP support could not resolve the problem. All
indications are that the
modem is detected and operating. Any suggestions? Thanks


Firstly - perhaps it's telling the truth? If you posted the above via
another computer which is also dialling the same ISP _on the same
number_, then obviously not. Sometimes ISPs change the number you dial
them on; they usually keep the old one active, at least for a while, but
with reduced resources allocated to it. Find what number the MoDem is
dialling, and dial it manually on a 'phone: you should hear whether it's
busy or not.

Do you have voicemail, which is indicated by the dial tone being
interrupted? Some MoDems don't like that, though usually say "no dial
tone" rather than busy.

Most MoDems - even internal ones - pretend, at some level, to be a
serial MoDem, attached to "COM7:" or some similarly high number. Find
out which COM "port" it is "attached" to (it'll be in properties
somewhere, though may take some digging). Then open a dumb terminal
session to that "port" - using hyperterminal if you haven't anything
better. You should be able to send

AT

to it, at which point it should respond

OK

.. Google for Hayes commands; one is ATI (for information), and if you
type

ATIn

at it (where n is a digit such as 0), it will respond with its various
details, like model number, ROM revision, and so on.

ATD1

will tell it to "lift the receiver", listen for a dial tone, and dial
"1" (you can use any number, including a real one). If you try one you
know is engaged - such as your own number, assuming dialling yourself
gets the busy signal where you are as it does here - it will come back
with

BUSY

or something like that.

Not that this will necessarily solve your problem, but it might help you
figure out what's going on. Pick up a 'phone just before you use the ATD
command, and listen to what it does (if anything).
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/1985 MB++G.5AL-IS-P--Ch++(p)Ar@T0H+Sh0!:`)DNAf
** http://www.soft255.demon.co.uk/G6JPG-PC/JPGminPC.htm for ludicrously
outdated thoughts on PCs. **

When I am working on a problem I never think about beauty. I only think about
how to solve the problem. But when I have finished, if the solution is not
beautiful, I know it is wrong.
-R. Buckminster Fuller, engineer, designer, and architect (1895-1983)

In message , Thomas
Callaghan writes:
When dialing my ISP. the OEM modem installed on Dell with Win 98 results in
busy signal each time I call. ISP support could not resolve the problem. All
indications are that the
modem is detected and operating. Any suggestions? Thanks


Firstly - perhaps it's telling the truth? If you posted the above via
another computer which is also dialling the same ISP _on the same
number_, then obviously not. Sometimes ISPs change the number you dial
them on; they usually keep the old one active, at least for a while, but
with reduced resources allocated to it. Find what number the MoDem is
dialling, and dial it manually on a 'phone: you should hear whether it's
busy or not.

Do you have voicemail, which is indicated by the dial tone being
interrupted? Some MoDems don't like that, though usually say "no dial
tone" rather than busy.

Most MoDems - even internal ones - pretend, at some level, to be a
serial MoDem, attached to "COM7:" or some similarly high number. Find
out which COM "port" it is "attached" to (it'll be in properties
somewhere, though may take some digging). Then open a dumb terminal
session to that "port" - using hyperterminal if you haven't anything
better. You should be able to send

AT

to it, at which point it should respond

OK

.. Google for Hayes commands; one is ATI (for information), and if you
type

ATIn

at it (where n is a digit such as 0), it will respond with its various
details, like model number, ROM revision, and so on.

ATD1

will tell it to "lift the receiver", listen for a dial tone, and dial
"1" (you can use any number, including a real one). If you try one you
know is engaged - such as your own number, assuming dialling yourself
gets the busy signal where you are as it does here - it will come back
with

BUSY

or something like that.

Not that this will necessarily solve your problem, but it might help you
figure out what's going on. Pick up a 'phone just before you use the ATD
command, and listen to what it does (if anything).
--
J. P. Gilliver. UMRA: 1960/1985 MB++G.5AL-IS-P--Ch++(p)Ar@T0H+Sh0!:`)DNAf
** http://www.soft255.demon.co.uk/G6JPG-PC/JPGminPC.htm for ludicrously
outdated thoughts on PCs. **

When I am working on a problem I never think about beauty. I only think about
how to solve the problem. But when I have finished, if the solution is not
beautiful, I know it is wrong.
-R. Buckminster Fuller, engineer, designer, and architect (1895-1983)

On 03/03/2010 09:05 PM, MEB wrote:
On 03/03/2010 08:26 PM, Thomas Callaghan wrote:
When dialing my ISP. the OEM modem installed on Dell with Win 98 results in
busy signal each time I call. ISP support could not resolve the problem. All
indications are that the
modem is detected and operating. Any suggestions? Thanks



Some info might help.

Dell, what model? So we can figure out the actual modem or chipset
installed if necessary.

What did you and the ISP try?

Did you try modifying the init string, and how?

Can you hear ANY negotiation [sounds like clicks, squeals and squeaks
and the normal] between your modem and your ISP?

Did you check the Network for proper protocols [TCP/IP] and other
network settings?

Is Microsoft Networking client installed?

Do you need to dial an extra number like 9 to access an
outside/external line?

Do you know the LINK type your ISP uses?


Oh, I forgot to ask, do you have call waiting, or caller ID, or some of
the other special services associated with this phone line connection?

This of course also presumes you have the phone line properly connected
to the right modem connector, not backwards [on the phone pass-through
connector].

--
MEB
http://peoplescounsel.org/ref/windows-main.htm
Windows Info, Diagnostics, Security, Networking
http://peoplescounsel.org
The "real world" of Law, Justice, and Government
___---

On 03/03/2010 09:05 PM, MEB wrote:
On 03/03/2010 08:26 PM, Thomas Callaghan wrote:
When dialing my ISP. the OEM modem installed on Dell with Win 98 results in
busy signal each time I call. ISP support could not resolve the problem. All
indications are that the
modem is detected and operating. Any suggestions? Thanks



Some info might help.

Dell, what model? So we can figure out the actual modem or chipset
installed if necessary.

What did you and the ISP try?

Did you try modifying the init string, and how?

Can you hear ANY negotiation [sounds like clicks, squeals and squeaks
and the normal] between your modem and your ISP?

Did you check the Network for proper protocols [TCP/IP] and other
network settings?

Is Microsoft Networking client installed?

Do you need to dial an extra number like 9 to access an
outside/external line?

Do you know the LINK type your ISP uses?


Oh, I forgot to ask, do you have call waiting, or caller ID, or some of
the other special services associated with this phone line connection?

This of course also presumes you have the phone line properly connected
to the right modem connector, not backwards [on the phone pass-through
connector].

--
MEB
http://peoplescounsel.org/ref/windows-main.htm
Windows Info, Diagnostics, Security, Networking
http://peoplescounsel.org
The "real world" of Law, Justice, and Government
___---

Thomas Callaghan wrote:
When dialing my ISP. the OEM modem installed on Dell with Win 98 results in
busy signal each time I call. ISP support could not resolve the problem. All
indications are that the
modem is detected and operating. Any suggestions? Thanks





First off...

just dial up using your telephone to see if you get the busy signal...
if you do...then the problem is on their end...or you have the wrong number.


OTOH: If you do not get a busy signal with the phone
but you do with the modem...
then the modem (or it's drivers) are somehow defective.


Though I have never "seen" your exact problem...
I have had modems that dialed-up correctly...
but no matter how correctly they appeared to be working...
no connection was established.

After exhausting all possibilities...
by using another modem...I managed to get the system working


If all else fails...I have had 100% good results any time I've used
an external...serial...modem