Modem issues, maybe

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Daniel Cohen - 03 Dec 2004 16:12 GMT

I'm trying to diagnose problems with a friend's machine, which is
difficult at long distance.

Iy's a very old Mac, running system 7.5 and an external modem. She tells
me that she often gets the message "cannot connect, no dial tone". The
obvious assumption is that the modem is not properly plugged in at one
end or the other. But she swears that it is connected ok, and after
several tries it will often work fine with no further action on her
part.

So, are there any other reasons why this message might come up?

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Clark Martin - 05 Dec 2004 05:25 GMT

> I'm trying to diagnose problems with a friend's machine, which is
> difficult at long distance.
[quoted text clipped - 7 lines]
>
> So, are there any other reasons why this message might come up?

If she has any kind of alternate dial tone such as for voice mail it
will not be detected as a dial tone. Depending on the software you may
have an option to ignore the dial tone.

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Clark Martin
Redwood City, CA, USA Macintosh / Internet Consulting

"I'm a designated driver on the Information Super Highway"

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Fred McKenzie - 05 Dec 2004 17:14 GMT

In article <1go7icm.3p4urg1udu1v0N%danspam@f2s.com>,
danspam@f2s.com (Daniel Cohen) wrote:

> I'm trying to diagnose problems with a friend's machine, which is
> difficult at long distance.
[quoted text clipped - 7 lines]
>
> So, are there any other reasons why this message might come up?

Dan-

Does the modem have a speaker built-in? If it does, she should be able to hear
the dial tone.

In my experience, the message has usually been caused by a problem on the phone
line side of the modem. It could be inside the modem if it had a bad relay, or
it could be an intermittent or high-resistance connection to the phone line.

She could try another phone cord between the modem and the outlet, and she
could try a different outlet. Then, if trying a different modem doesn't fix
it, there could be a problem with the phone line, either inside or outside the
house.

Is there any chance of trying a different dial-up program or a different
computer with the existing modem setup?

Fred

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Daniel Cohen - 05 Dec 2004 17:19 GMT

Thanks. I'll suggest she tries that.

> > I'm trying to diagnose problems with a friend's machine, which is
> > difficult at long distance.

(snip)

> > So, are there any other reasons why this message might come up?
>
> If she has any kind of alternate dial tone such as for voice mail it
> will not be detected as a dial tone. Depending on the software you may
> have an option to ignore the dial tone.

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deepMacsonar - 27 Dec 2004 12:14 GMT

> I'm trying to diagnose problems with a friend's machine, which is
> difficult at long distance.
[quoted text clipped - 7 lines]
>
> So, are there any other reasons why this message might come up?

Try putting a comma "," before the phone number to make it pause before
dialing. If she got a message service, put about 3 or 4.

Make sure she's using the right modem script in the control panel.

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Johan W. Elzenga - 27 Dec 2004 12:21 GMT

> > I'm trying to diagnose problems with a friend's machine, which is
> > difficult at long distance.
[quoted text clipped - 12 lines]
>
> Make sure she's using the right modem script in the control panel.

If you use a "w" instead of a comma, the computer will wait for a
dialtone before it starts dialling.

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Johan W. Elzenga johan<<at>>johanfoto.nl
Editor / Photographer http://www.johanfoto.nl/

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Mac Forum / General / Networking / December 2004

Modem issues, maybe