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Mac Forum / General / Networking / July 2007Computer says it can't initialize the modem.
Computer says it can't initialize the modem. I am running OS 8.6 on a computer that was able to connect to the Internet using a USR sportster external modem dial up connection over a year ago. Recently I tried for the first time in that long period to get on the net. I don't remember changing any thing since then but now some lights on the modem flash and I get an error message that it failed to initialize and to turn the modem off and on or check the settings. I have tried both. What is going on during a successful modem initiation sequence. Does it involve the modem command string? Where or what should I try next? > Computer says it can't initialize the modem. > I am running OS 8.6 on a computer that was able to connect to the [quoted text clipped - 6 lines] > modem initiation sequence. Does it involve the modem command string? > Where or what should I try next? Check your connections. Check your modem command string. Check your networking to see if it is still set up for an external modem. If possible, go to a terminal window and invoke software that will allow you to communicate direct to the modem (minicom is one such program, but I do not know what is available/will run under the old Mac OS). If at&v returns your modem settings, check them against your modem manual (if you still have it). If not, try running ati4 and maybe ati3, ati2, ati1, and ati0 to get information. If at&v and the ati commands work, your problem is likely in your network settings. If they do not, you may have a hardware problem, or networking software may not know where to find your modem. Cheers! jim b.  SignatureUNIX is not user-unfriendly; it merely expects users to be computer-friendly. > > Computer says it can't initialize the modem. > > I am running OS 8.6 on a computer that was able to connect to the [quoted text clipped - 22 lines] > networking software may not know where to find your > modem. If the modem was left connected to a phone line, it is possible that a lightning strike took it out. The lightning doesn't have to hit in the immediate neighborhood. I lost 2 modems this way. I now disconnect all modems if I hear thunder or leave the house or sleep, and thunder storms are predicted. There is a lighning arrester in the demark box which connects the network to your house wiring as there is on mine. It is only good enough for to protect phones. Nor do I trust the phone line protectors in power strips; they are usually just inline fuses and may not act fast enough. Good luck. > > > Computer says it can't initialize the modem. > > > I am running OS 8.6 on a computer that was able to connect to the [quoted text clipped - 36 lines] > > - Show quoted text - I have checked the connections and now since the first post tried another external modem with the same results. Incidentally I always unplug my modems after each use so that modem was indeed unplugged for that long period of time that I had not used it. In the modem control panel I switched to the two different modems that I have now tried. Is that what directs it to the control string commands? I do remember that I used to be able to select or write and save the command strings? It has been so long since I have used an older Mac that I have forgotten all the stuff I used to know and need help to refresh my memory. Will try the terminal window connect if I remember how. Can I just try a dialer or a program like I think it was called zterm? > > > > Computer says it can't initialize the modem. > > > > I am running OS 8.6 on a computer that was able to connect to the [quoted text clipped - 48 lines] > my memory. Will try the terminal window connect if I remember how. Can > I just try a dialer or a program like I think it was called zterm? I remember using zterm (I have version 0.9) to connect with the modem to prove that it worked OK. But it has been a while so I don't remember specifics. Typing in the command strings pointed out by a previous responder sounds like a good starting point. The modem should respond with or without a phone line connected to it. I don't remember if you can, but you might try the other serial port. Good luck. > I have checked the connections and now since the first post tried > another external modem with the same results. Incidentally I always > unplug my modems after each use so that modem was indeed unplugged for > that long period of time that I had not used it. In the modem control > panel I switched to the two different modems that I have now tried. Is > that what directs it to the control string commands? Break the problem down into parts. First disconnect the modem. Jumper that serial port plug pin 2 to 3. What is typed into the terminal program should pass through that jumper and then appear on screen. That simply confirms computer serial port may talk to modem. Then repeat that same test this time connecting directly to the modem. This time, enter the AT%F command (followed by enter). Then every AT command sent to modem's computer should be echoed back to screen. This confirmed computer serial port talks to modem's internal computer. Next step is to issue AT command to modem so that modem can see (and report) a connection to phone line. Based upon what was posted, at this point you should have identified the failure because you stepped through the problem part by part. |
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